One of my top 10 favourite concerts, it's probably more special than it should be simply because I was THERE in person. Well, not in this particular concert, not in Berlin. I could have decided whether I want to go to Berlin or Leipzig, Berlin was sooner and at that time I was still one scared chicken and didn't get the courage to get the ticket (knowing I'll have to get there by myself). Leipzing concert was about a week later. I got the ticket on the spur of the moment not knowing if I'll be able to get there or not but I didn't care. I wanted to go so much, especially since I've missed it the previous year.
My spot in Leipzig:
I'm glad, though, that they cut off all the screaming from between the songs, Gackt has the tendency to force audience to scream his (or his band's) name for up to 6-8 minutes. It may be fun at concert but becomes hard to bear on the dvd.
Chosing Leipzig was the best decision ever. I've already been to a concert of another favourite artist of mine - Ayumi Hamasaki in Saitama, Tokyo, on April 11th, 2010, but my sits were at the very back of a freaking huge arena. Even the screens were tiny, not to mention people on the stage. Lepzig, on the other hand, was just a small concert hall, even if I had to stand at the very end I'd have pretty good view, however, to my surprise there were so few people I made it almost to the stage without any effort ヽ(；▽；)ノ
My spot in Leipzig:
...and this was my spot in Saitama ヽ(；▽；)ノ :
Anyway, I usually don't buy Japanese concerts (although I'd love to) because they are pretty expensive. I have some concert dvds I bought in 2005 in Japan, I have some KinKi Kids concerts and I have concert dvds that I attended to, that is, Ayu's Arena Tour 2010 ~Rock 'n' Roll Circus~ and now I've ordered YFC's World Tour ~Show your soul~. Just to be clear, I haven't got my copies yet, I assume I'll get them on Monday but I couldn't wait so I downloaded the DVD from JPOPSuki already (which is not a sin since I already paid for them anyway ˆڡˆ)
Let's switch to the concert itself (both real life and the dvd).
01. THE END OF THE DAY [.eu] - After two-minute long introdution clip which consists mostly of outdoor shots and behind the scene shots, the first song starts with the band being already on the stage. In reality they were coming to the stage one by one in complete darkness, with Gackt being the last one.
I didn't know he's going to be short blond and I also didn't expect Jon (to be copletely honest his presence was quite a shock to me) at all so at first I confused them. When I finally localized Gackt and made myself sure that's really him I was stuck in awe because of him being so gorgeous (no damn photoshoped pic is better than him in person) and so close. I thought (recollecting my poor spot at the Arena Tour 2010 concert) that finally I had some luck.
I didn't know the song and I couldn't sing along, so I just spent it watching Gackt's face like a total idiot, lol. The sound in the hall was pretty weird, the music was lauder than guy's voices, now I hear they spoke German but I totally didn't realize it back then. Although there weren't any visual effects, just pure music, Gackt and Jon were pretty theatrical and their moves were well-coordinated, it was interesting to watch. I was still confused wondering who the hell Jon was back then ヽ(；▽；)ノ 10/10
I didn't know he's going to be short blond and I also didn't expect Jon (to be copletely honest his presence was quite a shock to me) at all so at first I confused them. When I finally localized Gackt and made myself sure that's really him I was stuck in awe because of him being so gorgeous (no damn photoshoped pic is better than him in person) and so close. I thought (recollecting my poor spot at the Arena Tour 2010 concert) that finally I had some luck.
I didn't know the song and I couldn't sing along, so I just spent it watching Gackt's face like a total idiot, lol. The sound in the hall was pretty weird, the music was lauder than guy's voices, now I hear they spoke German but I totally didn't realize it back then. Although there weren't any visual effects, just pure music, Gackt and Jon were pretty theatrical and their moves were well-coordinated, it was interesting to watch. I was still confused wondering who the hell Jon was back then ヽ(；▽；)ノ 10/10
02. NINE SPIRAL [.jp] - Unfortunately, I didn't know this song as well, it was pretty confusing. I had a small hiatus from Gackt's music but I thought I missed just two or three singles. Well, not really. Now, after all this time, I finally know the song and even though it's very heavy in sound I enjoy it a lot, especially the whispering and guys' snake-like moves. When Jon put his hand on Gackt's arm I already knew it's going to be a full power concert with all the kinky moves and tearing off the clothes (just like last year), it was getting more and more interesting ヽ(；▽；)ノ 9.5/10
03. SPEED MASTER [.jp] - Another song I didn't recognize ヽ(；▽；)ノ I was also kind of annoyed that Gackt was standing on the other side of the stage for 70% of the concert but at the same time I was stunned by the amount of eye contact he was maintaining with the audience. During this song he came to my side of the stage, his closeness was pretty breathtaking and his eyes lanced right through me *especially since he loves glaring at people like those ghost girls from Japanese horror movies (￣▽￣)
He probably managed to maintain the eye contact with everyone in the hall several times, there really weren't many people in Leipzig, three times less than in Berlin. I was also surprised that You was so much engaged with the audience, I thought he will be concentrating on his guitar but his main priority was to cheer the crowd.
After some time I felt guilty a bit because You was cheering us the whole time but my eyes were still searching for Gackt even when he went to the very far end of the stage. There was one funny moment during that song. Knowing nothing about Jon I was totally ignoring him, always looking for Gackt when suddenly I felt a stream of water right on my face and when I looked to the direction it came from, I saw Jon smiling fiendishly, staring right at me. Both he and You poured water in my direction several more times that evening. It was really funny, kind of 'don't you dare to ignore me' message, they did it in a very different way that Gackt (who spit on my btw), I was disoriented at first (It was hard to believe that such a nonentity like me was able to get his attention), but it made me warm to Jon ヽ(；▽；)ノ
There was a lot of screaming and chanting in this song but for some reason I was still standing quite still, maybe that made me stand up in this small yet totally frantic crowd. For a while I felt like I'm a total idiot but I couldn't force myself to move, I was also waiting for some song I knew... 8.5/10
04. LAST KISS [.jp] - ...which was a pipe dream. Neverthelss, I love this song, there are high notes Gackt hits perfectly, it's fast but unfortunately it ends quickly. It was quite a frenzy up to this song, I was wondering if they'll ever slow down. 9/10
05. EPISODE.0 [.jp] - I knew this song was Gackt's last single but I didn't know the lyrics. It was still weird but during the chorus You was encouraging people to jump together and it was the song where I finally got to my sense, I started to enjoy it in a more noticeable way. I could swear You smiled widely the moment I joined the crowd but of course I could just be imagining things (￣▽￣), or maybe he was glad to see my waist-long hair flying in the air. This song is amazing live, the energy flow is awesome and their vocals were simply stunning. 10/10
06. MIND FOREST [.com] - Finally, YES, a song I could sing along, one of my favourite ballads, I already opened my mouth and got pwned right away. What the hell is going on? Did he change the lyrics? oh... sounds like an english version... xDDD At least I could still shake my head ヽ(；▽；)ノ 10/10
07. 妄想GIRL [.com] - a badass song with some funny dance, it's the song during which guys rip off their own shirts, too bad the producer had chosen really bad camera angles, it was much better showed in the tv version.
I don't remember Gackt's taking off his shirt at many arena concerts so I was kind of shocked. Not only was I standing two metres from Gackt, I also could see him half naked. Seriously, I was able to count drops od sweat on his bare chest, I could even tell where he had shaved himself, lolz.
The pieces of clothes went into the public, Jon threw his tie almost directly at me but I didn't even think about catching it and thank god, because a bunch of girls threw themselves at it and started to fight to an extend when it was difficult to watch the show and it was bad because the next song was one I knew by heart ヽ(；▽；)ノ 10/10
I don't remember Gackt's taking off his shirt at many arena concerts so I was kind of shocked. Not only was I standing two metres from Gackt, I also could see him half naked. Seriously, I was able to count drops od sweat on his bare chest, I could even tell where he had shaved himself, lolz.
The pieces of clothes went into the public, Jon threw his tie almost directly at me but I didn't even think about catching it and thank god, because a bunch of girls threw themselves at it and started to fight to an extend when it was difficult to watch the show and it was bad because the next song was one I knew by heart ヽ(；▽；)ノ 10/10
08. VANILLA [.jp] - Through half of the song I was pushed and nudged and couldn't concentrate or withdraw because of the still fighting girls. They finally decided to cut the tie in two. Vanilla was definitely the most anticipated song, it was great to sing it live. Lots of fanservice of course, some underwear flew to the stage so they had to play with it, things like that, nothing extraordinary... ヽ(；▽；)ノ 10/10
09. JUSTIFIED [.jp] - Also one of my favourite songs so I was glad it was performed, lots of fun, jumping and chanting and lots of bottlewatershower, additionally, ...Gackt spit on me ヽ(；▽；)ノ, that's quite an achievement, lol xDDDD He maintained a lot of eye contact with people on my side during the cheering at the end ˆڡˆ Love his small drum solo. 10/10
10. JESUS [.jp] - I was overjoyed when I heard this song, great performance, lots of water, no words can give it justice. 10/10
11. YOU ARE THE REASON [.eu] - New song with small acapella in the beginning, not catchy at first but I was in such a frenzy I was just dancing to the rhytm and it was amazing. Later on I fell in love with this song, especially with its instrumentals. 10/10
12. ALL MY LOVE [.eu] - The best song of the night, I never heard it before and yet it stuck in my head for the next half a year. Its chorus was so catchy I learned it on the spot, not to mention that it was more than ten minutes long. It's the English version, personally I prefer the Japanese version more, but since the chorus is more or less the same, it doesn't matter. An amazing mid-tempo ballad. As much as I was shocked by the presence of Jon, he fits this song perfectly, I couldn't imagine it without his part. 10/10
13.UNCONTROL ♂狂喜乱舞EDITION♂ [.jp] - Strange choice for the encore, this song is good for warm up and yet they used it at the very end, when everyone was overheated already. The rest of the band got half naked, last bottles were used, the last chance to sing along although not many people seem to know the lyrics. Lots of chanting in the end, I guess nobody believed it's the last song until the final speach but I must admit it ended in a cheerful and happy way. 9.5/10
Concert rate: 9.7/10
Maybe for people who don't like this kind of music or don't know those songs yet, they may seem to be from the same mould but taking each song into account I find them all almost flawless. Even without fancy costumes and special effects this concert is amazingly enjoyable. The true power of music ...and hot bodies.
Concert rate: 9.7/10
Maybe for people who don't like this kind of music or don't know those songs yet, they may seem to be from the same mould but taking each song into account I find them all almost flawless. Even without fancy costumes and special effects this concert is amazingly enjoyable. The true power of music ...and hot bodies.
As for the dvd itself, I'm a bit disappointed for the camera angles, there are far too little close ups and in the hot moments we usually see the audience. I also regret they didn't include any backstage and fan videos, even in Leipzig the cameraman was filming the 'crowd' all the time, I was hoping to find myself anywhere. I smell another, very expensive documentary dvd coming up.
I'm glad, though, that they cut off all the screaming from between the songs, Gackt has the tendency to force audience to scream his (or his band's) name for up to 6-8 minutes. It may be fun at concert but becomes hard to bear on the dvd.
I had my camera with me because I wanted to take the photo of the stage before the concert but since I was so close to the stage I sneaked one shot during the show. Just one as a keepsake ^^
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