итаг, отчет о первом в истории живом выступлении легендарной (xDDDD) группы S.K.I.N.!
спасибо огромное mcvarmazi за отчет v(^_^ )v
читать дальше[the bulk of the show's details are in the voice post -- please listen to it for more info on the show, and then read on:]
the line was several hours long and on top of that the show was three hours late. i am seriously sunburned and very dehydrated. we all were -- all several thousands of us.
but despite that, SKIN STILL ROCKED.
i have never been in an audience where everybody was so damn pumped. it was in an ice hockey arena of all things -- so inappropriate for this group -- gackt freaking hit the jumbotron when he started throwing water bottles into the audience -- but it still sounded amazing.
they played four songs total. yea, those four songs took a little over an hour. no "talks" -- two of the songs had quite a bit of english in them, gackt spoke entirely in english to the audience though not everyone understood him all time, though his english was a lot better than i'd recently heard it.
S.K.I.N'S BASSIST IS JU-KEN. just to make that official.
the look was very hard rock/edgy but not viskei -- everybody was themselves. gackt was in black jeans and a black leather jacket, hair spiked up, MYV was himself in the midriff shirt and baggy pants. sugizo wore a long black trenchcoat and tight leather pants (man, and he's like nearly 40 now? and is amazing XD ok ok 38) and yoshiki -- looked exactly like he did in the last x japan live abotu 10+ years ago. no shirt, grey pants, long hair. it was an amazing blast from the past, except gackt is now toshi.
and there was totally something going on between gackt and miyavi on stage. very very fanservicey. expect more from this pairing in your favorite jrock roleplay soon! lol
I AM SO BLOWN AWAY by the sound -- everyone's musical voices were present. gackt's musical phrasing/contrasting, sugizo's amazing soaring guitar lines and myv's raw fantastic energy, and yoshiki's drumming was out of this world, just so intense.
all four of the songs were really hard-rock, resembly myv's overall style most ** but they all fit into it well. lots of distort and effects, lots of soft orchestral intros, very delicate singing, into sudden hard riffs. the crowd was crazy pumped by all of it, security told us not to mosh but it was very difficult not to.
the introductions were really funny -- gackt's words were especially when he introduced sugizo: "this man, two years ago, i hated his guts, but now he's my best friend." (he said that verbatim) AWESOME.
setlist -- the names were projected on two big screens
first song name: no name given-- skinonline reports it's "GEI-SHA"
second song name: killing you softly
third song: beneath the skin
fourth song: get back (it may also be called "violets," but the screens projected the words "get back" and it was also the refrain) skinonline confirms it's "violets," but i have a feeling this song will be known as "get back" to most people
so yea, the third song "beneath the skin" was like a condensed art of life, which is considered a rock masterpiece. i think this was an excellent way to kick off this band -- acknowledgement of yoshiki's amazing past and really integrating these guys into the future. the dueling pianos -- gackt keeping the melody and yoshiki with the pounding dissonance -- the gorgeou violin work -- sugizo really made me think of you from gacktJOB lol -- and miyavi kept rhythmic with the shamisen, it all fit together so beautifully. the audience went from amazed hushs to crazy screams, it was just too hard to stay totally silent throughout it all, it was so amazing.
[edit a little more on "beneath the skin" and audience rapport]
miyavi and sugizo were totally pimp, very at home with the audience. gackt seemed really unsure of what to do for quite a bit, i think he was nervous about speaking english and his lines and stuff. my god, yoshiki's x japan influence was so there because there were a LOT of english lines -- not just words, but whole lyrics in english. that's not gackt's forte. he plowed through it quite well but yea, this is why they didn't do a talk, because it's obvious he's not super comfortable with english yet. that was a shame, because he didn't connect with the audience utnil way late in the show. i've seen all of his lives and i know this is not how he naturally is, so i do think it was a bit of intimidation for his very first american audience. *pats gackt* he was still fantastic.
miyavi and juken and sugizo were gods though. they were really sexing it up, really at home with the audience and just going batshit insane - twirling on their backs or thrusting at the aud just being way oversexed rockers. sugizo especially XD i seriously nearly pulled a fainting-beatles-fan at him, i still can't believe how INCREDIBLE that man is. super love, babes!
(yoshiki was behind the drumset most of the time, very demure, but when he did EMERGE he was like zeus from olympus, lol.)
the dueling pianos/violin/shamisen thing in "beneath the skin" nearly had me in tears. not only is "the art of life" one of my favorite songs -- i'v ebeen listening to it constantly the past month -- but this was like a beautiful redux. just so fitting. when the album comes out this will no doubt be a favorite song.
it was awesome seeing the different stage presences here especially. yoshiki was mashing up the piano keys, head down, hair everywhere, and just kind of pounding on the keyboard. gackt's head was up, eyes half open like he was kind of in a trance, looking weirdly as he does, working himself up to wake but not really awake. sugizo was so aware and so in the moment on the violin, carrying a lot of the soaring melody. miyavi was the only one actually looking at the audience, doing his silly-tongue thing while on the shammy. ** four very different ways of carrying themselves -- very nicely displayed on split screen! yea, that will look awesome on the dvd [/edit]
so yea, no encore because after literally FIVE SUSTAINED MINUTES of non-stop cheering from the audience -- they were literally pretending to grab the kisses and eat them, lol, just really eating it up -- sugizo was so pumped he SMASHED his guitar everywhere, tossing bits into yoshiki's drum set. i'm sure it was planned but we were all just stunned, especially when he started throwing guitar bits to the ravenous audience (who literally fought over the strings and bits of wood, lol). so incredible. that hour just flew by.
and the band you could tell was just psyched by the audiences' energy. if they ever had a doubt about getting a US audience, they now know that we're serious about hearing them!
i wish i had more news about the future of the band orwhatnot but they didn't talk to the audience beyond the very brief intros. i took copious notes throughout the concert (i'm press so i had my notebook etc) but they did not allow pictures -- though people managed to sneak some cameras in before getting them confiscated so there may be some pics floating around.
there WERE about 10 movie cameras filming from tons of different angles, so there is no doubt there will be a dvd of this concert. *_* i can't wait to buy it!
you guys will be so amazed by the staging and the incredible raw energy of these guys on stage -- what an fantastic presence they had. they were having fun, we were too, i'm so glad we could share that day with them.
i'm running out of superlatives here, lol. but this group didn't disappoint. they worked really beautifully together and entertained like the true professionals they are.
[edit] i'll try to keep updating this with more details as i type out my notes, but if you guys have any questions i'll be happy to answer them.
and if you guys haven't seen http://skin-online.net/ yet, you really should. they have an AMAZING street team who really did a fantastic time helping out the band and keeping the fans informed. many many props and so much gratitude to them for doing such a great job. (the music on the site is from "violets" aka the "get back" song)
i'm a writer for purple SKY magazine so my extended review of the live should be in the summer issue. please look forward to it!
this is how sunburned i am from standing outside for about 5 hours waiting for this show -- even though i had a ticket in-hand!! i have the world's worst tshirt tan and the top of my head is bright red. uuugh. BUT it was wooooorth it. (i'm from and live in boston, haha, so i'm not used to this kind of sun!)
*разрыдался* я проживу свою жизнь зря, если не увижу ЭТО в живую! Т____Т