Wednesday, March 1st dawned super early for me as I headed to Tokyo on a 7:00 AM flight. I went straight to Shibuya for the last day of the Tower Records cafe (along with a bunch of other Rodeo Girls), then went directly to Odaiba for a lot of standing in line (which was worth every second).

Release event live

Picked up t-shirts for a friend and I, who got there right as I got in line for my wristband for the release live. Our numbers weren’t too far apart, and it turned out another friend had a number in between. All three of us ended up front, my one friend first row in front of e-zuka, me 3rd row just to Kiiyan’s left. Which turned out to be pretty darn near perfect, because he stayed dead center for all the new songs, only wandering a bit for Memories.

• Kiiyan was wearing the long coat and arm wrap from the Pierrot Dancin’ video (which means I should’ve gone to see what outfit was in the cafe, since this was what was there two weekends before). The fringe on the coat collar drove him nuts, and ended up getting stuck in the arm wrap, so he took the wrap off.
• When he did, some guy yelled “EROIIIII.”
• When he pointed out what outfit he had on, Kiiyan did a bit of the choreography … though adding in a hand running down his torso that assuredly isn’t in the video. Heh.
• Kiiyan introduced the new drummer as “Shin-chan.” You can find his website here:  http://shin-dr.com/ (he drums for Fo’xtails, SCREEN MODE and others). Kiiyan said he was chosen because a) he’s so young and b) he’s blood type B, meaning he fits in with Takita and Kiiyan. When he went to point out that e-zuka was type A, e-zuka pulled out the horrible pun from the recent TV show, saying he wasn’t A-gata, but Nii-gata. He also later threatened to build a barrier to isolate his A self, and play only to the people in front of him.
• Pierrot Dancin’, FAT SHAPER and Fake Lover’s True Heart were as amazing live as I’d expected. And Kiiyan was so, SO happy that we knew the call and response parts already.
• Kimi ni one way love was super cute live.
• Namida bana … Kiiyan sounded tentative at the beginning of the song, but he hit his stride somewhere in the middle. It’s very powerful in person.
• They asked if we had seen the Glorious Days video, which had been posted by Lantis earlier in the day. I hadn’t then, but watched after the show. Kyaaa, so much nostalgia wrapped up in one video. Hard to believe Can Do and Rim Fire were 5 years ago already.
• e-zuka playing around with a capo (first time I’ve seen him with one) while they were talking in between songs.
• There were a lot of folks who were first-time GR album buyers, and some who this was their first show. Not everyone who was there had a ticket for the limited live. Kiiyan apologized and said too bad, since it would be 2 hours long.
• We sang happy birthday to e-zuka, who accompanied us on the guitar … then sang to himself.
• Oh Kiiyan … he needed another bathroom break (albeit a short one) before the last song. This prompted him to bring up the frustrated tweet he’d posted a couple of days before that (where he had told us he was going to, ah, go to the bathroom, to be more polite than he was). While he was gone, e-zuka led us in “singing” Darlin’. Turns out he sang nonsense and we all knew the words. We’d just started Can Do when Kiiyan came back to finish up.

J:COM limited live

For this show, I had somehow ended up with tickets A1 and A2, so after I’d changed (into a, ah, well, let’s say I look forward to seeing my cleavage on cable TV, heh) and met up my friend Nancy we lined up outside, right at the very front. A little late, they started herding us into the lobby. Apparently folks who could see me from outside through the windows were commenting how I’m the fan who writes about GR in English. Ah, notoriety. Heh.

After the mad rush of the first show when the hall doors opened, I was worried about getting that prime spot dead center, but I needn’t have because of the almost comical way we were
led in. We started in a line two across, following a staffer who backed down the stairs a few at a time. He paused at the bottom, so we could show our tickets and get our drink tokens, and I was all set to go into the hall itself, but Nancy snagged my arm, pulled me back where I belonged in line. I /should/ have gone ahead and gotten a drink, but decided not to. The staffer then got us lined up three across, and continued to guide us, a few feet at a time, across the lobby, down one hallway, down the second hallway and stopped us right at the doors heading in (which were at the back of the second section). There he and other staffers had to yell for people not to push, and it seemed for a moment everyone was going to ignore him, but amazingly, they eased up. He then walked us in a bit further, basically to the back of the front section, then got out of the way and let us go — and we made the mad dash to the front. Nancy and I claimed the spots dead center just to the right of the barrier dividing the front in two.

• Was squished from the outset. A very enthusiastic Rodeo Boy much taller than me was behind me, and I was pretty much wearing him (well, from the waist up, thankfully). Ended up with bruises from the side barrier, and sore ribs from the front. But it was worth every bit of pain, oh yes.
• Kiiyan had changed, and looked amazing, of course. Lots of hip action going on, which is always deadly from that close.
• I somehow missed his winks and other indications he saw us, but Nancy assures me he did. e-zuka was more obvious about it, giving me quite the smirk and “yeah, I see you there” look at one point.
• Someone wearing an inflatable ZAQ suit (see the pic above) came out when Kiiyan introduced the show as the J:COM limited live. ZAQ being the J:COM mascot. Kiiyan kept his distance, no doubt so he wouldn’t launch a flying kick at ZAQ, but e-zuka came over and was being all cute with ZAQ.
• Kiiyan asked ZAQ if it was male. It shook its head. So he asked if it was female. Head shake again. “Ah, so ZAQ is ZAQ,” he said. “Genderless.” (that last in English).
• e-zuka said ZAQ should crowd surf, but ZAQ was having none of it.
• Since the set list had more older songs in it, Kiiyan was more mobile, giving love to all parts of the stage, except for during the newer songs.
• He was much more confident about Namida bana this time.
• It was so, so good to hear Once&Forever, Passion and Supernova. And the new songs were as good as the first set.
• Kiiyan cutely made an “L” with his hand for the “Remember to love” line in Passion. And when he finished, he made a heart with both of them.
• At one point, e-zuka was up on Kiiyan’s platform, playing, and Takita came by and oh-so-casually slides the neck of his bass between e-zuka’s legs, causing all of us to squeal.
• And Kiiyan … said something about his chinko, grabbed his crotch. Ah Kiiyan, I’ve missed the lewdness. XD
• e-zuka accused Takita of being 60. Takita protested, prompting Kiiyan to ask “Next year?”
• Remember that Rodeo Boy I said I was wearing? Well at some point while Kiiyan was toweling off his hair, the guy inhaled and screamed so loudly he shook us both, “KAWAIIIIIIII!!!!!” I ducked, laughed and looked back at him. Kiiyan looked sheepish, but laughed too.
• When they announced the new tour dates, everyone was amused at the final one being on Kiiyan’s birthday. e-zuka joked that Aoi Shouta would be special guest (b/c it’s his birthday too)
• Kiiyan gave the cutest intro for the very last song, saying “Kiiyan’s mom, Sumiko-san this is her favorite song on the album.” (that being Punky, Funky Love). So. Cute!
• When Shin-chan came out from behind the drums, he was so tiny I exclaimed to Nancy that he was Fo’xtails’ sized (before I even knew he drummed for them, heh).

Next up will be bullet points from Eastern Gale, then KenPRock Fes!