Peter's Japan blog

I arrived in Shizuoka with the Shinkansen 1h45 before the start of the concert. I was going to see if there was any merchandise to buy (and maybe, just maybe if there were still some tickets at the counter). While walking through the station to the exit I already came by other people that definitely looked like people going to the GazettE ;p On my way to the concert hall, many more people, totally dressed Visual Kei, were walking in the street. I think some where coming from far away as they were towing small suitcases.When I got to the concert hall, many people where already standing around and some scattered around the large square in front of the concert hall. Practically everybody was dressed visual kei,unbelievable but not unexpected ;p. Also, 98-99% were female. I kind of stood out as a gaijin and rather normally dressed. There was already a long queue for the merchandising, which I got on to as well. Bought a bag, t-shirt, muffler and phone strap (and later also a bandana). Then I noticed that at the cashier there was a sign about tickets, starting at 17h. I saw other people waiting there as well, and indeed, at 17h, the counter opened, and I bought my ticket! ;p
And it was a first row ticket at the balcony (the second floor as it was a theater-style hall). Got something to eat and drink, and changed my t-shirt to my newly bought gazette-t-shirt and got into the concert hall. I think the capacity of the hall was about 1100 people. I had a great view from the balcony. Finally the concert started after the sound check at 18h35, only 5 minutes late. It was one roller coaster ;p And so much better than the one I saw in Germany. Maybe because it was like a theater with seats and not a pack of people standing on each others toes. Another major difference is how these people are in sync with each other, they all do the same at the same time. It's like they know what moves to do at the right time of a song. It's like someone taught it to them before and now they perform it. If you know the Gazette concert at the Budokan, that is exactly how the audience was. Very energetic, responsive and in sync ;p During the pause between concert and encore, I was in awe. It was 10-15 minutes and the whole crowd just kept on shouting "encore", they didn't stop one second, the whole crowd. Amazing compared to the ones in Germany. In Germany, there were just sporadic groups of people who started, but stopped after half a minute.
Now something about the concert itself, the band was amazing. They played very powerful and energetic. They even played Guren and track 2 of the Guren single, Guren was played to absolute perfection, it was spine chilling. Aoi actually uses the double neck guitar live as well, but it seemed to have a different color (black) than in the PV. Some intros from songs were also extended which was very nice. At the start of the encore was another very good Ride with the Rockers. The concert ended with Linda of course. The show was very well done, the lighting reacted very good on the music and focussed on the musicians during solos. Near the end, came also the gazette logo at the back done with small lights. The lights were divided in blocks and alternated in motion (don't know how to say it). They will probably use it during the final as well, so you'll see it one the dvd ^^;

This post is finally done, so I can go to sleep. Tomorrow is Tokyo Anime Fair, long day, which I'm also looking forward to. Photos will be added when I have some time... Maybe the day after tomorrow.

Follow up:

At GazettE concert:

people sitting around waiting

After the concert