Crazy weekend #2 - Duel Jewel
Trip Start
Jul 26, 2008
1
66
110
Trip End
Aug 06, 2009
Sendai,
Tohoku,
Japan
Saturday, April 4, 2009
DJ T-shirt
The concert started on time, which shouldn't have caught me off guard considering how punctual everybody in Japan is. However, I was used to long delays and someone coming about and announcing that the band was taking the stage. Although Julia and I stood in the middle of the crowd, it still felt like the closest I have ever been...maybe because the stage was lower. In any case, Duel Jewel appeared larger than life and I felt like I was dreaming. *_*
The Japanese concert experience is extremely different from the American one. Although I've never been to a proper American rock concert with crowd surfing and moshing, I have had the pleasure of seeing Duel Jewel play at an anime convention. In America, the headbanging, fist pumping, and waving happens whenever, like the cheering. As with anything in Japan, there is a proper time and place for all that. Headbanging occurs in unison at certain moments of the song. That's really bizarre-looking. There's also this thing called furitsuke, or "furi", which involves doing certain hand motions during the song. Here's an example: http://youtube.com/watch?v=gctLg7-hr6A (they didn't play this song though). At some points, usually during the slower songs, the audience stands very still. Julia says that the Duel Jewel fans are more unresponsive than fans for other bands. Cheers are reserved for when the band takes a break and the lights are dimmed. By cheers, I mean shouting band members' names-- or in my case, "We love you!!!" (I was being a stereotypical gaijin so that I could stand out). When the lights come on, there is simply clapping. The guitarists got the most shouts, and Shun's fans always growled his name (very strange coming from young Japanese girls).
DJ
Now onto the fun part. ^^ Over the years, Duel Jewel, like many visual kei bands, has toned down their image. They still looked pretty glammed up though, and man, I wish I had hair like that. It was teased up more than the recent photos. The lead singer Hayato resembled David Bowie in Labyrinth with less Goblin King-ish clothes. I was in love again. I'm convinced that he's my first love because when I saw him on stage 4.5 years ago, I had heart-pounding, breath-taking reaction unlike anything I had ever experienced. That night (and tonight), I would've done anything for him. This is how groupies are made. This time around, I had a similar reaction to Shun, the lead guitarist, but I think that was more a result of my guitar solo fetish. I love anybody who can shred, and Shun's solos were killer. He's gotten better throughout the years; the entire band has. They were so energetic, and you could tell that they enjoyed themselves. On a side note, Shun is known for flipping the audience off, and some of the fans have adopted that as almost a sign for "rock on". I have to wonder if they know that it means. The other guitarist, Yuya, was being silly as usual, making faces at his bandmates and the audience. Natsuki, the bassist, hung out in the back, but it seemed like he enjoyed coming up front. Out of habit, I threw the "rock on" horns many times and was the only one to do so. I saw Natsuki do it twice during some of the later songs
2 DJ fans
. I wonder if he saw me (yeah, I know I am probably being delusional, but I can dream). Poor Val got little love from the fans, as typical for most drummers.I lost track of what songs they played, partly because I don't remember the names and partly because the songs were blended into one another. "Hanauta ~Sakura Ryouran~" stood out because it's one of my favorites and the furi was fun to do even if I kept running into people (there was jumping). I used to not like "BULLETxSTAR", but seeing it live with all the energy made me enjoy it. My favorites were probably "es" and "Never Blue". Being a slower song, "es" had no headbanging or furi so I was able to just enjoy the music and be mesmerized by Hayato's presence. It was obvious that he was pouring his heart and soul into singing. "Never Blue" brought back the nostalgia of when I first saw Duel Jewel.
There were two encores, which were obviously planned. After the first encore, the band did a long chat session. Hayato spoke throughout the performance, but in their chat session, each of the members said something about Sendai or their lives. Despite not understanding most of it due to the slang and fast talking, I was able to pick out the general idea of each member's comment...I think. Hayato talked about how it's good to be back in Sendai and promoted this special event where you got to hang out with the band. "Shun-sama" made what Hayato called a "speech" about how he enjoyed playing here (and promptly hid behind the speakers the rest of the time). Almost everybody mentioned the foods Miyagi-ken is known for, gyutan and zunda. Yuya seemed to go on and on about it; he mentioned zunda cheesecake. He also talked about getting a lot of fan emails. Natsuki promoted one of the items they were selling, a small pouch. He had his I-pod in his, and in his I-pod, he had episodes of Heroes. I got super excited when I realized he was talking about the TV show. He made Yuya do an impression of Hiro Nakamura. Last was Val, who created a song about zunda mochi and gyutan. I wish I knew more Japanese. :/
After the show was over, Julia and I hung around to see if we can catch the band. They almost slipped past us. Just on a side note, they're still insanely attractive without the make-up and costumes, but they are definitely much shorter than they appear. Some of the fans gave them gifts and asked for autographs. We just did the typical Japanese thing and thanked them for their hard work ("Otsukaresama deshita"). I wished I had done something a little more, but I'm sure we (or at least Julia) made an impression by being the only foreigners. They had to drive to the next venue so it was probably good that we didn't distract them, especially since there were fangirls standing next to the van. I'm still beating myself up for not having a camera to sneak in pictures or a video. ;_; Now I am super sore from all the moving around, but I would relive this day in a heartbeat. I hope I get to see them again-no, I WILL see them again in the future (even if I have to fly across the U.S. or schedule a trip to Japan around them).
Glossary
furitsuke - "choreography"; dancing done specifically at concerts (not to be confused with parapara, a type of dance)
gyutan - beef tongue
zunda - green soybean; mochi - rice cake
