(07-21-2009, 04:24 PM)mamikochan Wrote:

(07-19-2009, 07:59 PM)Guest Wrote: How about some perspective from the older generation? I claim the title of oldest fan at the show, unless someone wants to challenge me. I am the 49 year old father of a 16 year old girl (sekirei on the forum) and don't know that much about J Rock, but wanted her to have a great experience. We got in line about noon. (#159)

First observation, you fans are the best! I read some of the stuff that happened in NYC and it was nothing like that at Sonar. The camaraderie was great and most everyone made it through with minimal difficulty, with the exception of a couple of sunburn cases. 90 in Baltimore in the summer, who knew?

We got a little worried at autograph time, because they originally said first 200, but it was going slow and there was talk of some of the "guaranteed" people not getting in. I think they ended up cutting it off just a few places behind us, about 165 or so. I stood aside and let my daughter and her friend go in, so whoever got the last autograph, you can thank me next tour! I'm told the guys were great, although they obviously moved people through a little more quickly at the end.

We went back in line at about 3:30 or so for the big wait. We were around the corner, so the sun went behind the buildings fairly early. There were no problems whatsoever with the line, people came and went as needed, made food and bathroom runs, etc.

I know some people have been saying doors opened at 7:45, my recollection is closer to eight. First reaction was "nice cool breeze" from the club fans, followed very shortly thereafter by "damn, it's hot in here." I was the old dude in the straw hat about 20 feet directly in front of Hyde's mic. I didn't jump up and down much, because I was holding one of the girls' stuff and let's face it, I'm 49 and stood in line for eight hours.

The time began to drag as it approached 9 PM and no band. The crew teased us a couple of times by lowering the house lights (OK a couple of times, not cool by the fifth or sixth.)

Finally, showtime! Again, I don't know much about J Rock. I'm a Queen fan, so it's cool that Yoshiki worked with Roger Taylor. Anyway, English, Japanese, I know a front man when I see one. Hyde owned that crowd from the first note. What a presence. I could only make out some of the banter, but what the earlier posters said about watching the dragon boats in the harbor made sense. "I watched them allllllll day!" Translation from English to English "sitting in a hotel room is ****ing boring, let's rock."

And they did! K.A.Z is obviously not real comfortable in the spotlight, but that's cool and Ju-ken is a monster on bass and a pretty good crowd pleaser himself. Loved the standup bass slides!

On to the encore and I'm saying to myself, "hey, this sounds like Lucy in the Sky. I guess that's because it was. Cool.

Anyway, hats off to Sonar staff, their crowd control was excellent. Nice job plucking the overheated from the front rows. A little moshing, but nothing too serious. My daughter caught a Ju-ken water bottle! I will now pay more attention to the finer points of J Rock and I have the feeling I may see you next year at Otakon. I don't think I have a choice.

Have fun on the west coast and bring on anyone who was older than 49!

Domo Arigato Mister Yogato. (Bonus points if you get the reference)

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challenge accepted. cathb knows! ha! i turned 54 the day before Ju-ken's 38th b-day. see my title at icon. and i am a MAJOR fan, L'Arc, HYDE and VAMPS, for YEARS. love KAZ, Ju-ken, Jin and the MOST under-appreciated member of the crew - Arimatsu, who was quite a looker in his early days btw 8).

sorry haven't been in a place long enough to get on here and partially spill my impressions. the only sucky parts of the trip had to do with travel-hadn't had to fly since '99...oh the horrors of getting my crap through airport security etc...next time we drive, don't care how long it takes.

i saw you "dad", when you let people go by for autographs. saw ALL of you at one point or another, but i always said i was shy face-to-face. do2l, you guys were really sweet and cute. hope no one got too badly sunburned.
already spoke on autographs in that thread.

when we came back to the line after a refreshing strip down and cool off plus some tasty havarti dill/turkey num-nums and scrumptious fruit from the market behind the Plaza Hotel(was still too hot for much food{Lane had quite the experience cutting thru the Trmont Grand facility in her show gear, glow sticks and all}), we were way up the hill in line. but was ok. wasn't planning on fighting for front. was hobbling a bit already from a healing broken great toe and freshly broken 5 days before pinky toe. did not want to be stepped on. when we finally got in, crowd was moving sooo slowly, we headed straight to goods, got what we wanted out of offered merch (wish we had gotten SOME of the stuff from the Japan shows at least ;() and were still pretty close compared to what i imagined we would be. there was a definite rush of folks behind us trying to go forward, but if you were firm, most left you alone. except the ones who would try to come in from the side.

we were between KAZ and Hyde and as folks were pulled out everyone moved up. kudos to Security on a good job overall. one poor girl came staggering back about half through, all one could do was pass her on back. early on i had a woman of generous posterior proportions nearly knock me down a couple of times with her pelvic thrusts right into my belly. not cool in cramped quarters. even if girls with long hair had it pulled back, people were so sweaty the hair would stick to the people around them. did not intentionally pull anyone's hair. there were 2 goodly sized women, possibly Japanese, but tanned with streaked hair,(they showed up around 6:45 or so in line behind me). they did knock me into Lane, who stood me back on my feet. they just shoved anyone in their path down as they pushed to the front early on. i have bruises and very sore ribs even still. and we did move to the back during the intermission before encore and didn't try to come back very far for the last bit. got too overheated, blood sugar ills, feet and bones killing me etc. Lane also has arthritis in her knees, we get it young, and was starting to feel the jumping. but it was ALL good. pain is no big thing.

as for the band...i've been to a lot of rock shows in my time, from small live houses to giant stadium venues. and multi-day festivals as well. this will be placed in the memory banks as the most energized show from both band and audience perspective and all in a good way. you could see the energy pouring off Hyde and Ju-ken as they pressed the crowd to take it a notch higher continuously. KAZ did the same in a more laid-back and polished type of move, which was fascinating as well. i didn't have good visual of Jin or Ari's face, but i know they were equally committed. sometimes Hyde's voice was a bit lost in the powerful guitar/bass wave of sound as it crashed into the mass's own roar. i honestly don't think there will be much footage turn up for this one, saw only a couple of cameras maybe, a few cell phones, very little compared to NY's offerings on YouTube, or either Warped show. i guess security scared people off. *shrugs* too bad. hoped some folks had caught a bit. so many parts i'd love to have to remember that night.

Sweet Dreams was already my fav from the album, but that performance was too beautiful. Ju-ken's bass...not only sounded wonderful but a stand-up is so damn sexy. XD Hyde's voice was everything i hoped for...was what snagged me years ago and made me laugh, cry and love his singing all over again just like then. KAZ astounded me so many times, he's one of my favorite guitarists because he can be versatile and is always so cool. watching KAZ smile and laugh is akin to watching Yukihiro do the same. you want to be in on the joke so you can smile and laugh with them. all-in-all, since this is an epistle now, if i never get to go to another show again, i could be content with this. i enjoyed myself that much. surprisingly, after all the screaming and singing every song at full strength (sorry any one who's ears i blasted, couldn't help it. been waiting a long time to do that), i did not have a trace of hoarseness after. was tired, sore, drenched in sweat of many people, thirsty like crazy and so sad to see it end. also, did not get sunburn or allergic rash due to liberal SPF85. works wonders.

thanks every one who worked at the line. sorry i didn't get to sign the East Coast FB, my biggest regret besides not really meeting you all. it just never made past the 100th or so spot, i was 120 and looked for it 4 times. learned a lesson there. only got to do the thank you cause i stood in front of Shadow until she finished just so i could get something besides the banner. ah well. such is luck. i did get to do what i wanted, see and hear the band and say my thanks in person. all that matters.