This was a live featuring a bunch of bands, including VOLUME ACE, XYXX, Planet Gold 2010 (LOL), Aural Vampire, and a band called DAZZLE that I didn't stick around for lol. In that order. It was a lot of fun! I was a bit confused about how the ticket price worked out with the reservation. I'm assuming it was the 2,500yen price for reserving since the total came out to be 3,100 yen with the drink ticket. I hate those stupid drink tickets. D: They make you pay for an extremely overpriced drink (whether or not you end up ordering anything) or else you can't get in. It's so dumb. I remember one dinky place in Osaka made my friend and I buy a drink ticket that costed 1000 yen. $10 drink WHOO!
When I arrived at Ootsuka, I immediately went to locate the venue before doing anything else. It was a nasty, rainy day, so walking around wasn't much fun, but thankfully the place was really easy to find. I went in to ask about when to pick up my ticket, and when the girl told me they opened up at 6, I decided I had plenty of time to grab some dinner and went out to find a place to eat. I decided on MosBurger since I haven't eaten there since...well, the last time I was in Japan.
T'was delish. I love me some melon soda too. If there's going to be one thing I miss when I go back home, it's going to be melon soda. D:
Also, I found it amusing that I had JUST seen a thing on TV the other day about this trolley, and bam there it was. XD I wanted to get a picture of one of the cars en route, but didn't have the time to wait.
After dinner, I headed back to the venue and was right on time.
The inside of the venue. I was one of the first people there, so I had an open selection of where I wanted to situate myself. I thought it would be comfy to sit in the middle row, so I planted myself there.
During my wait, I ordered my drink. May as well right? I went with a cassis soda. I don't know if it was alcoholic or not, lol, couldn't tell, but the girl at the counter said it was sweet, so I went with it. It was pretty good, though they didn't give me much. D: The photo was taken before I started drinking any of it.
They had info scrolling on the curtain during the wait, and the day's live popped up, so I took a picture. XD
Last photo before the show - I mostly just wanted to get a picture of the goth girl. xD She's so goth she watches from the shadows.
The performances were all good. It would have been nice if Ren's performance hadn't been first, since there weren't many people there at the start. People started trickling in throughout the event, so it went from like...15 people to 30-40 maybe by the end of it. But I thought they put on a good show, and I'm glad I got to see them myself. :3
Next was XYXX. I only knew the name because of Ren, but don't recall having heard their music. The vocalist had been sitting through most of VA's performance, which was something I'm not used to seeing (performers not out of reach and sitting amongst everyone like they're nothing special?!). I ran out to the bathroom right after VA's performance, and on my way back in I ran into Ren. She followed me in to watch some of XYXX's show, saying they were really good. And they were! I enjoyed their performance a lot. They kind of remind me of NOIZ, except...I dunno. Not as flamboyant and more rock-like? But they seem like a fun band. It was amusing to watch the fans, the few though they were, as they have all these little dances coordinated and they aren't afraid to headbang over the rails, just inches away from the performers. XD
Next was this duo called Planet Gold 2010. My god, how do you describe these two? They were very very...interesting. They basically performed poppy electronic stuff, and did dances to it. They were incredibly silly. I was a bit disturbed by the guy's costume exposing his booty quite blatantly, as he was of course wearing a thong and I didn't really want to see that, haha. But everyone seemed to like them a lot. I just snagged some photos from their blog, so take a look for yourself. No backshots, but that's probably a good thing, lol. XD
The two of them with Aural Vampire.
Next was Aural Vampire. This was actually the only group (besides VA) that I had actually heard the music of before. Well, a little anyway. I knew what to expect. They have a really nice sound. They also had a screen for visuals, and the DJ had interesting masks that lit up and stuff, so it was visually fun too. XD I feel like I lucked out on the line-up, seriously. I enjoyed the whole show.
After Aural Vampire, I went out to chat with Ren, who was running VA's table. XYXX's vocalist Hiroki was also there and hanging out. He was drunk though and being incredibly silly. It was a lot of fun chatting with the two of them though. XD Hiroki seems like a nice guy, and Ren is awesome as always. I got a sample CD from XYXX's drummer earlier, and I got one from Ren too. <3 I should have gotten one from Aural Vampire too, assuming they had some, dangit. Oh well. I has two awesome souvenirs. After talking for a while with the two of them, I reluctantly took my leave since it was getting late. I really wanted to stay for like, an hour longer, but alas, it was Thursday so it wasn't quite the weekend yet. It was fun times though. :D
That was pretty much my night. It was my first experience with a show like that, featuring small bands and an extremely informal atmosphere. I really liked it. If I had the money to go to more shows, I would totally do it. D: But $30 a pop adds up fast.
