visions of clarity...do as infinity

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Training Days 2006 Drug Party DVD

=D

As mentioned in my previous post, I received the DVD today! I was so excited, I went to watch it immediately. Haha. And my brother was complaining that I blasted it damn loudly.xP Not loud enough for Gackt.xD Haha.

Okay, I LOVED THIS CONCERT. The set list is fantastic!!! xD

And I apologise for no screencaps.=X I'm using old file pictures/scans from myself and from kind people on LJ.^_^

Training Days 2006 Drug Party
Cube
Maria
uncontrol
絵夢~for my dear
seven
REDEMPTION
Ash
NINE SPIRAL
Speed Master
Lu:na
Storm
Papa lapped a pap lopped
Kalmia
Fragrance
mind forest
Metamorphoze
Birdcage
Mirror
ANOTHER WORLD
君が追いかけた夢

Note: Mirror, ANOTHER WORLD and 君が追いかけた夢 are actually the encore.

Setlist
^_^ Very nice setlist, lots of fast-paced tracks and just "絵夢~for my dear" and "Fragrance" as his slower tracks.=) So this gave the concert a lot of energy and a fast-paced rhythm which got the audience all hyped up and everything. I'm only concerned that "Cube" is a good song but not a fabulous opener. It's good for people like me who adore the song, but if you aren't too fond of it, it's not a good opening song because it doesn't have that upbeat tempo that suit opening songs.

Stage Performance
Great stuff! xD I will drone on about Gackt's costume later. He has stated that his singing style has been altered a little and you can hear that in most of the songs except things like "NINE SPIRAL" and "Speed Master". This change kind of dies in the middle of the concert and picks up again in the later part. Haha. I love his new singing style though. It showed really well in "Cube" and was especially obvious because it was the first song. Oh! And Gackt has.. *gasp* LEARNT TO DANCE!!! Seriously! He can really swivel his hips now in an omg-dies manner.xD xD xD I melted. Absolutely melted. xD Hehe. And and and! He could actually DANCE. Like a human being! And not like a robot!!! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ I am very proud of him. Beams!

My inner fangirl squealed and jumped up and down with excitement when he was dancing and swivelling his hips in the sexiest manner possible.xD xD xD

Costume
Unlike his previous concerts, there were no elaborate costume changes here. It was one outfit and for the first half, he wore a coat over that outfit. But OMG. The outfit. *drools* First of all, I must look for Gackt's personal trainer and employ him. Somehow, Gackt manages to work out by getting leaner and leaner without gaining muscle bulk! It's AMAZING! xD So he looked fabulous in the ripped top and pants with those sexy belt thingies on the thigh. xD xD xD He did a super deliberate, pre-orchestrated "shrug off the coat" thing which elicited a few screams from the less-knowing fangirls. Haha. You see Gackt. These overused tricks don't work anymore! Tsk tsk.

Stage Set
The stage was pretty small but then again, Zepp is a livehouse so that's quite expected. Hence, the decor was quite simple, 2 pillars, a chandelier and the background had the Drug Party ... logo thing. During certain songs, they would use a projector to flash images on the back wall.^_^ That was quite pretty but it's quite far removed from Gackt's usual drama. Haha.

GacktJOB
^_^ They've got a new drummer called Junji! ^_^ And the performance of Mirror. *thumbs up* I usually HATE it when they play Mirror [I think it's the only Gackt song I don't like.xP] but this performance was GREAT STUFF! xD They had great energy throughout the concert which was great though not much interaction.. I've noticed that Gackt likes.. Order on stage. [Everyone gets a fixed position on stage.] Haha. Still, I think it'd be nicer if they moved around more and had more interaction with Gackt.^_^

DVD Extras
The Mirror performance in the actual concert footage is cut but you get the full "Drug Party" version in the "extras". ^_^ You also get this "Gackt Commercial Film Collection on DRUG PARTY" in 3 languages: Japanese, Korean and Mandarin [some dubbed, some subtitled]. ^_^ It's quite cool, first they've got CMs then they play the "opening video" that they play before each Drug Party concert starts! ^_^ Very nice. The Japanese version would have the opening video they played in Japan, the Korean one gets the one they played in Korea and the Chinese one gets the one they played in Taiwan! So you get to see all the opening videos! That is cool.=)

Highlights!
- Gackt plays the drums. HE LOOKS AMAZING WITH DRUMS. *dies*
- Gackt can dance! He must have practiced extremely hard to improve. Haha.
- His swivelling hips thing. He looked so pleased that he could swivel his hips, he kept doing it. And my inner fangirl squealed with happiness every single time.
- The Mirror "Drug Party Version" is well worth watching.xD
- The DVD extras!
- His new and improved voice. He sounds extremely good in this concert.^_^ [Plus, I was blasting it on the surround system so that helped too.xD]
- HIS COSTUME. *drools*

ETA:
Oh. Can I add that.. Gackt looks absolutely droolfully meltingly hot when he kisses a girl? Even if she's wearing a mask? [Once again, I bet its to protect the dancers from rabid fangirls. Haha.xD]

I couldn't stop squealing. O___________o

Points to note:
- Usually Gackt Concert DVDs are split into 2 discs about halfway through the concert, this one is slightly different. I was totally panicking about this.xD Haha.
- The included booklet is a measly 4 pages long.-_-" [Meaning 4 sides on 1 folded piece of glossy hard paper] And there's the lyrics fold-out too.
- They didn't change his official website to "gackt.com" so everything is still "www.dears.ne.jp".

Other than that, enjoy the concert!!! It's amazing!! =D And to my friends, if you want to watch, PLEASE COME OVER. I will bake for you. I will watch with you. Again and again and again!!! xD xD xD Beams!

And I was in such a good mood, my orange cupcakes turned out rather well if I do say so myself. Yay!

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Ares Gackt]
[mood : xD xD xD extremely cheerful]
[food : orange cupcakes!!!]

Wendaye: You MUST watch!!! It's damn nice. Of course, I'm biased. But please don't take that into consideration.xD Haha.

Labels: DVD review, Gackt, GacktJOB, misc, orange cupcakes, tour 2006

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Yoshiki Symphonic Concert

The Yoshiki Symphonic Concert with Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra featuring VIOLET UK was simply beautiful.

The orchestral arrangements for the X Japan songs are so beautiful. Yoshiki is really a brilliant composer, he made use of so many different instruments to give the most gorgeous sound ever. I was just swooning with delight listening to the orchestra play.. =) =) =) And the singers were pretty good too.. Especially the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls. O my gosh. She sounded so good.

Track Listing:
OPENING
1. Say Anything
2. Amethyst
3. The Last Song
4. Unnamed Song
5. Forever Love
6. Longing
7. Amethyst with Vocal
8. Seize the light
9. I'll be your love
10. Screaming blue
11. Blind Dance
12. Anniversary
13. Endless Rain
14. Tears

Blind Dance was an experimental VIOLET UK track that was partly strange and strangely beautiful. I loved the last bit.. But the front bit was kinda O.o

Anniversary was the piece Yoshiki composed for the Emperor's 10th anniversary of reign in Japan. It was .. wonderful. I loved it. He paired the orchestra and the piano together so well, it must've been amazing to play it in front of the emperor. =)

I felt that what marred the concert and irritated me absolutely and completely were the stupid, rude and annoying fangirls and fanboys. While I completely understand that screaming a very strangled "YOSHIKI!!!!!!!!!!!!" over and over is very much part of the fan's repertoire, it is simply unnecessary to do so over and over again during a classical concert. Especially when the orchestra and Yoshiki are still playing. Perhaps appluading loudly at the end would be more appropriate in expressing support? Scream if you wish, but can you PLEASE NOT INTERRUPT THE PLAYING AND YOSHIKI'S TOUCHING SPEECHES?!

I was cursing them when I was listening to the concert. Like. OMG. SHUT UP YOU STUPID COWS. Here I am, simply trying to enjoy the music but no! You insist on KILLING IT by SCREAMING NON STOP LIKE HE DIDN'T HEAR YOU THE FIRST TIME.

I prefer X Japan fans when they sing along to the pieces, in this case, the fans sang to Endless Rain. That is all well and good and even sweet and touching but HELLO. Don't Scream Unnecessarily. *ferocious glare*

Apart from those..irritants, I thought the concert was recorded very well though the DVD was wonky at points but I think that can be blamed on the overheating laptop.. Once I lifted the laptop up for a while, everything returned to normal..=) Heh.

This is a wonderful concert to watch but really, the main focus of this concert is in listening to it.^_^ Something the fans there didn't seem to understand.

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Yoshiki Symphonic Concert]
[mood : dreamy and sleepy]
[food : --]

Labels: DVD review, Yoshiki

Friday, October 20, 2006

The Red and Blue Rebirth xD

Hello

Okay. The title is completely LAME and out of point. But you must forgive me.=D I'm in a happy bouncy Renewed Gackt Fangirl state!!! xD xD xD xD xD

Beams!

I LOVE THE RED AND BLUE FILMOGRAPHIES. Beams! =D =D =D And Rebirth is beyond pretty as well. ;) Yay. O god I LOVE THIS SONG. *dies of happiness* =D =D =D And and.. he looks so damn good!!! *dies again* =D

Anyway, before I get carried away in my GACKT LOVE! state, all I can [OMG HIS EYES ARE GORGEOUS] say for SEA is.. O dear. Haha.=P I mean.. The paper was okay and I'm actually surprisingly pleased with my General Impact answer [I tried to recall all the facts I could.O.o Allow me to live in my little bubble of disillusionment while I can!!! (T_T)] and well.. Yea. It wasn't half bad. Certified documents to be true and then.. ^_^ BEAMS.

Right. [AHHHHHHHHH DAMN PRETTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *DIES*] Ahem. As I was saying..
Allow me to get into Renewed Gackt Fangirl state.^_^ Because.. I can't help it!!! xD xD xD BEAMS! Haha. I have SIX PAGES of scribbling while watching the videos.. Haha. Was a bit incoherent for the ones I was drooling over..=X Anyway, allow me to point out some things before I begin
- Gackt seriously thinks Los Angeles = Los Angels. *dies* He shot quite a few videos in "Los Angels" Ahaha. *sniggers*
- When I say Live Performance, it does not necessarily refer to a concert sort of performance. I just mean that it appears to be performed right there in front of you and isn't styled like the usual PV.^_^
- It's great because before each video, there's like a 20 second introduction thing that tells you the director, who appears in the videos, the place of shooting, release date and stuff like that. The videos also have subtitles [you can choose to turn it off] so like.. OMG. I actually found out what You was rapping in Redemption!!! AHAHA.=P

Right. I started off with The Greatest Filmography 1999-2006 ~Blue~ because I expected myself to not like it as much as Red.=D Beams.

I'll be going video by video to give you a brief idea of what I thought.=)

saikai~Story~
Clothes for this video are like.. so 3 million years ago. O.o Like hello. Does Gackt think he still resides in the pre-war era or something? It's a nice setting though.. It was filmed in Saipan which, according to the video, is in USA. Or something like that. Which gets me wondering.. How can a place called Saipan possibly be in the US? O.o Unless it's a US colony or something. Anyway.. Gackt looks normal in this video and I absolutely adore this song but.. I think we should STAB THAT GIRL NOW. *glares* Moving on..

Kimi no tameni dekiru koto
I hate the clothes. I hate the styling. I hate the random house. What is that crazy girl in white doing?! But. I love this song.=)

Tsuki no uta~TSUKI no UTA~
This video is completely animated as it's for the anime Texhnolyze [I'm not quite sure how to spell it. I mean, it's not even a proper WORD.]. It's got a weird CG person, who is supposed to be Gackt, in some gruesome robot-without-limbs state. It's a very bizarre video. I do love the song though.=D

Kimi ga matteiru kara~UNPLUGGED~
It's a live performance in front of a seated audience and Gackt, You and Chacha play the guitar onstage while Ryu shakes this.. Thing with like beans or rice inside and Ju-ken is on a bass. Gackt has like, perfect skin here. *sighs dreamily* I wish I could have skin that looked like that. Although this is a nice song.. I really prefer the original.=) It's much more dramatic with orchestral accompainiment [spelling?] and thus, I like it better.=)

Todokanai Ai to Shitteita no ni Osaekirezu ni Aishitsuzuketa...
The song with the extremely long title has a very cheesy video. It's got 2 really hideous vampire people and Gackt looks like some random homeless guy with nice clothes in the castle.-_-" Can I be more unimpressed with this video which is supposed to accompany a song I really like?

Juunigatsu no Love Song
There's YOU!!! xD xD xD He's wandering around New York and Gackt pops up in the most random ghostly manner. It's very bizarre. And Gackt has really bad hair. This song was written in commemoration of the victims of 9-11 so they show Gackt's message right at the end and boy does he have hideous handwriting [in English].O.o The video has the film crew going around asking people to write messages of love, peace and hope on big cards and show it to the camera.=) It's quite a sweet and feel-good song. And.. You writes a letter. In ENGLISH. AHAHA.=P

Last Song~UNPLUGGED~
This is a live performance of Gackt on piano with lots of close-ups of his hands!! =) =) =) Okay. So his hands are quite ugly.. I bet it's from playing too much guitar.O.o Anyway, there are really cool lights over the piano.. It's shaped like an UFO. Haha.=X I love the piano bits.. *dies of happiness* SO BEAUTIFUL. =) But as I peered at the video.. He's lip-syncing!!!!! Isn't he? *peers*

Kimi ni aitakute
I love this song. And.. He looks DAMN GOOD in this video. *bounces around happily* He has this.. earnest and goodlooking and sad expression that just made my heart break!!! (T_T) The whole video is shot in sepia-ish tones and muted colours which contribute to the atmosphere of the video quite well.=) However.. This is another video where we must all STAB THE GIRL NOW. *glares*

Arittake no ai de
The video is really cute and really lame. Haha.=P Gackt is hilarious. But his hair is really really ugly.. frizzy and disgusting. O.o Never ever crimp your hair children. It looks BAD. I'm not quite fond of this song though. It's nice but it's bit too.. Happy.*cringe*

Last Song
This is the original version of Last Song and I love it!!! =D Beams. It's a very random video that's shot in sepia tones where Gackt appears to be this.. struggling musician. AHAHA. *guffaws* Completely hilarious although the video itself is quite sad. He writes the score to Last Song in the video and gives it to this homeless street busker. =P I have no idea what the connection is. And.. Poor You has to wear a mask again!!! [Like in Mizerable] Oh. And you know what? STAB THAT GIRL NOW.

Mirror~UNPLUGGED~
Another live performance and this was taken from one of the Platinum Boxes [the 2004 one I think?]. It has urm.. Random dancing and.. Gackt.. *cringe* hops around. Haha. He looks good obviously but you know.. the dancing.. Urm.. *twitch* Oh and I squealed with delight when I saw him get really close to You. ;) So cute!!! Beams. Happy Gackt = Happy Me! YAY! ^_^ And methinks he does much better in small group performances.. I think the whole intimate setting thing works for him.=)

Love Letter
Gosh. I love this song.=) It's really sweet. The video is a lazy way out and features footage from the Diabolos concert and "various Asian countries" [direct quote from the video]. It also has small flashes of all his past tours, Mars, Requiem et Reminiscence, Kagen no Tsuki, Jougen no Tsuki and The Sixth Day and Seventh Night.=) [Should I be worried that I know all this? O.o] The video feels like this.. "let's see how Gackt was like through the years but we must keep referencing back to Diabolos" thing.^_^"

Beams. I thought it ended off on a good note.=) With your heart filled with warmth and happiness.. You move on to The Greatest Filmography 1999-2006 ~Red~.

This one has all the rock songs while the Blue one has all the slow songs.=) Wee!

ANOTHER WORLD
Wee! This video was shot in Hong Kong with YOU!!! =D Yay. There are like.. Random gangster wannabes and references to the movie Moon Child, like they are meant to complement each other.=S The girl in the video is rather hideous but all is well again when you see Gackt wielding pistols! =D Beams. At the end of the video, you see Gackt shot [omg. (T_T)] and a cute random doll. This video has a story in it but it's fun to watch it on your own.=)

OASIS
This video was shot in Nevada in the desert and has Gackt in his weird potato sack. O.o It's also got a weird Star Wars reference with this little boy who looks like Anakin wandering around the desert. Like.. How strange is that? Oh, and you've got this strange girl who's outfit reminds me of a fish/mermaid and seems to be like The Neverending Story movie. [I love that movie by the way. It was so tragic!] Despite all this strangeness, I thought the editors made good use of colour filters and different shooting angles to add interest to the video.=)

Secret Garden
Los Angels *sniggers* was the shooting ground for this video. Gackt looks really scary and like, anorexic in this video.O.o The video features all these random people from all walks of life and appears to be like some kind of social message of some sort.O.o I have no idea about that but.. I really like this song! ^_^ [kudos to brother dear who actually had it on his computer when I was first seeking out Gackt. Hooray Piggy!]

REDEMPTION
I love this song because it's full of energy and is rather rock inspired.=) Gackt wears his DoC [Dirge of Cerberus] outfit in this video and there are weird bird references in this video. They've also got scary birds [like crows] and cute owls! ^_^ I don't really understand the birds thing but.. I did figure out what You was saying. ;) His Engrish is great.

Mizerable
I LOVE THIS VIDEO. Gackt! In his kingly state! And I LOVE THIS SONG. Ahh. This video is just.. fantastic!!! Except for the fact that You has to wear his really scary and ugly mask. Oh. And Gackt looks really skinny in those forest scenes.. and he twitches and spasms [and convulses and embarrasses me endlessly] in the desert, among rock formations and in the forest. But apart from that.. I LOVE THIS VIDEO!!! And for the first time in my life, I heard a variation in the song in this video! Le Gasp. I need to watch my other versions and see..

BLACK STONE
This was filmed in Sydney in what looks like the outback! =) It's got a fat random truck driver, the video is filmed in/on/with a truck and the final scene is incredibly puzzling to me. The song is a happy, bouncy rock-ish song where the band members have cool hair but funny outfits [they wear what they also wear in the Diabolos concert "fun" segment - the U+K, Mirror, etc etc segment].

sekirei~seki-ray~
I LOVE AND ADORE THIS VIDEO. And THIS SONG. Gackt is so gorgeous in this video.. and he's heartachingly pretty.. and goodlooking.. and.. *swoons* xD xD xD I love snow. I love this song. I love how it's shot. And it's full of imagery [that I don't understand]. *drifts off happily* And they've got the most gorgeous closeup of Gackt ever.

Vanilla
Everyone's favourite song! =D He's got his anime-ish hair that looks like Cloud's [from Final Fantasy].=D Haha. Unfortunately for the viewer, this is the song where Gackt just loves to twitch..and spasm..and "dance" in general.^_^" It's very amusing and with many many weird females surrounding him, it's easy to just focus your attention on Gackt and try to prevent yourself from sniggering. The main girl is rather pretty though.=D Again, there's weird imagery in this video but.. I was more amused with his Engrish. ;) And apparently, it's supposed to be "a crew sees crying knees. Wanna need. Not betray!". ^_^" *hides in embarrassment*

Kimi ga oikaketa yume
Vivian Hsu appears in this video with Gackt.=) I like this song.. and I like the jacket he's wearing and he looks rather good.. Especially when you see him in his wifebeater. *swoons and dies*

Mirror
Again, it's shot in Los Angels.-_-" Well.. My thoughts: Ugly hair. Ugly outfits. Weird Setting. And I don't really like this song. 'Nuff said.

Wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra
Cool bike!!! =D Apparently it's one of like only 200 bikes in the world or something. I love this song and he's lookin' good! [Especially when you compared him to Mirror.O.o] There are lots of random shots of flowers and water and urm.. What's with the bizarre nude makeup that isn't really nude but wishes to be nude? O.o And the cameraman is terrible. What's with the lousy close-up shots? -_-"

Metamorphoze
This is a Gundam-inspired space video with Gackt in some bizarre robot suit "fighting" against some enemy. He looks quite fetching in his "I'm supposed to be defeated and dead" state.^_^" Heh. It's quite a cool video because even the subtitles are made to fit the mood of the video and this Gundam thing? It probably fulfilled Gackt's wildest dreams to be like those Gundam characters.=D The only difference would be that he's about 3 million times better looking. Haha.=P

-end-

O gosh. Watching everything at once sends me into JOY!!! =D =D =D As I had already predicted, I enjoyed the "red" collection a lot more because there are more videos that I like. =D I like the songs in the "blue" collection but I really prefer the "red" videos.=D =D =D BEAMS.

The Rebirth album is a lot like Moon and Mizerable with the CD in this cardboard section and the pages as "hard" cardboard.^_^ I love Gackt's marketing people. I adore them. They make everything so damn pretty. *beams!*

I'm very pleased now.^_^ Time to study! Wee!
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : songs from The Greatest Filmography 1999-2006 ~Red~ and ~Blue~]
[mood : ecstatically floating in the clouds!]
[food : pineapple tarts!]

Wee!!! And I realised that the phrase "I heart Gackt" kind of rhymes!!! AHAHA.=X

Labels: DVD review, Gackt

Twittering~