[LIVE REPORT]
I got there around 1pm. I managed to get a spot in the line beneath the theater’s sign board thank god. I talked to one of the street team mods she was really friendly so I felt at ease cause I went alone to the live. They borrowed my silver sharpie cause they didn’t have a marker that could write on the blue part of the American flag. I signed “I flew from Trinidad and Tobago to see you.” A few ppl were like “Wow you came from so far.” Staff then closed off the VIP line on my end and sent other VIPs to the other side.
During my wait in the line a lot of random ppl on the street came up to me or the people around me to ask who was playing. Even an open top bus tour guide shouted down to us to ask who was playing today. Idk why I felt a sense of happiness when non fans ask about the band. I felt proud. I also saw one of the band’s staff recording and taking pics of the sign board. I thought I saw someone like Shinchiro Ikeda (Aoi’s makeup guy) but I am honestly not sure.
FC checks and ID checks happened first. The woman saw my TnT National ID card and told me “Wow did you fly from there?” The guy handing out the bracelet said “That is a 6hr flight.” She then took my arm and said “I hope you enjou the show.” The bracelets are red and black. The colour changes per live (Dallas got grey, Mexico got the MONSTER colours) Then the ticket checks, where we got blue wristbands. Near the start of when the VIPs had to go in. The LED board showed a different GazettE ad but it was longer, showed up often and had clips of UNDYING. Ppl on my side cheered when they saw it reflected on a bus. A staff came round asking if we had presents. Someone gave a The Walking Dead present bag. They said we’d go in about 5:30 it was a lie we went in an hour later.
When we finally got inside we were squished on a staircase for sometime then went to collect shirts. After leaving I went to buy merch. At this live they just sold the 2 WT shirts, the hoodie and a bandana.
Going into the hall….I am a tiny, bitch who is from the Caribbean where it’s hot all year round hence this NY chill made me feel horrible plus I lost my appetite when I arrived in NY so no way in hell I was planning for the front to get pushed around. I just wanted to be on Uruha’s side. Thankfully there was a metal pillar on his side so I stood infront of it so no one could push or headbang on me. Surprisingly I had a lot of room for most of the live. I was happy that I chose this spot.
People cheered when the crew came to do their checks. I freaked the fuck out when I saw the Green Hellion. I had good views of Uruha the most, Ruki and Kai.
The theater went black then the mist ,red light illuminated and NIHIL started. My eyes did not leave the corner of the stage. In my head I was freaking out like “OMG OMG OMG OMG THEY ARE REAL! THIS IS HAPPENING!” when Kai appeared. When Uruha appeared on my side I was struck, like wow he is actually infront of me. In that moment it was like I saw an angel descend from heaven. Then Ruki and his hat came on and despite that to me he had an intimidating and some what god like presence on the stage. I didn’t see Reita or Aoi. They played DOGMA first. I heard there were crowdsurfers and a pit but I didn’t see anything as Uruha’s side was a bit more calm compared to Aoi’s side/Center as most people who wanted to avoid the rowdiness were there. Most people where I was were just dancing and doing hand movements. To be honest I was very thankful for that. Everytime Ruki encouraged us or I saw Uruha urging us and putting effort into their performances some unknown presence made me want to do the same, despite my appetite issues though I had to rest for a few songs. The thing about their music is that even though you don’t like the audio version of the song, the live version will just grip ,posess you and force you to enjoy it. I am not a fan of UGLY but I went berserk during that song and wish they played it again because just so I could headbang and jump to it again. Aoi came across to our side early and Uru stood behind him and let him play on his side for a bit then I think Uru ran off to Aoi’s side. Those 2 are my favourites so seeing them playing together was enough to kill me lol. Ruki ran his hand down his chest for one of the earlier songs. One of Ruki’s MC was “We are the GazettE from Japan.” We screamed. They played RAGE after and that was another song I had fun. Other songs I loved was DERRANGEMENT, FITB, FADLESS and VORTEX. For VORTEX Ruki made us sing the “I don’t wanna become fking garbage like you.” And I can’t remember if this was the song he swung the microphone for. During FITB Ruki made us sing the first part and the “Closet mind” part. For the first part of the solo I watched the synchronised headbanging then joined in. Twice Reita raised his bass. Kai was a beast and always had a smile or expression of enjoying his job as a drummer. He told us three times “You guys are fucking crazy.” Later I would learn that it was because of the pit during the song.
The encore was a mess (I say a mess cause there are ppl who still believe the good ol 2006 if you don’t cry “Encore” in unision and loudly they won’t do the encore) cause ppl were shouting five different things (ONE MORE SONG! ENCORE! ENKOREI, GAZETTE, WE FUCKING LOVE YOU) or one side was saying something while the other side didnt but they came back dressed in the WT shirts. Uruha wore the MALUM shirt. (Ruki came out with the street team’s American flag) and played AGONY, COCKROACH and TOMORROW NEVER DIES. During COCKROACH I was jumping around, not paying attention, didn’t see a trashbin right there and almost fell in it. At the end Ruki said “Thank you New York, See you again.”
At the end they held hands and bowed. They also took pics/selfies. Uruha threw picks. Uru is very sweet, he saw some girls on the stairs next to me hold out their arms and he threw his pick at them….mind you he missed the first one cause it hit the roof and bounced off but he threw another one that sailed over to them. Kai threw his drumsticks and high fived people in the crowd. I couldnt really see Aoi and Reita’s throws.
This was emotional for me because I truly believed I’d never see them live and it was a dream that was dying. I wanted to go to CODA but had problems getting the Japanese visa so I felt like this would never happen but it did. I had to watch ppl go in the past and yearn for it because of many problems but I realize that things take it’s own time and all I needed was to be patient. Our minds and hearts can tell us that something will never happen and we can truly feel that but sometimes, life is funny and things do work out. I just needed to have faith and patience. I honestly got emotional thinking about my 16 yr old self and how I acheived her dream. I can’t believe tonight actually happened.
