11.25 「love music」 recording report
Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to be one of 120 fanclub members to be selected to participate in the recording of the love music performance!
G&Lovers put out a call for participants about 2 weeks ago and you had to meet certain criteria (not be in high school/come wearing a school uniform, be able to bring the light sticks from the tour etc.), which I did, so I applied and was chosen! The filming night was actually on a work day for me, but my very kind co-worker was able to cover for me, so I was able to go.
A photo posted by Shelley シェリー (@tokyo_shelley) on Nov 16, 2016 at 3:56am PST
We all had to gather at the Fuji TV building over on Odaiba at 8pm to get our ID checked and then had to report back at 9:30pm. Most of the people were women in their 20s - 30s, but there were a handful of guys. I hadn’t realized at first, because I’m an idiot who doesn’t read emails properly, but we had all been randomly assigned a number which determined where we would stand. Mine ended up being #15, which meant the front row! (That also meant that you can see me fairly clearly multiple times throughout the broadcast ^^;; )
A photo posted by Shelley シェリー (@tokyo_shelley) on Nov 25, 2016 at 8:14am PST
Anyway, we all had our IDs checked and then dispersed to the surrounding shopping centers before returning at 9:30. We were led inside and into a room where they gave us some more details and we left our bags and coats before being led to the studio around 10pm.
The stage was in a big warehouse-type space, with one of the other sets used in the show next door. It was smaller than I had expected, and we were also much closer to the stage than I’d thought we would be. At that point the staff talked to us some more and explained what they wanted us to do during the recording and so on. They asked us to practise waving the lightsticks as we do at the lives, which we all agreed was hard to do without music!
Then everything was finally set up and Gackt and co came out! My good fortune with the standing position continued, as I ended up being right in front of the stage entrance-exit, so when they all came out they were literally within touching distance (which no one attempted, there was just waving and cheering). If memory serves me right, they came out You - Sato - Val - Chacha - G. Everyone was super-smiley, which was awesome to see up close!
As you can see in the video, they were all wearing the same outfits as the tour, minus some hair colour changes from Val and Sato (and probably Chacha, but who can keep up with that man and his hair?) As soon as G got on stage, everyone started yelling about how tan he was, which he responded to by saying that both dark and light skin are fine (everyone agreed).
He talked to us for about five minutes or so (bits of which can be seen in the video, in random order), where he mentioned a little bit about the Trickster anime (which I didn’t follow since I’m not watching it - bad fan, sry), told us that Kimi Boku is a sad song which made everyone cry during the tour, especially Val (who then demonstrated), and managed to get in yet another dig at Chacha about his age:
G: *realises he hasn’t put in his in-ear monitors* Hey, I’m getting old.. I’m 43 y’know!
G: But it’s okay, there are still people here who are older than me *looks pointedly at Chacha*
After a bit more banter, he finally introduced the song and started. As you can see in the video, it was a cool performance! However, what you see in the video is actually attempt number four (!) because he screwed up several times XD
The first time, he got through the whole song and then announced that he’d messed up the lyrics (I didn’t notice where). The members all went off stage again (and one of the girls near me got a high-five from Val when he walked past) and the staff had to quickly adjust the cameras and vacuum up the black feathers that fell during the second half of the song.
They then all came back out again to cheers and G did some more brief banter (”Long time no see!” “This is like dejavu..”) and started again. However, he didn’t even finish the first verse before he stopped again, I think because he wasn’t happy with how the vocals sounded. More camera adjusting and some ‘kawaii~!’s from the crowd (got the “I’m not cute!” which you can see in the video as a response) and attempt number three started. Again, he didn’t get past the first verse, and this time the make up staff came rushed out for touch-ups while he was visibly mouthing the lyrics. He didn’t seem particularly irritated or anything though, I guess having to do re-takes just comes with the territory. Finally, attempt number four was a success and is what you can see above!
The band left the stage first and Chacha handed his (pink) pick to the girl next to me, which was sweet (yes, ‘handed’, not ‘threw’, that’s how close we were!) G stuck around a few moments longer while a couple of promo photos were taken and then left to more cheers and waves. Everyone then scooped up a ton of black feathers as souvenirs (I just grabbed one) and we were led back to our bags and out of the building. I think it was about 10:50pm by the time we left, so altogether the recording itself took about 30~40 minutes.
A photo posted by Shelley シェリー (@tokyo_shelley) on Nov 16, 2016 at 8:30am PST
(The card had our entry number and other info printed on the back)
Overall it was a truly special experience which I’m very grateful for and will treasure forever! It was so lovely to see everyone up close and looking so great. I messaged some of the members on their various social media to say so (and sent G a long, rambly email), and I hope they had as much fun as we did! Can’t wait to see them all again sometime next year!
