Attention: If you are looking for a detailed analysis of everything that happened, song by song, detail by detail, you better get go look for another article. This, is my personal vision of how I lived the Live and that I want to share with all the visitors of this page.
I remember way back on 2007, when SIAM SHADE made the live in honor of their manager. I felt incredibly frustrated because I couldn’t assist, as the band was separated long ago and the chances to see them Live were so few. That day I promised myself that the next time they’d perform I’d be there, no way out. And that was how… this story begins.
I arrived at Tokyo on July 15th, to the airport of Narita, it was approximately 5pm. The mission was to get to Sendai the day before to reconnoiter the city and be at the outdoors of the Zepp Sendai the next day at first hour. But first I had to get to my hotel in Asakusa, I was very very tired because of the trip, and it was late already, as in Japan it gets dark already at 6 thirty more less on summer afternoons. At the subway, I felt stared at, I wasn’t the tallest, nor the smallest, neither the fattest, not even the whitest, nor anything, but I did was the only foreigner on the wagon and I could felt how everyone was looking at me. As I never before was in Tokyo, I was terrified at the subway (you gotta check on the maps around the web to understand why) And last but not least, I realized one of my fears was true: In Japan, english no way.
The next day I head to Sendai at the very first hour and no matter what I couldn’t find a place to stay for the night, as just those days were part of a long weekend and there was a typical festival going on as each year, for so the city was incredibly crowded and I had zero chances on finding a vacancy in any hotel or hostel, because of so I had to start up plan B, that consist on going to a female friend’s house in Aizuwakamatsu (2 hours and a half by bus) and get back the next day, so that was what I did.
I got early to Sendai, like 11am and you oughta see how do Japanese people attend lives, they are capable of standing in a waiting line for hours under the sun just to purchase some of the merchandising, as the system there is based on order of arrival. But for the Live, you just gotta get a few time earlier, as they guide you in depending on the location and number of your ticket. Advice: if you attend a Live in Japan, just arrive a minutes earlier, that’s enough, unless you wanna purchase expensive merchandising.
It’s interesting to see how SIAM SHADE, contrary to other bands, summons such an heterogeneous public, I could see people from teens to ladies over their 4oties, normal people, lolitas, visuals, etc.
Around 15:30 they started gathering the people into lines to enter the place according to their ticket number, everyone started getting inside in order. It was then, when I could see how the Staff recorded and took photos for footage material that may be edited onwards but I don’t know what for exactly (probably they might expose it in the SIAM SHADE bus for the Saitama Live on October 21st), anyway, I was filmed a few times, so if ever those images come out to light I am the guy with the Chilean flag. Oh well… it was nearly at 16:30 when I was already inside Zepp Sendai in front of the stage. Must have been the longest 30 minutes of my life, time just wouldn’t advance ever.
It was 17:00 o’clock when the sound of 「ＬＩＧＨＴ ＦＯＲ ＣＬＯＳＥＤ ＹＯＵＲ ＥＹＥＳ」started to play ¡The guys get in, the euphoria inside the place is absolute! And they start playing 「RAIN」… It’s real: I am in a SIAM SHADE Live in Japan, my emotion is absolute.
Minutes later and with the advanced Live came the catharsis. Overcome the initial euphoria, suddenly I felt flooded of a different feeling I never felt before: a sort of symbiosis where I could feel myself for the first time as part of a collective feeling, me there, among of a Live of my favorite band, surrounded as never before of lots of people who shared the same passion for the band, it’s just something indescribable.
It was also a very pleasing surprise that they would play songs as 「Destination Truth」, 「LET IT GO」 and 「CAN’T FORGET YOU」, that weren’t performed so often and that were among my favorites. The best for me was in 「LET IT GO」as I started to sing along side-embraced with a fucking amusing jap boy that was next to me.
The atmosphere was in general very very good and I felt very welcome despite being a dirty foreigner. I happened to be next to a pair of very nice japanese, a japanese woman that seemed to be a former fan, maybe from the official fanclub, and next to a very pretty and small japanese girl (brown hair, long, smooth, very tidy and that in the end catched a guitar pick from Natchin or Kazuma, I don’t remember well… if she gets to read this may she follow me in twitter =P) I also enjoyed that they would perform 「グレイシャルLOVE ( GLACIAL LOVE ), as for overseas fans that’s something we’ve never hear Live, as it isn’t edited in any DVD or Live album.
That they would perform 「Sin」 to me was a bit awkward, as it’s not of my fav songs neither is very well known. This is a fact, as very few of us among the audience were singing to the lyrics, in comparison to the rest of songs from the Setlist.
One of the best feelings I had, among all of them, was the fact of being able to sing along the songs that interact with the public the most, as 「D.Z.I.」, 「CAN’T FORGET YOU」, 「Don’t Tell Lies」, 「GET A LIFE」, 「PRIDE」, etc. But without a doubt one of the best moments for me was when in one of the starter songs (don’t remember which exactly): ¡Hideki gets to see my chilean flag, looks astonished, points at me and greets me! reaching the end of the Live Natchin does the same! So my goal of not going unnoticed is unlocked.
About the band, Hideki looked incredibly happy for performing again with SIAM SHADE, it was a noticeable happiness. In addition, we can see he is the one to pull the pranks of the group the most, in example: when the band would get back to the stage for one of the encores, Hideki would hide behind Jun-Ji‘s drums, and when he was about to take seat… Hideki shows up and scares him (xD!). From my location (near the middle of the stage about 10 meters away, you see, very close) I was able to watch well at Hideki, Jun-Ji and Kazuma.
Technical details aside, the sound was good, pretty good. The execution wasn’t neat, and there were minor mistakes from all the members every now and then in one or another song, which wouldn’t darken in any way the great final outcome. Daita doesn’t sound as clean as in the DVDs, which I think definitely humanizes him and Hideki go wrong again in 「1/3の純情な感情」 ( 1/3 no junjou na kanjou ) (which caused general laughter in the audience).
When the live ended they settled 「Dear…」as backing sound, for it to be played meanwhile the people would move out leaving, but the truth was that no one moved an inch, we all stayed there singing the song.
In conclusion, ¡It was an incredible Live to me, I didn’t miss any song (I mean, you just have to take a glance to the Setlist to know it was amazing), it wasn’t a short show to me so I could enjoy it to the fullest and be able to live the dream of being there! As we were heading out we were given away some flyers from the next Live and from each member upcoming events that I promise to scan some day.
N. from A.: This text was written by me for SIAM SHADE Everlasting. Its reproduction is allowed as long as you include a link to the original source page and a link to my twitter account (@gjcounter).
N. from @ShirouJune: The original text is in Spanish. It was translated by me, so I apologize if something isn’t as clear. Special thanks to @de_sus_karish for helping me with some parts of the text & the below image too.
I want to thank @gjcounter for being so kind and taking the time to write this awesome review for all of us, the overseas fans of SIAM SHADE. Thank you very much.
~SIAM SHADE Everlasting Staff~
