The nights of the long knives - er, lives. (From BXtE.info staff blog)

That is, four in the nine days between April 30th and May 8th, during the so called Golden Week beginning of May that fortunately-unfortunately always is crammed with lives. (The only better-worse time is Year End/New Year...)

For the first of those, below


actually wasn't where we were going this time - though I do believe that who we were going to I will eventually see IN Tokyo Dome - but around a few more corners and down some more stairs to make it to


Versailles' last live of the Japanese leg of their World Tour, with 3,000 seating, the biggest hall they have played so far.

It was also the most flamboyant live they've done so far, one that finally makes KAMIJO's "We went what is called major for the sake of doing what we want to do, (because what we want is possible there). We intend to become even more flamboyant." comment something very easy to understand.

I'm not sure if it was accidental or if someone loves us in Versailles or Delacroix, but I think we couldn't have had gotten a better view on stage if we'd gotten to choose our own seats...



As for the length of the live, that was 2 hours and 51 minutes, 21 titles...

A little shorter, 2 hours and 35 minutes, was the next live we were at, on May 3rd. (At Shibuya O-WEST, one of those places I don't like to take pictures of unless it's extremely close up, because of certain other buildings that would also show up in those photos.) One that I am glad I was at but also in a different way wish it hadn't happened:


"Last Scene," the end of THE UNDERNEATH LAST LIVE TOUR 2010...


No reason has been made public for their break up - nor do I expect one to be offered still - which leaves things a bit unsatisfactory, without a sense of general closure, but the live itself was one of their best, I think. Definitely it did what TAKA at one time said they wanted to make it, "something you won't ever forget in your whole life."

One of the good things in the sadness I guess is that it seems TAKA, MASATO and RYOU at least won't be giving up their musical careers...

A happier occasion - though the shortest of the lives, with "only" 2 hours and 11 minutes - was a few days later, May 6th, in a different part of Shibuya, at C.C.Lemon Hall,


when KAMIJO produced Matenrou Opera celebrated their 3rd anniversary on stage.


I still feel loved there, too, actually (the picture of the stage from our seats makes it look farther away than it was, it was actually a very nice view)...



As Matenrou Opera clearly is by their fans: after they did their first encore, said fans, instead of demanding their reappearance on stage with the usual calls, broke out into signing Happy Birthday for "Dear Opera" until the guys came back - twelve times in a row until that happened.

That they also announced their major debut seemed like a fitting birthday present.

The last of the lives, on May 8th, was another birthday celebration, if one wants to put it that way - that one though, 25 years, one that would make "3 year old" Matenrou Opera something of a possible DerZibet offspring, at least in the difference in years on stage; though just in my personal opinion, the way the Matenrou Opera guys looked at the C.C.Lemon live, in largely black with silver, Matenrou Opera would not even be that unlikely offspring, even visually, for DerZibet - and one that the members celebrated, too. Not only with another 21 titles live, even beating Versailles in length - if only by 6 minutes - but actually at the end on stage in their own way...


"Happy 25th Anniversary - kanpai"

Unlike one might expect at birthdays, in this case it was the birthday boys giving presents, instead of receiving them, after the live.


Talking about presents from DerZibet, that reminds me of another one that I - kind of, it wasn't handed directly to me, but came flying my way, rather - got from them, and one that someone actually sent me an email about, asking for details. About ISSAY's bazooka-shot candy on New Year's Eve.



As it says on one of the packages, it really is for kids... maybe I could say it's less a danger to fans' health than some other things ISSAY at times likes to do (hint: shirt buttons, edge-of-stage balancing acts, etc)...

Please look forward to more about all of the above.

PS: We got to take pictures of DerZibet again - lots, though it'll take time to get the good ones from that - but better than that, they not only had their own photographers there but a full fledged video crew. If THAT doesn't result in some DVD, it seems to me they wasted a lot of money.

PPS: That actually applies to Versailles and Matenrou Opera, too. Fans of all three, start saving.

DerZibet - thanks I forgot to put in the article and a bit more (From BXtE.info staff blog)

The thanks first, special ones, to the members of DerZibet, for going out of their way to accommodate our member photo requests on the day of the live, and to Ai and Yasu on their staff for shepherding the whole process - and us - to a successful end. If there was some chaos involved it's hardly their fault - and it was fun if unexpected chaos actually.

At least I think I can say we weren't the only ones who found the photoshoots - spread out over various occasions during the afternoon and evening - fun, despite the weird place most of them took place, for practical reasons, a backstage staircase at Koenji HIGH.






















Or at least I hope I'm right they found it fun...






















Fans I am sure liked the night, and especially the chance to meet the members after the live, for a little while.


Unexpected, though, to come to the "a bit more" part, is how this whole "DerZibet 25th Anniversary" project started in practical terms.

The plan's been in the making for a while, the "problem" was how to get started since sending a "to whom it may concern" email to their contact address on the official site seemed a tad weird. (Or maybe it's that I've been in Japan too long, and usually, in the Japanese way, look for introductions.)

How it started in practical terms was at the FABway 2009/2010 count down live, at which DerZibet did the countdown. That, since we didn't have any "for work" (aka attend for BXtE.info) event to go to, Mie and I decided to go to just for personal pleasure.

Which very surprisingly ended - when we talked to someone who had been taking pictures during their stage (something strictly forbidden for fans) after their stage - with us meeting them that night. More than just meeting them then actually, but an invitation to their uchiage and New Year's party, that ended around 5 or 6AM or so. (And an on the spot agreement to our interview request, the details to be fixed later.)

That had a certain Alice in Wonderland - DerZibetLand? - weirdness feeling, to actually go out drinking with them privately, but was great fun.

No pictures from that night, unfortunately, so as replacement for that one of my personal favourites from Koenji HIGH.


Something else I liked - though that's going to really be the last picture on this blog - was some old friends of DerZibet sending their best wishes:


There'll be more in the future, both from the interview and hopefully further lives.

Photos: 1, 2, 4, 5 by Mie, 3 by Kouji


PS: Another thank you from me personally has to go to Ina, for finding me that live in time to make plans to attend it - it was announced on the official site only very late, too late for me to normally have been able to go - and Mie for accommodating my ideas, for that night, but other times as well. Thank you, ladies.