Well let me be more specific. The crowd at a rock concert shouldn't be all that different, or at least that's what I thought going into this.
Now, for those of you who know what VK is all about, you probably also know what VK fans are all about. And to narrow that down even further I should say you know what the fan girls are all about. It's true that the VK fan base is made up of mostly girls, but when these bands come to America, that doesn't matter for the most part. The audience rocks out no matter what (or at least they rock out within the parameters of the venue's rules, i.e. more and more places are banning crowd surfing, etc). Now growing up I have watched countless concert DVDs of my favorite VK bands and took into account how hard the fans rocked the house (moshing, crowd surfing, etc) so when I bought my ticket to see Chemical pictures, I was ready for a night of thrashing and bashing; a full out rock-a-thon.
Oh was I disappointed.
The line us was decent. CP were great. The crowd I wanted to destroy.
All girls (not really surprising but still a little weird). And they were all wearing slippers!! If anyone knows about this phenomena please enlighten me because I could not figure it out. Of course there were also the crazy cosplay outfits but that was to be expected. What wasn't to be expected was how all these girls, with their mean looking make-up and gothed-out clothing just stood there when the bands played and listlessly waved their arms in rhythm to the music and playfully yelled out their favorite band members name. It was a little sickening. To watch these bands who were completely ripping up the stage (or at least some of them did) and to have the crowd pretty much give you nil of a reaction must be frustrating...or maybe they just like the attention from all the girls as they look down on their worshiping faces and crack a stunning smile that makes them giggle with happiness. Giggling... at a rock concert. *shutters*.
But don't get me wrong, I still like VK music and respect the bands, it's just their fans that I have lost respect for. At least the ones here in Japan anyway (I mean, come on. Slippers!?!)
Needless to say I ditched after CP played (which they played second to last, dangnabit).
And regardless of this incident I went to another VK concert the following weekend because Unsraw was playing and I hoped that at least their fans wouldn't let me down. But I was sadly mistaken. Slippers galore. But I did discover a new band from that concert called Nil Delete Heads who I will definitely look more into later.
However, the day after the Unsraw concert my friend lead me to this venue in Shinjuku called Anti-knock where they were having a line up of these hard core punk/grind core bands playing. A little skeptical I went along and had the time of my life! (well, maybe not my life but it did make up for the crappy two previous concerts). Not only were the bands tearing it up but the crowd was very into it as well. Circle pits, crowd surfing, I even got punched in the face with a can at one point (but don't worry, no marks ;-). Now THAT'S what a rock concert is supposed to be like! I haven't been to a show like that in a long time. I'm not really into grind core music per-say but the concert was totally worth it. One of the bands was from America. They called themselves Trash Talk and were really awesome. I got to talk to the vocalist and one of their roadies throughout the concert (something you cannot expect to do at a VK concert, unless the band you're seeing is virtually unknown and hence has no crazy followers that will push you down the stairs for talking to their sweetheart). Also talked to a lot of the other bands as well; all really nice and talkative despite the image they portray on stage and in public (Punks are friendly people).
One band's vocalist in particular though had me a little confused....
This guy was a total gangster. I mean, completely thuggin'. I don't usually associate "intimidating" with Japanese men but this dude had me worried. And then it hit me....
Was he Mexican?!?
He was speaking Japanese without any difficulty....
I had to figure this out.
So I went up to him after they played and close up he is 100% Japanese....but from a distance.... lol
(not that I think all Mexican guys are scary but they do pull the thug look off very well).
And as I was leaving, all sweaty and broken, I heard someone yell out "hey Averil! Avril Lavigne!" which I was like "oh hell no", and turned around to confront the offender who turned out to be one of the vocalists from one of the bands. I knew this insult was directed at me because in the past I was called Averil all the stinkin' time and it really pissed me off. And this time was no different.
I walked up to him and said "F* no"
Vocalist: "F* me?"
Me, aghast "Heeeeell no. And don't call me Averil"
Vocalist, not getting it "You're cute like Averil Lavigne"
Which lead to a hasty slap to the face by me, much to the great amusement of his friends.
Vocalist, completely shocked but laughing says something in Japanese to his friends which I proceed to tell him off in Japanese which then he begins to apologize and I accept and give him a knuckle pound and no hard feelings. See? Punks are nice people.
To wrap it all up, VK concert = never going to again.
LOVES AND HUGS
Jamie
4 comments:
You're getting all fancy up in herr with your colors and stuff.
Smaller concerts end up being the best! I went to a Marina and the Diamonds concert a couple weeks ago (who are from Wales?) and Marina was saying how much she liked doing concerts in the US because we do the "Woo thing" where in Europe "they just sit there looking like their gonna slit their wrists." XD
Haha, what's the "woo thing"? XD
Aw man, I totally used the wrong "their," it should be "they're." *hangs head in shame whathascollegedoneforeme?*
Anyway... The "woo thing..." You know how when you're at a concert you scream? Like "Wooo!" That's all. It's just the kind of screaming that Americans do at concerts I guess. I wasn't aware that other people didn't get so vocal about their excitement. XD
I did not know you had this blog thing up and its really cool! Always makes me happy. I loved this entry because I learned the lesson that punk shows are better as well. Even poppy punk like be-dash and shakka labbits (would that even count as punk?) are awesome live. If your still in the reggae and ska those shows are really fun too, lots of dancing and good times ...and I also constantly got called Avril.
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