Ongaku To Hito January 2006 - Danger IV Report

Good morning. It's about 11.00. I've arrived in the front of Nippon Budokan. The fans fill up this building so quickly. They come in groups and make some yells that make this event more fun. I already have some physical trainings to do this report. I got special permision from a connection to do this report,so I can enter the backstage. I see the staffs everywhere, but it seems like my connection isn't here in this event. Then I go to the place I ususally there - beside the lobby's door in the backstage - and stand there in shy. Then, the official cameraman and some other staffs get out from the room in front of me. "DANGER CRUE always prepares meals for everybody, da yo!". The staffs go to the kitchen to eat their meal. From what I see and I hear, the staffs set their target. "Saa, this day I'll take the best photo". That's a usual thing. In the corridor, on the right side and the left side there are staffs working busily. They are full with spirit today. Like the fish market in the morning.

Meanwhile, this time I'll renew the notes about the last year performer bands. I can't imagine how many funds and efforst that spent for this big event. But for this event that will end today, I think there's nothing to be worried about. This time there are a lot of bands that gatherin this big artist room and the catchy lighting. Though it's illegal, let's enter to the artist room!

Yup, now I enter the artist room alone. This big artist room is divided into two parts. The non-smoking room and smoker's room. Now, we arrive at the smoker's room ... Ano, ... let's open the curtain, it's really a very big room. But there is a table where of the performers are put inorderly. There are 'acid android', 'BUG', and on the table that lies arthwart, there are some new band names, there are 'MUCC', 'Sid' and their titles (laugh). There's a characteristic in this company that is its 'cast' system. In this artist room, here is the place for Sid, Lavie en Rose, MUCC, and the young DANGER CRUE team, the gradation of the placement is really noticed. There is of course for Jimmy-san. And next to it, PATA-san is drinking white wine inside. It's dangerous nee.

At the side of the table, Ken-chan is playing guitar rapidly. What is he playing? I hear "It's YNGWIE definitely!", someone said. What are they talking about, I don't understand (laugh). I'm thinking about this year's gimmick, I've seen this event 3 times before, the 3 persons (... this year they should play seriously) I think (laugh). I meet Ein again after a year. "Foreign people are here too, it's scary ne", Kimi is also here, is he a foreigner or not? After he left, there are other foreigner. It's scary. The Hell 'n' Back vocalist Dan. He looks so different from his photo (laugh). He's wearing sunglasses and black leather pants, his height is about 185 cm. With his hand near the meal, he's kinda intimidating "Beef? Beeeeeeeeeef?". Seems like the meal is grilled fish.

Next to it, the make-up room. In this room, the time-table is written. ken --> tetsu --> yukihiro --> hyde, and the last is the director. But from what I see it's corrected to be 'JACK'. Director, ka-wa-i-i. Let's take a look the other places.

Now, I can see the director practising guitar in front of me. "O, otsukaresama desu", "Hai! Ohayou gozaimasu!", a usual ethics. Then he enters the meeting room with guitar in his hand.

Time flies like an arrow. Now it's 1 P.M. 30 minutes before the show, the staffs gather around to have the last briefing, "Start! End! Come on!". What they are talking about I don't understand, every year's activities are different, but they do their jobs really seriously. Now, let's prepare for the show that will be started. Let's go!

There are some variations in DANGER CRUE. First, Santa Claus appear on stage. The next who perform on stage is Sid. They play L'Arc~en~Ciel's 'winter fall'.

Then, Miya from MUCC leads GekiGakuTai.From its name, I think they should perform amazing sounds this time. They play rockabilly beat, simple tune. From kyohsuke (Lavie en Rose drummer) who is also this band's vocal, there's a information about the rules in DANGER this time. "If the performers taketime 1 minute longer than they should be, they will be charged 50.000 yen. If they take time 2 minutes longer, it will be 100.000 yen. If it's 3 minutes longer, then ... aaaaaa!". That's it. This time, all bands should follow the rule. It's really tight! The punishment will be charged right from the artist.

Then, the one who wears pastel colour costume appears, he is the former guitarist from WAIVE which is already disbanded, Sugimoto Yoshinori. Who is he? Many people don't know him. So he uses more of half of his time to show his self-introduction video.

Next, let's take a peek from backstage's lobby, uaaaaa! There's a big man who shows his big muscles. Yes, he is the the well-known Japan's guitarist, Nakama Hideaki, who is listed as the Hell 'n' Back member! The band that formed in Oakland. I feel a different aura. While the band performs, director Ooishi comes here, ne! The director says proudly, "A, I've taken pictures with them." Their performance on stage is definitely wild!

Next is Lavie en Rose. The high tension is defeating everyone! The song and the feel of brotherhood are important for them. My doubt is gradually disappear when I listen to their song. Then the MC.

Next is the person who I never think to appear here, even in a dream! That is PATA from X-JAPAN. Now he's the leader of Ra:IN which is a guitar-oriented band. The three men play guitar just like a battle. PATA who plays the double-neck guitar is like Jimmy Paige's style. They will release their song below DANGER CRUE record on March.

Next who is also here is my idol, Jimmy-san! With the former Valentine D.C. vocalist, Kenichi, he forms a new band, Velvet Spider.

Few times ago, in the lobby, Ken-chan from S.O.A.P. is telling some jokes.

Now is 16.20. It's the break time, nee. Up to now, 7 performers have appeared on stage. How is the backstage, are they still alive?

We'll go to the artist room. acid android team enters the room, while BUG team is joking inside. They sit on Sid's members seats. This is dangerous zone, PATA-san is still drinking his wine. After their performance, Lavie en Rose team drinks whisky.

After this, S.O.A.P. performs on stage. They give simple performance. Their development can't be expressed by words, the three men's cores are friendship and happy sounds. I can catch the feeling.In the end, it's Sakura who gives the final speech.

Then, BUG starts to perform on stage.

After that, is the band that just develops in a year, I think. That is Sid! Though in their previous performance the singing of his vocalist, Mao, is leaving a usual impression, but now they seems to be different band. They play heavy sounds, rock melodies with original arrangement. It's surprising.This band maybe will be another great band from DANGER CRUE.

It's now a half way performance. After finish eating my cup noodleto fill up my stomach from starving, I see the one who wears red-extension hair and listens to iPod, that is Tetsu. O! He's also participating with his new band, Creature Creature,that seems like busy to prepare their performance. The next person appears is .... oooooo! The god appears in front of me! Morrie-san. He is the one of legendary musician that made a revolution with the great selling of 'DEAD LINE'. He also gave influence to many musician with his band, DEAD END. Now, that vocalist, is eating cup noodle in front of my eyes. His style is still the same. The legend becomes true. In year 2006, Morrie has started his activity again in this country after a very long time through his performance on DANGER!

A, damn. While I was noticing Morrie-san, MUCC starts their performance, so I have to go back to the audience seat immediately. They perform amazingly, their accomplishment point is so good, they can finish they performance so well, their potential is different from the one in a year ago. They blast their blasting sounds amazingly. There's a great silence for a while among the audience after their performances.

Next, next. There's a writing "Creature Creature" with lights. There are darkness and horror that fill the stage, seems like they will perform dark performance. Behind the darkness, there are 3 men standing. In the middle ofthe darknes, there is a long-hair man who starts singing with his heavy voicece, and lighten by the lighting. The audience are questioning,"Who's that? What's that?". While they're questioning, suddenly there's a special bass-playing action, it's Tetsu, and the audience screams out loudly. It's the loudest screaming this day. Beside Morrie, there's former member of DIE IN CRIES (former member of THE MAD CAPSULE MARKET, Minoru) who plays the guitar. They play two songs that leaves horror impression in Budokan. Contrast with TETSU69, he seems like to have another style of music. That's surprising. I wonder, is there any other event that can compare to this event?

The last band is acid android. They continued the previous surprise. They play cover songs. After they play song from BUCK-TICK, yukihiro sings 'Pink Spider' from hide with Spread Beaver with different style. They play extreme melodies with very heavy sounds. It's a heavy cover version. After that, they play new song that brings popness feeling. They bring something new. Ooo! That's really great!
Then, there's special live performance here. Before the first encore, kyohsuke from Lavie en Rose, is sleeping on the table after he drank whisky (laugh). Before the performance, seems like he drank a lot. "Oi, kyohsuke, it's our turn!", someone wakes him up. I also hear "You're drunk, you know!","Yo, little bit drunk! (hiccup)". It's sweet sake effect (laugh).

Next, encore. In the set list it is written "DANGER CRUE SUPER ALL STARS" band, 1 to 4. The first one consists of Tatsurou (MUCC), Aki (Sid), kyohsuke (Lavie en Rose), Sugimoto Yoshinori. They play 'Aozora'.
After that, as the suggestion from Miya, the next band will cover 'PEOPLE = SHIT' from Slip Knot. E, what would it be? Before their turn, I go to the bakcstage and wa wa wa wa ....... they're wearing Jason's masks, only yukihiro who doesn't wear the mask. They really prepare for it. acid,MUCC, BUG, DJ YSK from Lavie en Rose, all of those 9 people are in this team. Their set, their play, is really great. They play it seriously. I'd like to watch them one more time. After that, it's Nishino KingKong from Japan TV "Music Fighter" who performs. Then, Sakura appears alone on the stage. The situation gradually changes to be a great end-of-year celebration. Then Sakura plays as the vocal, he sings 'SMOKE ON THE WATER' from Deep Purple. The director is on stage too, as the guitarist! YUKKE is playing bass. One of the special point from this session is hyde who is participating on drums! His action is awkward (laugh). From the start until the end, the tempo is 16 beat. For this, before the performance, hyde has practised his drums for more than one hour in the backstage.

Now, it's 21.00. It's already 8 hours since the beginning. The show runs smoothly. Seems like the punishment system really works, ne. And the last super session is, the 'LIVE WIRE' performance with Kyo, Mao, hyde, with the three men on vocals, it makes the tension hotter. The audience in the front row laugh, "The director performs too!?". Tetsu plays bass beside the director, with the spotlight shines at them, they look really happy.
In the end, Sakura puts his arm on Tetsu's shoulder, and so does Tetsu. That leaves a beautiful impression. It's the crazy and long Christmas party. In backstage, the staffs work hard to do their jobs to clean up everything. I got the meal ... It's delicious. the performer bands have another party in the meeting room.

The director says some speech and toast to everyone, kanpai! That's the DANGER CRUE end-of-year celebration. PATA-san is usually drinking too, isn't he? There's a great feeling after it's over. Who's gonna take care of the drunk people? Kyo-san says, "This year really runs smoothly. He says it with red eyes, same as the colour of red wine. "A, Ongaku to Hito da!" Ah! Jimmy-san remembers! "Sorry for the other day". The other day Jimmy'-san's "Ongaku to Hito" talking is 2 years ago.....

Now, I'm in the non-smoking room. I take a peek there .... There's Morrie in the middle, surrounded by hyde, Tetsu, Minoru, just like a DEAD END fans gathering. They seems to be in another world. Morrie suggests the benefits of yoga. Minoru says "I play the guitar beside Morrie-san, ya naa ....", it's like a dream. The drunk hyde is kawaii. A! The director holds wine bottle. He wanders around the floor. Alert. But there's no sign about something gonna happen. Then, suddenly I see the director comes straight tothe 2 guys from MUCC table. Then Satochi gives him a seat. YUKKE's face looks stiff (compared with his photo).

It's 3 A.M. now. PATA-san falls down to the bed on the floor. Is he OK!? Aa, he's showing smiley face. They're already drunk now. Just not like the people who previously perform on Budokan stage. The party continues until 5 A.M.

DANGER event that lasts 1 day in a year has finished. In this big event, the most important moment is when I saw PATA and Morrie on stage. That's really my special experience. From this, what will DANGER CRUE be? What's on the next DANGER event? Now it's 5 A.M. in the morning, but PATA-san still drunk. He lays his back on sofa. "White wine!" is the only word he says. Then ASAKI asks me to go, "Let's go! Do you wanna go?". After that, I don't know what's happening. Jaa, see you next year.

Thanks to Matsu who provides the magazine's scans ^_^