2017.12.01 BRATBAX: ラストクレイン本格始動主催「The Last Crane」

ラストクレイン本格始動主催「The Last Crane」

2017年12月1日(金) 池袋BlackHole

OPEN16:00/START16:30

前売り:¥3,500 / 当日:¥4,000

Setlist:

1.BorroWorroB

2.TOWARD THE TWILIGHT

3.Albino

4.DOUBLE

5.RUSTY LAND

6.Nobody can drag me down

I was early so I found the venue first before I start stalling time nearby. While I was walking past the venue, I saw two band-guy looking people walking out of the venue toward the opposite opposite directions than I was walking. I took a quick glance at them and they glanced at me too and I casually walked off. THEN THE WHOLE TIME HOW I WISH I CAN SEE BRATBAX MEMBERS ON THE STREET. I would totally casually say hi to them lol! Anyways, I later went to get lunch before I entered the venue.

I entered the venue I'm not sure where to stand since all the fans were all spread out or was standing with their friends group. I was standing on the left in my new row but eventually as more people came in, they formed a row behind me... well I was at a super awkward place so I decided to move to the last row (right in front of the merch tables) since there was a big spot left. The girl to my left suddenly talked to me! She was saying it's her first time coming to this venue and to see the band she wanted to see and said it's kind of scary. I was entirely like *omg she's talking to me!? yikes where's all my Japanese!?* I told her, "ahh sorry... I'm from America. My Japanese isn't good." And she said, "really!? amazing!" and then we started asking each other questions and started talking for a little. Her name is Kanae. We kind of chatted with short sentences till the live started. The first band wasn't BRATBAX so I didn't care I stood up for a while with the new friend but then I got bored and so I sat down like others in the back. After the first band, it turned out that Kanae came for the first band lol! But it was her first time coming to a heavy band's live since her top bands are Unite and TM Revolution so she was too shy to do any furi.

The first band didn't do merch till after the 2 or 3rd band were done playing. The first band did their own merch. Kanae was so cute!! She wanted to buy chekis but wasn't sure how much to buy. She asked me how many do I usually buy and I told her 5. (But that's only in BRATBAX's case where I can choose members....) She actually went up to buy 5 but she was pulling on my sleeve to go with her LOL. SHE WAS SO CUTE OMG.. so I went up with her to the merch table. I was so calm omg.. I mean band guys are just normal human beings so since they are not a band that I care for, I was so casually standing up there with her lol. I had to kind of push her to walk up to the front, keke! She was so shy omg... she told the members she wanted to buy 5 chekis and they asked her if she has a stamp card or not and she said no and they gave her a stamp card. After she was done the members asked me if I am buying something too and Kanae replied for me that I'm just with her and not purchasing. And then we walked back to our spot and I felt Kanae's hand's were shaking so badly!! Her voice was shaking a little bit as well! Her reaction was more entertaining than the tagalong band I had to watch lol! I kind of wanted to feel that way towards a band as well again, to be THAT nervous, to be THAT shy, to be THAT cute. (I think I was kind of like that for VRZEL but probably not shaking... or was I...?) Anyways she said she has to go to her part time job so she'll leave soon and I was like NOOO DON'T LEAVE ME... She could only stay to about 6:20PM and BRATBAX hasn't started playing yet and so she left around that time. Before she left though, she asked to take a picture with me and so I asked her for contact info and asked if it's ok to hang out one day and we exchanged LINE and Twitter!

BRATBAX turned out to be the second to last to play. I was at a horrible situation trying to get a good spot for BRATBAX because people were hogging spots with their bags when they were not supposed to and etc. I didn't want to be in last row though!!!!!! A bunch of girls left their spots on the left 3~4th row area and hasn't came back for a long time so I thought that they wouldn't be back till the last band so I was standing there for a long time and the group of girls suddenly came back and just silently shoved me out of the spot even though I said sorry since I thought they were gone for the meantime. Anyways... I saw one left center spot on second row empty so I got my guts up and asked the girls to the right if it's occupied or not. And the girl said it should be free so I just took that spot. And then somehow it seemed like the second row girls on the left weren't fans but just took a while to pack up so to my left, it was entirely empty shortly after I sat down lol. Then, another BRATBAX fan who came late came up to me asking me if the spots to my left are free or not. I knew what she was asking but I didn't know how to reply her. The two saizen girls right in front of me turned around to see wassup cause i had a hard time replying to her. They just looked at each other and gave me questioning eye contacts but never spoke to me directly.. I said sorry my Japanese isn't good..... to i forgot who.. and the Mel gya just told the late fan it's prob ok to stand there. I just wanted to hide in a hole that moment. I feel super uncomfortable whenever the Mel gya and I exchange glances b/c like always, she would have no reaction nor any expressions towards me. I wanted to be in third row instead because I wasn't familiar with the furis still (I realized I never put effort in seriously learning it...) but I had no choice but to be in second.

After a while, the live started. There were around two full rows of fans for BRATBAX. The members came out in casual clothing. I really liked what XiAN wore!! I am usually not a fan of orange clothing but it looked great on him and also his inner thin grey hoodie was my fav! Mel wore a black hoodie but I'm not sure of the brand. He seems to be confident in that hoodie so I guess it's supposed to be a famous brand (?) lol!

I love the way XiAN calls out the next furi as guide. I just reallly love his voice. The way he says "moshu" and "oritatami" was so kakkoi!!!!! I realized XiAN during MC also likes to tell people to "hakkushu".... I realized that him and Cion have many things in common.

They played 2~3 songs and then did a short MC. XiAN talked about where he got his clothing. And then they resumed playing.

They played Rusty Land!!!!!!! I was honestly surprised because it sounded better than I remembered it should sound! It's an unreleased song of BRATBAX but they released it when they were still in XYLORiDE. I was so delighted to hear it. I am not sure I remembered correctly but at the beginning of the song, XiAN was sitting on the vocal's step while singing. He was so close..... It was my first time being on second row and so close to BRATBAX when they are on stage so everything we pretty awesome except for the parts when I failed to do furi. XiAN's face was so perfect, literally I thought to myself why didn't I find him perfect before this trip!? lol. XiAN's voice sounded so smooth and manly. I think he's improved a bit as a vocal since the first time I saw them in 2015. (He's still got a long way to go though ha!)

I have not forgotten about Mel! Once in a while, I did look at him but XiAN was more entertaining to look at though. I only looked at him to ensure he won't see me only looking at XiAN since it was known to the band that I supposedly like Mel best. However, Mel never looked a me back once throughout all the lives so I might as well not care anymore if he's mind or not haha! Mel is still my fav online but at lives and in person currently, I like to fangirl over XiAN more.

During one of the head bang moments I decided to look at XiAN instead of looking down. I think he looked at me and I stuck my tongue at him but I think he already looked away by the time I did since my reaction was always slow eff.

Before MC#2, XiAN told us to call (their names) and call more. Then, XiAN started talking and said today is Misaki’s last day with BRATBAX. And there was silence. Xian was like “huh what? you guys should go EHH?!!” And then he repeated Misaki is graduating and we all said, "EHHH!?" (OMG HAHA XiAN is turning into a Cion...!?)

XiAN had the members said their final words and feelings to Misaki. Mel, Tohga, and XiAN just said a normal thank you speech except for Tetola. Tetola said he had written a letter and XiAN happily went “YAY!!” Tetola opened the letter and started reading ..... he said, "Misaki-san. Thank you so much." And then there was silence again. XiAN was like "Eh!? Owari!?", laughed and took a look at the letter and yup, that was it. LOL. XiAN told Misaki to not cry. Misaki talked for a while and then they started playing the last song.

After they played, I went to the merch table to buy my reserved chekis. Ebi forgot to give me my Tetola Halloween chekis last time so I had to ask her for it today. (The Tetola chekis were for SS) To my surprise, she asked me if it's ok I choose the Tetola chekis? I was like "Really? Yeah thanks!"... flipped up as well... damn I did not know what was happening but ok. I know those are old chekis but still, I've never bought chekis like this before but only seen one of the saizen gya did it and I thought she had special treatment. That moment, I got all my reserved chekis except for the Misaki ones because he was going to come out and hang it to the fans directly. After like 5 minutes of waiting, he came out and I got in line to buy chekis from him. My customer wanted 6 chekis so I bought 6. I draw 6 from his box/hand and he lets me choose one to have it signed so I did. Ebi helped me tell Misaki that it's for my friend and name is "Olivia" Misaki was signing it and then he suddenly confirmed, "Alivia right?" And I said, "Olivia". LOL well the "a" and "o" in Hiragana wasn't hard to change so he corrected it. He told me the total for the chekis and said 3000 yen right? And somehow he joked about it's an amount more than that. And so I joked back pretending to hand him a 1000(or 2000) bill(s) haha! Then I said "joking!" and paid him 3000 yen for the 6 chekis. We thanked each other (I forgot if there was a handshake after or not) and I left the venue.

Final thoughts/comments on BRATBAX on this trip:
Today was the last time I could see BRATBAX at a live on this trip and also was on 2nd row for them for the first time. In total on this trip, I went to 3 of their lives. I am not sure since when but the transition of where my eyes went from Mel to XiAN must be sometime between the 4/25/17 and 11/14/17 live. But regardless of who my top is, I love their music and lives and I guess I don't see a problem in having two tops, IT'S JUST THAT MY WALLET IS CRYING because I always get an even number amount of photo tickets and even out the amount of chekis for Mel and XiAN to buy after including SS so there is equality. Since Mel doesn't talk much on stage or in person, I have a hard time figuring out what kind of personality Mel has. I thought I knew what type of person he is(or whatever he intend to portray himself as) but then I suddenly feel like maybe I know nothing about him. Well then I've got to take some time to read their weekly Q&A's~ I feel I'm too attached to BRATBAX but at the same time, I sometimes don't think of them as artist but just normal people. I do get nervous around them sometimes but I think of them more human-like than my other top bands. (Or maybe I see them as kids and I feel fangirling over kids!?!?!)