Behind The Tour: Vengeance For BLOOD 3 Part 6 - The Last Live (Sorta)

To be honest, I started the morning bitching about my hair. It was being completely uncooperative like it always is, and at one point I yelled something about how the damn Japanese guys can get their hair to do what ever they want, mean while it looked like I was wearing something that looked like the bastard child of a mop and a beaver. I get fed up with trying to do it myself and asked the girls for help.... who suggested I wear my hair like Legolas. I've never done that so I was willing to give it a shot. When we get to the concert hall, Miwa (bless her heart coz I couldn't do this myself) said she'd straighten and style my hair. Well, it kinda worked. Remember, I'm not Japanese, so it still came out damn fluffy. I was really thankful she did it though coz I couldn't do that myself.

The band decided to come with us that morning to sort out some sort of business. I was surprised, coz they all came to sort it out in the open concert hall, with out make-up. Up until this point, I thought they had a Mana mentality that no one can see 'em without make-up. I guess I was wrong, but I think I kinda saw why they did it.

As they were talking to the organizers and all, no one came up to them, no one asked for autographs, no one even talked them. Why? I don't think anyone recognized them! (Except maybe Fu~ki, but he kinda sorta stayed hidden). Speaking of Fu~ki, he pulled me aside and we started talking about the audience. Then, we started wondering how to get them to mosh during Funeral, DTMH, and Disease. I didn't think it could happen coz con goers anywhere are generally peacful people. So, if you guys ever see BLOOD in a real concert hall, don't be afraid to let loose!

Kaede and Fu~ki seemed to get bored after a while, so the usual antics ensued.


The band soon had to leave, as they need to be back earlier than usual to judge the cosplay contest. So, once again, Shelly, Leslie, Janine and I were left to sell BLOOD merc. However, today, things got a bit difficult at times because it was only the four of us, where as before there were 7 and 3 spoke Spanish. Now, it was 1 and 1/8... the 1/8 being me (I studied 2 years in highschool). I did pretty good I thought. I was able to answer the basic questions, and whenever I had real trouble, Janine helped out. However, there was a small time period where she disappeared. This kinda left us in a bind coz I think I was the only one left that knew any Spanish! There was more than a couple of times the girls had to flag me over to help costumers because they didn't understand what was going on. I think I was able to help a bit, but my Spanish was so limited. I want to apologise to any Mexican fans who asked me for help, and I may have comnpletely answered the wrong question.

Anyway, Janine finally came back, and after that, things slowed down a bit, so I decided to explore this convention a bit. The place was packed making it almost impossible to walk. I felt really bad for the cosplayers with huge outfits as it was difficult for them to squeeze by people. The convention's main draw seemed to be the two huge dealers rooms from what I gathered. There was also resturants, a videogames room, and even vendors on carts making their way through the crowd! The people there were really friendly too. I had many people ask for my photo, even though I wasn't really cosplaying. Afterwards, they would try and talk to me, but I would have to ask them if they spoke English. It was about 50/50. Alot of people's first questions were where I was from, quickly followed by what I was doing down there. I don't think some of them believed me when I said I was there working for BLOOD, but I probably wouldn't either if I met a non-Japanese person at an American convention claiming the same thing.

I just HAD to ask her for a photo

This was just simply amazing
I soon returned to the booth and we all had lunch. Soon after, the band returned, and they set up to judge the male cosplay contest. All I have to say is "wow". Alot of these costumes put American cosplayers to downright shame (This judgement is based on the 4 anime conventions I've been to, so I'm not as seasoned as most). But any time someone wears a costume with a 15 foot wingspan, or a fully anamatronic Alien, you can't help but be deeply impressed!


Unfortunately, these were the best pics I could manage from the contest of the band.

Once again... wow...

After the contest, Larkspur took the stage one last time to their largest crowd which went nuts. Unfortunately, once again, I missed the show as I was backstage helping the band, but from what I understand, they put on a fantastic show. Tonight, all of the band members were coming up to me saying "During this song, at this part, I'm going to do this. Make sure you film it!". I knew the fans were in for a real treat.

They stormed on the stage, opening with Funeral, and didn't let anyone down, whether it be all of the blood spitting, vampire biting, head ripping, head banging, no one in the audience was still or quiet. All moments were perfectly caught on camera too, so hopefully, Kiwamu does decide to release a DVD. They even busted out with a 4 minute version of DTMH which turned into a powerful rock anthem . The crowd chantted and screamed the lyrics at the top of their lungs as Fu~ki held the mic over their heads. At one point, and I had no idea this was coming, but I was filming NoA and Fu~ki duetting, when Yuu steps into the picture with a lit cigarrette, and put it off with his chest! The guys were going nuts: yelling at the crowd, running all over the stage, climbing speakers, throwing water at the crowd, coming up to the camera, screaming random Japanese at it, then just going absolute ape shit, and with them in these humongous costumes, it was a true sight to behold. It got even crazier when a few girls up front started flashing the band! I had never witnessed anything more rock in my life! For the encore finale, the entire band took center stage and NoA and Fu~ki, arms over eachother's shoulders, did a true duet. At the end, like the end of a play, all five stepped up and took a bow, followed by the entire band and support musicians, hands held, in unison, taking one final bow.

I thought they were gonna die after that when they got off stage. There was no way they could have done all of that, in those costumes, and not keel over and die. Not only did they not die, but they didn't even take 5 minutes too cool down back stage before going out yet again to sign more autographs!

Guess Who's Back

Back Again

Afterwards, we kinda took it easy back stage. This was the chill period. We all kinda took photos, sat around, slowly packed up the gear, chatted a bit, raided the water and beer bottles...

I asked Fu~ki to take a pic of Suzuki, Yuu, and me...

Try #1

Try #2

Third time's the charm

Hate

Love

On the way home, Fu~ki threw his copy of Razorblade Romance in the CD player. What ensued was Fu~ki, Shelly, Leslie, and I all singing Join Me. Antonio told me at one point, Kiwamu was trying to get Daniel to turn it off, but Fu~ki and Miwa wouldn't have it. That was over my head. Either way, I noticed NoA asking Fu~ki alot of questions about HIM. He was a HIM virgin and was really liking what he was hearing. When we got back to the hotel, we all cleaned up. After all that, we were gonna go out and party!

Remember the cigarette to the chest? This looked 10 times worse in real life.

The Party was organized by the TNT staff as a sorta "everyone meet eachother" deal. It was on the roof of an old looking hotel somewhere deep in the heart of Mexico city. On the way there, Antonio and I grabbed the luggage area of the van. We had a convo there about why we were there doing our jobs (me being the PV director, him being the translator). Turns out, we had alot in common. He's really into J-Rock, anime, and comic books, so he wanted to learn English and Japanese to better understand them. He was also impatient for translations. We then got into a convo about comics, J-Rock PV's and a discussion on if Malice Mizer's Illuminati has a sort of Evil Dead appeal to it (I think it's popular for..... other reasons).

When we get there, we are ushered straight to the roof and were offered all kinds of drinks (I was a good boy, no matter how much Fu~ki and Kaede tried to get me to change that!). I was actually a kinda wallflower, Kiwamu was kinda chill as he sat in with Larkspur and Windy, leaned back, and had some tequilla, but the other guys were having a ball! Everyone was having a blast, and the DJ was actually really good! I spent most of the night taking in the view of the city, which was rather breath taking.

Nothing but city lights as far as the eye can see. Fu~ki urged me to stop being solitary and have a good time. I was being all modest and was content with sitting in a corner and sipping a Coke. He wouldn't have it though. He grabbed me out of my seat, and grabbed one of the girls from Windy, and had us dance. That was fun! However, I think she was more modest than I was! After one song, she asked if it was ok if she sat back down, and I said yes. I went over and chatted with Antonio and Andres a bit.




However, Kaede now thought I was being too much of a stick in the mud, but instead of snatching a random girl, he had me dance with him! After a song, I was a little overwhelmed and sat back down. Everyone continued to have a good time, whether it be the girls singing along to "I Feel Like a Woman", or NoA breaking out of his shell and partying down, a good time was had by all. Fu~ki can actually dance too! He was puuling a You Got Served at one point!


This... is simply... the best picture I have taken... ever

We stayed until the DJ stopped playing. Afterwards, we just went back to the hotel and crashed.

-Roger

(This post was approved by Shelly Lefferts, Fu~ki, and Kiwamu)