Global Communication: GLAY News in English

"Oricon Style," 3.6.2006

GLAY in the Nihon Budoukan
A night wrapped in "love" in all directions
2.8 "GLAY IN BUDOUKAN 2006 ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE"

Continuing from their live in Zepp Tokyo, GLAY raises the curtain on their three days in the Nihon Budoukan! A year since last year's Dome Tour. Both the fans, so close to the end of the first live at a large venure in some time, and the members on stage were burning up this night. Photo/Shigeru Sotoyama, Text/Kenichi Iijima

You're all having fun, and for GLAY that's the best; that's happiness

"ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE" -- A live title with an unspeakably deep meaning. Basically, whether because we're pleased with the sense of the language, or because it's full of the ideas of GLAY itself we can't be sure, but either way this live whose title has taken so many in and which is the first live of theirs since the Dome Tour last year, has already begun.

The moment the band appeared on stage, a huge cheer burst forth, rocking the Nihon Budoukan. As though to take over this energy, Hisashi strummed a riff that fortold a familiar but violent song. A new song, "ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE." It's a song settled into itself and with a cool melody, and moved the audience to action. And again, "Yuuwaku," "Ikiteku Tsuyosa," and "Glorious" continued on to desperate climax, and the tension in the audience, already pushed to the edge, came to a head. Although the live climaxed through each of these songs, playing them all consecutively is either maganamous or not well thought out...

"It's been almost a year since the GLAY live last spring...Do you feel like we've kept you waiting?" Teru asked, to which the fans responded with a vehement "Yes!" "The first day in the Budoukan was great!" Teru replied. "But today is the second day. In terms of expanding GLAY, I think we should surpass the first day, but what do you think? Can you do that for us?!"

Hisashi and Jiro play together during 'FATSOUNDS'

The reply came ringing back through the Budoukan. As much as the fans waited for GLAY, GLAY loves the fans in return. So then, not following the rules of lives, the punched hard into another climactic song, with the thought "we truly want to have fun with the fans."

As though to prove it, they further unfolded the live with "FATSOUNDS" and "coyote,colored darkness." You could feel the tension of "HEAVY GAGUE" and the calm atmosphere fed into the arena during "3 Nen Go" and "BELOVED" (and how rare for us to see Takuro playing acoustic!). With Teru's words "We want you to feel the power of our music, and to make it vital to your life," they dashed into power-mode again for the last half. They amused long-standing fans during "KISSIN' NOISE," which they almost never play live, and made all the fans dance wildly during "Kanojo no 'Modern...'," standard live fair. There's no mistaking that displays of love for GLAY came from every direction.

GLAY of course has the same huge joy in their love for the fans. Before "SHUTTER SPEEDS no Teema," while Jiro played hard on his bass, and the fans were cheering so ardently that he tripped and fell! (When he stood back up, he just said, "Fall with me!" and began strumming his bass again.)

Then suddenly the last number came. It was a new song, "LAYLA." The lyrics rode along on a catchy and heartfelt melody: "I can still do it / Just as skillfully as ever / Though I might not be able to behave well." This phrase caught in your heart.

GLAY's 10th year wasn't smooth sailing, and as we enter into thier 11th year, there are still many walls that they need to overcome. Still, even if the trouble is just make believe, they'll smile with all their might and give their love to the fans - I could feel thier desire to do this. And even if they exchanged utmost sarcasm though this live's title, with their declaration of determination and their displays of love to the fans, they're silently happy.

MC Pickup #1:
"We've been connected to this band for over half our lives, and we can feel how important our 10th anniversary was last year, as well as the the difficulty of this our 11th year since our debut. I'm sure you've all also had times you were so broken that you wanted to quit, and this is GLAY's 18th year of existence!"

MC Pickup #2:
"While we were recklessly walking a thorny road, it's the love we get from you and our staff that has let us walk this far. During the worst of time, we could always feel the love of the people who support us. While we're in such a tight spot right now, the only things we can do are ive lives and make songs...But even though we're having a rough time right now, we're giving birth to new songs, and we'll be sending those new songs out to all of you sometime this fall."

MC Pickup #3:
"Just let us boast for a minute...All of you out there, our fans, are wonderful people. You're people full of warmth. You're people with the power to give happiness to others. You're people who can make GLAY happy. To people like you, we present our greatest love. We've thrown you the greatest love that we have; please do the same for us. Then, take that love that we've given you, take it home, and give it to the people who are imortant to you."

*SPECIAL THANKS to melyssa_y from GLAYGLAY for the scans of this article.