Global Communication: GLAY News in English

"Part 02: Live Shuttle Extra"
"WHAT's IN ," 3.15.2006

GLAY ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE in Zepp Tokyo 2.3.2006 (Fri)

The enthusiasm, anticipation, and excitement of fans who have yearned for this day were fulfilled at the first live venue GLAY's played in a long time. With new songs, still unrecorded, this was a fitting live for GLAY's revival. Written by Mikiko Oobashi, photos by Kei Masuda

When you hear it, you become aware of the unforgettable tour and the scenes that stay with you

GLAY, who's 10th year anniversary activities have spanned this year, last year, and the year before last. After ending their dome tour, which synthesized their history until now, they worked on activities quietly. No releases, no lives, and in the middle of this rather lonely period, they appeared the "White Band FES."* Showing their faces for the first time in ages, they sprinlked out their overflowing power on everyone in the arena. In thier set list they were also considerate of what non-GLAY fans had gone to see the live, sticking to thier representative works. It wasn't just songs that were "best of GLAY," however, Teru was an excellent MC in conveying from the heart the event's purpose of making people think about the problem of world poverty. "Don't just see this live, investigate this problem for yourselves and think about what you can do. This is the starting point. You probably won't find an answer immediately. But we want you to never forget this feeling, of not forsaking those who need us."

There's no doubt that TERU's words that day burned in the heart of the audience as well. They were really able to see a GLAY stage. The live was rousing, and I wasn't the only one itching to see another live by them. Their gait toward ZEPP Tokyo was light, despite the cold outside.

To see a GLAY live so close after such a long time. The floor was packed, and everyone in the first floor seats must have been serious GLAY fans. Still, it seemed a little extravagant** to me.

As the opening of the live drew near, the excitement began to rise. In the second floor seats as well, that excitement and the pressure of everyone's "feelings" floated about. When the band appeared on stage, there was a huge cheer. The first song was a new one that hasn't been recorded to CD yet, "ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE," which gives this tour it's title. Incidentally, "swindle" has the meaning "fraud;" a very deep meaning. They first introduced it at the White Band FES, and even with their first audience they did a call-and-respond for some reason, as they do with many of their songs. Even when they suddenly play a new song, because of the inimate relationship, you can't feel the distance between the stage and the seats. This is the case with GLAY. "Let's go ZEPP!"

Teru, powerfully firing up the fans in the back during the intro to "Yuuwaku." In the middle of the song, even Takuro beat savagely at his chest, appealing to the audience right at the peak of the song. The live accelerated, suddenly up to fifth gear. When Teru screamed "'Ikiteku Tsuyosa!'" for the third title call, everyone in the arena simultaneously threw thier hands in the air. When Teru walked from one side of the stage to the other, the screams from the crowd followed him. "More!"

Teru sang beautifully, further encouraging the fans, who joined Takuro's chorus and raised the decibels another notch. The song ended, and the cheers didn't stop, even from Teru. The excitement spoke of how long all the fans has waited for this time. "'ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE in Zepp Tokyo,' man...It's a blast, yeah? It was a blast yesterday too, but when it was really going, we overworked it. It was really bad and there were some who kinda slipped off track, but because this is something so special I want us to have fun till the end, so cooperate with the people around you to have a good time. OK?!"

The crowd answered him with cheers, for being so worried about them being too tightly packed in.

"Well then, let's play a hard number and not worry about it!"

Hisashi went to the front of the stage and played the intro. Teru screamed. "FATSOUNDS." Even the performance was hard, with Teru raising the mike stand above his head. During the song's interlude, the noise expanded as Hisashi and Takuro continued with their guitar ensemble, loading it with violence. Next up, "coyote,colored darkness." They ran full throttle through it, with a violent sound. "HEAVY GAGUE," indifferently beautiful despite it's heaviness, and the earthy and psychadelic "3 Nen Go." The live continued with these two songs, not often heard live.

Before "BELOVED," Teru said this: "We formed a band called GLAY, and we've faced this music for half our lives. There have been many places and many people, and we've gotten a lot of love. We've put the fruit of that love into our songs, and send them out to you. We've always done it that way. I think this is the fruit of the love we have for you before us, and also the fruit of the love for this song."

The band members have dedicated half thier lives to GLAY. Once again, you feel a kind of weirdness in how old the band is. The next song, "Tsuzureori~so far and yet so close~," is a new song compared to the whole history of the band. Listening to this song, I remembered the last Dome Tour.

"The next song, it's a number that'll tickle you," Teru said, speaking of his thoughts on the next song, "KISSIN' NOISE." This is a song that was written before GLAY's debut, and is a basic song in thier history.

"Us now, over thrity, are still shouting to us back then when we were in our twenties, yelling 'Don't give up!' And with that shout, we want to do this song and want you to enjoy it. What I'm trying to say is, what I want to say is, it's important to keep going!"

From here they combined old and new, leading off with several songs often heard in lives. "Kanojo no 'Modern...'," which the audience was in tune with from waving their hands in time to the jump. In "SHUTTER SPEEDS no Teema," featuring Jiro, Jiro yelled like mad. "Rock my soul!" Teru screamed at top of his lungs, and the intro for "Peak Hateshinaku, Soul Kagirinaku" started. "There are voices here that won't be here tomorrow! More, more!" Teru said, encouraging the crowd to sing louder. It's become normal for him to stir up the crowd by singing away from the mic, but that day his voice rose above the crowd. When you hear it, you become aware of the unforgettable tour and the scenes that will stay with you during any given song.

"I believe that dreams come true. I'm dedicating this song to all of you waiting on your dreams," Teru said, and they began "BEAUTIFUL DREAMER." Then, the last song in the regular list was "LAYLA," which is still unrecorded. It has a really GLAY-esque feeling, with a Celtic flavor to the intro, interlude, and outro. Along with the opening number, "ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE," it seems like GLAY is going in a fun new direction.

In the encores, the first song was "Winter,again," a must for winter lives. "More than Love," and "ACID HEAD," which freely took the last of the audience's strength. Finally, with Teru's comment "Through this song, please take home a warm feeling, as though to erase the strange crimes of the people around us," they began a chorus of "I'm in Love," swelling with warmth.

Their first live in a year, from the beginning it was enough for both band and audience, and that tension remained unbroken from beginning to end. They gave us new songs, and a live to give us a glimpse at the path they walk during this their 11th year.

*The White Band FES is covered in "WHAT's IN" Jan 2006

**Since Zepp Tokyo is a live house, there are much fewer seats to accomodate fans, so that the seats were completely packed and many coulnd't get tickets at all.