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Közi First Solo Live ~ カタルシス
Tokyo, Japan - May 28th, 2004
by minagoroshi

As my first live in Japan, I had very high hopes for this…and all of them were exceeded! After meeting up with the extremely helpful Bunny, we made our way to Laforet Museum Roppongi. We got there after they started calling numbers, so there weren’t many people outside. Inside, there were many Lolitas and cosplayers, but not as many as I had expected. I stood next to a very cute ILLUMINATI Közi cosplayer who seemed to love Közi more than anyone there…except me of course! The crowd consisted of mainly young girls, with me being the only foreign boy. I was shocked because there were many mothers there…and even to old women…one with a cane, and she LOVED Közi. Közi had only his singles, CDs, and Eve of Destiny shirts, all of which sold out very quickly.
The hall itself was just a large square room with black drapes covering all the walls. The stage was in the far right corner and was very low, also, it wasn’t decorated. There was some Izayoi no Tsuki-like music playing and some odd instrumental music that reminded me of Mardi Gras. The live house had very good lighting and Közi used that to his advantage and had very psychedelic lights during all his songs…a lot of red [big surprise there]. Here’s the set list for the evening:

1~KINEMA
2~GROTTESCA
3~DANS EREBOS
~MC
4~INCOHERENTS
5~LIFE GOES ON ~WITH MELANCHOLY
6~ISM
7~COLOR ME BLOOD RED
8~CRUEL ARCADIA
9~Katarushisu
10~Honey Vanity
11~NOCTURNE
~MC
12~MEMENTO
13~CRIMSON STAR
~MC
14~INNERMOST...
15~Promenade
~Encore
16~CACOPHONY
17~KHAOS
 

Then, the lights dimmed, and Kinema started. Everyone pushed forward and screamed KOZI!! The support members, CRAZY COOL JOE, Ishigaki, and Yusuke all came out…followed by Közi. He was wearing his blonde hair; it was a bit longer than it was during EOD’s Europe Tour. He had on is black out fit from KHAOS/KINEMA, but with pants, unfortunately I could not see his shoes. The most surprising thing to me was...he had no white face! He simply had on dark eye makeup and blue contacts…not even lipstick. He looks very nice this way…I may dare to say even better than with a lot of makeup!

Then, GROTTESCA began. Közi went crazy. The song was extremely heavy and just great! Though, we could not here his words…they were too quite and the guitars overshadowed them. The same for DANS EREBOS, it was much heavier but all of the songs were EXTREMELY HEAVY. It was almost as if Közi had been watching the Moi dix Mois “Dix infernal~Scars of Sabbath~” DVD a lot.
I don’t speak Japanese, but during this MC, I was told Közi said that it had been a while since he had seen us and some other nice things.

 Next came INCOHERENTS… Közi put his guitar down and grabbed the mic. He stood with one hand on his waist and the other arm raised and bounced and wiggled in a very Közi -manner! The song started and it was very heavy. He began to sing…it was wondeful...He walked over to my side and waved and winked at the girls in the front, and then he noticed me and gave me a huge smile and pointed! It was amazing!!!! The song continued and Közi began doing some small in place dancing that reminded me of a drunken Gackt in the Vanilla PV…it was so cute! He also didn’t play guitar for LIFE GOES ON and ISM, but both were equally as heavy and very good!

Very quickly I head the words “marisu miseru” in a slew of Japanese and Közi began to play COLOR ME BLOOD RED! I wasn’t sure if it was really it because it was totally different, no techno, and arranged differently, but when he started to shout “COLOR ME…COLOR ME BLOOD RED” I knew what I was hearing…a MALICE MIZER song, and I totally flipped out and the entire audience began to sing with him. Then came CRUEL ARCADIA which totally rocked the house…everyone was jumping…it was AWESOME!

Katarushisu then came on and Közi left the stage for the song…everyone started freaking out screaming for him...and then…he came out in his homeless person getup from KHAOS/KINEMA and he was holding a smaller black guitar…and BAM…Honey Vanity started…It was completely rocked out and it was amazing, he wiggled and waved during it and it was just plain fun. Though, by this point, I was very surprised at how much Közi played rhythm guitar and not the lead. Then came a rocked out NOCTURNE and another MC.

This time Közi started talking about the guest…and people began to SCREAM “YU~KI-SAMAAA!!!” and Közi laughed and giggled and joked with us, not that I understood him, but I giggled anyway for the fun of it! People were saying things to him from the audience and he would answer them, it was really cool and just made us all feel that he really loves his fans and appreciates us...he made us feel like friends. I found out after the live that he said that he will be getting real band members soon too. I heard him say Yu~ki but since I can’t speak Japanese, I didn’t know what it was about, but I now know that it meant Yu~ki wrote the lyrics to the next song and he was to be the special guest!

For the longest time I have been trying to figure out where I have heard MEMENTO before. Then, my friend Elise asked me about the end of KHAOS on Katarushisu…the little bit that plays 5:28 into the track. That is the beginning of the song, and Yu~ki wrote the lyrics to it! It was a very good song, and I must admit, extremely MALICE MIZER reminiscent…at least the live version was.

The next song to play was CRIMSON STAR. This song will now always hold a very special place in my heart and mind, as for this report, I will keep it as fan boy-free as possible. It was very heavy, and during the English verses, Közi looked to me as if to confirm the lyrics, it was amazing…and extremely awesome.

Next was another MC and INNERMOST…my favorite Közi song from the album. It was amazing live. Then was an extremely rocked out Promenade which totally took me by surprise. Then Közi left the stage, but while he was gone, the girls began to scream and shout for him as if they would die if he didn’t return at that moment.

When Közi returned to the stage for the encore, he wore black pants and his EOD tour shirt with the collar cut out. Then CACOPHONY began. It was almost as if it was a totally different song. It was so hard and heavy. It was really amazing. Though, because the song is all English, Közi forgot the words at times, well, actually most of the song was just random sounds from Közi, who tried his hardest to remember the lyrics, or just the music because he would stop singing and sway, all while looking down [maybe trying to remember the words].

After CACOPHONY, CRAZY COOL JOE started to through his picks into the audience, and when Közi saw that, he started to as well, but then he grabbed his entire pick container and through it out into the audience, which caused a major scream and rush for them…and during that rush Közi left the stage for good…even through the yells for him and the clapping.

All in all, this was simply the most amazing live I have ever been too. It really lived up to and exceeded all my expectations for it. Közi really puts on a good show