B’z LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free- at Best Buy Theater in New York City

Yesterday B’z brought their world-class performance prowess right into the heart of Times Square in New York City as they wrapped up one of the last shows of their mini North American tour. In front of a sold out audience at the Best Buy Theater they performed many of their biggest hits, including songs from their recently released English mini-album.

LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free- @ Best Buy Theater 09.30.2012 setlist:

01.  Love Bomb
02.  GO FOR IT, BABY -Kioku no Sanmyaku-
03.  Ultra Soul (English ver.)
04.  Splash (English ver.)
05.  Brighter Day
06.  Easy Come, Easy Go!
07.  MOTEL
08.  Mou Ichido Kiss wo Shitakatta
09.  ZERO
10.  Mienai Chikara ～INVISIBLE ONE～
11.  Negai
12.  Into Free – Dangan
13.  Juice (English ver.)
14.  IT’S SHOWTIME!!
15.  Shoudou

Encore

01.  Home (English ver.)
02.  BLOWIN’ -ULTRA Treasure Style-

B’z have played in North America many times, with the most recent visit last year for their brief LIVE-GYM 2011 ～long time no see～ tour. I could only watch via live stream as they played their last show at the Club Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. That was only a teaser, and this year they came back with more dates and even stops on the East Coast. You could imagine my excitement when I learned they would be coming to the Big Apple! Tickets sold out immediately during the Ticketmaster Amex presale for this show, but my buddy and I were able to procure ours.

Fast forward to yesterday. I arrived at the venue at around 10 AM and already saw barricades put up with people camped out behind them. I took my spot at the end of the short (maybe 15-20 people) line, only to be told by someone it was not the end. The line actually continued on the other side of the corner. This put me behind about 20 more people. Still not bad. I had a great view of Times Square and was standing right in front of where they drop the New Years ball every year.

There were three Japanese girls in front of me talking about AKB48. It was so cool hearing them talk about my interests in Japanese! I could make out most of what they were saying. Pretty soon a Japanese mother and her son arrived. They came all the way from South Carolina and had attended the B’z concert in L.A. last year too. I made some small conversation with the mom, who didn’t speak English. For the first time, although shaky, I put my Japanese to good use :D! Another mother and her daughter came after. These two flew all the way from Hiroshima to New York to see B’z! They told me they’ve been fans for 15 years; talk about dedication!

Surprisingly, the 8 hour wait wasn’t bad at all. It was mainly spent standing, sitting, chatting, and taking in the great view. We were offered some cardboard to sit on from the Japanese girls in front of us. If there’s two things I regret about not bringing, it’s probably a stool to sit on and an umbrella. My feet and lower back were absolutely ravaged from the standing. Around midday the sky darkened and it started to rain hard, but not for long. Good thing the stand nearby was selling umbrellas!

I cannot count how many times curious passerbyers asked me or someone else on line what we were waiting for. My standard response was: “There’s a Japanese rock band playing tonight.” Upon further questioning I told them it was B’z, which puzzled them even more. Yeah, they probably thought we were lined up to see a vibrant display of bees LOL. Some punk ass black kids even had the audacity to say it was “probably an Asian boy band playing” at the sight of the line. Haha boy band, this is far from the obscene kiddy stuff they probably listen to XD. We actually saw a bunch of the crazy stuff New York is known for waiting on that line, like a guy playing a guitar in the middle of the street with nothing but white spandex underwear and a cowboy hat LOL.

As 6:30 PM neared they started playing some promotional material of B’z on the Best Buy Theater marquee display outside. Now people could finally have some idea who was playing! They started to let us in shortly after, and placed a lot of emphasis on not running or pushing lest we wanted to be put at the very end. The line at this point wrapped around the end of the block and continued for who knows how far.

The dishonorable mention of this concert report goes to the white douchebag man who appeared out of no where to cut hundreds of people. I regret not calling him out on it. I thought he was just a pedestrian, but he walked beside us during entry time. I waited in that line for 8 hours; I knew every face close to me and his was not one of them. Typical douchebag behavior. Guy had not an ounce of class compared to all those Asian fans who waited their turn.

 

Upon entering the general admissions floor there were about three rows of people already. Fourth row from the front wasn’t bad at all considering the stage was so close. I was told in similar Japanese venue shows its no where near as close. The entire theater eventually got filled down to the last seat. I did not think this would happen because even though the show sold out people bought extra tickets to scalp. From the time we entered the venue to the time the concert actually got under way it was around another hour and a half wait.

We just stood watching the stage techs tuning the instruments and doing checks on the equipment. During this time a girl in the front row passed out and had to be removed from the audience. I saw her body being lifted over the front barricade and carried away by security. She probably camped out very early or didn’t eat much, or both. It sucks she waited all that time just to end up missing the entire show…

At around 8:00 PM the equipment check entered its final phases as the venue music played. People from the crowd started random cheers, thinking the concert was going to start any minute. Pretty soon the volume of the music became noticeably louder, blaring over the theater’s speakers. Smoke emitted from the drum area and covered the entire venue in a hazy mist, giving it a nice ambiance. The blue stage lights eventually became yellow and pink as they lit up brightly to the loud cheers of the venue.

 

Barry Sparks, Shane Gaalas, Masuda Takanobu, and Ohga Yoshinobu all walked onto the stage and took up their respective spots. Before I realized it the man himself, Matsumoto Tak, had made his appearance as well, trademark shades and everything. Inaba walked out last as the band fired up a little intro. The crowd tension had reached a boiling point. Moments later came the familiar opening riffs of Love Bomb. How fitting, because it truly was like a bomb had gone off. The entire venue exploded with joy as it let out all its pent-up emotions. The show was finally underway.

This was my first general admission rock concert and I had no idea how crazy the floor would get. People started pushing forward and I got thrown in all directions like a rowboat in a raging storm out at sea. Love Bomb and the two followup songs GO FOR IT, BABY -Kioku no Sanmyaku- and Ultra Soul were just pure chaos. While disorienting at first I really enjoyed being part of such a crazy crowd.

There were songs I definitely knew would be played, but to hear oldies like MOTEL, Mou Ichido Kiss wo Shitakatta, Negai, and Mienai Chikara ～INVISIBLE ONE～ live was such a treat. To my knowledge these aren’t really staple songs in their setlists. It actually took me a bit to recognize MOTEL and Mou Ichido Kiss wo Shitakatta because I had not heard them in so long!

The most memorable performance of the show was Easy Come, Easy Go!. Inaba explained in English that this is a song B’z recorded in New York back in 1990. How meaningful that they played it in their first New York concert! Inaba even took up the acoustic guitar for this song. I had never seen him play any instrument (besides the shakers XD) in any of their performances, so I felt this made it extra special for all of us. Hearing that old school sound of Easy Come Easy Go! and its groovy guitar riff was frickin’ amazing.

Brighter Day was yet another pleasant surprise. It’s one of their very first songs that they recorded in all English lyrics. It wasn’t on the recently released English mini-album, but what a great song to play at this show! It made me very happy that I could immediately recognize the track by its intro. It’s actually one of my favorites.

Words can not begin to describe how happy I was to be able to participate in the stuff I see B’z do in their concert DVDs. Songs like Ultra Soul, Splash, Easy Come, Easy Go!, Juice, Shoudou, and BLOWIN’ all had great crowd involvement. I had always wanted to be a part of Juice‘s infamous interlude. Despite my best efforts to keep up with Inaba during the last part my voice gave out halfway, as expected XD.

Hearing Tak’s warm guitar sound live, seeing him play his solos up close, and being blinded by his shiny Gibsons was just unreal. Inaba is known for his energetic performances in Japan. He bought that same energy with him to New York and did not hold back one bit. At one point he almost lost his balance and fell into the crowd standing on one of the stage contraptions!

Shane’s drumming was intense as always and I loved watching him twirl his drumsticks. Barry was a bass picking badass and it was really cool to see him play in so many different positions and stances. Everyone looked so comfortable playing to a foreign crowd and that makes me very happy. It means B’z enjoyed their very first concert in New York, which they even stated. It also means they’ll come back next year hopefully :).

After the very last song the entire band got together and took one final bow before exiting the stage for good. The concert ended in a flash. On the way out my buddy and I stopped by the merchandise stand to pick up B’z tour T-shirts to commemorate the occasion. We also went out to dinner with the Japanese mother and daughter we met earlier. This concert really brought us close together! It was a dream come true for me interact and make friends with native Japanese people.

I walked home that evening under a clear starry night sky with a full moon. It was the best night of my life.