Back in August, the GazettE announced their first Halloween live on drummer Kai’s birthday. The tickets for “HERESY LIMITED THE DARK HALLOWEEN NIGHT [-SPOOKY BOX-]” were available for HERESY members only and the gig took place at Zepp Tokyo on October 28. For this concert, there were Halloween themed merchandise available, including a box with chocochip cookies! You could also buy coins for gacha (goodie capsules), which were filled with small things such as a keyring, button, magnet or stickers, for 500 yen each. These actually sold out very fast. I grabbed two of them as well as some other merchandise.
Little box filled with 10 chocochip cookies
At first the stage was hidden by a huge red curtain, but as soon as the lights turned off, rumbling sound of thunder began to fill the venue along with matching lighting effects. The curtains slowly opened and a nicely decorated stage appeared. There was a huge chandelier and Kai’s drum set was covered in spider webs. The band’s manager came on stage, dressed up as the Joker, giving us a short introduction and explaining the rules for the show. A creepy intro started playing as he left the stage and the band members came on stage one by one, all fully dressed up for this event. Check our previous post for all of their cool Halloween looks. The intro transmitted into INSIDE BEAST, followed by MY DEVIL ON THE BED and VENOMOUS SPIDER’S WEB. Even though this are not the songs I like best, they were a good choice to include in this setlist as they really suited the atmosphere.
RED was catchy as always, but as soon as GABRIEL ON THE GALLOWS started, the crowd became more excited with synchronised head-banging followed by fast arm movements to Ganges ni Akai Bara (ガンジスに紅い薔薇).
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The highlight of this concert was their performance of BURIAL APPLICANT, DISTRESS AND COMA and 13STAIRS[-]1. I love the GazettE’s darker side. Looking around the crowd, I noticed many fans around me were also surprised that the GazettE decided to perform these songs. Not letting the fans take one second to breathe, they broke into the fast-paced Hedoro (ヘドロ) and continued with the psychotic tune of VERMIN. This must have been one of the most fun songs to experience live, as everyone started dancing. Our necks were on overdrive with the head pounding to the beats of HESITATING MEANS DEATH and UGLY, before playing HEADACHE MAN and ATTITUDE. Another surprise sprang from around the corner as they dived into LINDA ~candydive Pinky heaven~ for their final song of the show, which is one of their oldest songs from their EP Spermargarita released back in July 2003. This old favorite was an exceptional song choice for their last song, validated with the waves of jumping in the crowd.
Kai’s drum set
But the GazettE wouldn’t just finish their live like that. After the last song, the members left the stage and the familiar chanting of “encore” filled the room and Kai returned. Alone. He made his usual short speech and started playing, expecting the other members to return on stage shortly. As there was no sound of guitars yet, he just continued playing. Still no sign of Ruki, Uruha, Reita nor Aoi, Kai started looking around, clearly confused to why they were not joining him on stage.
He then finally decided to stop playing the intro and did a short drum solo instead. That’s when the other members finally appeared with staff behind them, wheeling a table with a tray. Ruki stated that it’s not only Halloween, but Kai’s birthday too, so he brought him creme puffs! Kai got excited and wanted to share them with the rest of the band, but Ruki interrupted him by saying that it’s his present, so he should fully enjoy it by eating them by himself. Kai picked one, took a big bite and kneeled down on the side of the stage almost immediately, trying hard to not spit it out. Meanwhile, the other members bursted out laughing. Turned out that the cream puffs were filled with wasabi! Kai started coughing and then walked off, making us think he got mad. Ruki wasn’t sure either as his smile disappeared and he looked a bit nervous. But after a while Kai came back on stage saying he was fine while the manager wheeled out the actual birthday cake. Ruki’s face clearly showed that he was relieved and he asked us to sing along. We sang “Happy birthday to you” together and Kai blew out the candles, followed by everyone applauding.
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The band started the encore with the golden oldies Akai One Piece (赤いワンピース), leading onto Psychedelic Heroine and SILLY GOD DISCO. For the latter song, Ruki brought his big red megaphone to sing through instead of his mic, which made this age-old song sound even more nostalgic.
After this “last song”, the crowd started yelling for another encore! And after a few minutes, the band did return again. This time with powerful Hyena and TOMORROW NEVER DIES. Then Ruki said that they might do this Halloween show again, at an even bigger venue, next year and announced the very last song. So last but not least, did the GazettE finish the Spooky Box concert with one of their oldest songs: Kantou Dogeza Kumiai (関東土下座組合), from their second single Kichiku Kyoushi (32sai Dokushin) no Nousatsu Kouza (鬼畜教師（32才独身)の悩殺講), released back in August 2002. It felt pretty special to be able to hear this song live and everyone clearly put their last energy into this fun song. Knowing that this was really going to be the end of the concert, I only started to realize how cool it was to have been part of this entertaining experience with my favorite band!
Setlist for SPOOKY BOX 2016.
Did you have the opportunity to attend this event too? Or do you have a ticket to experience the band’s 15th anniversary on March 10? Let us know in the comment section below!
More info:
Official Website
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter (Ruki)
Twitter (Aoi)
Twitter (Reita)
Instagram (Ruki)
Instagram (Kai)
Vine (Ruki)