GLAY Live in San Francisco

GLAY has always maintained a constant position in the music scene, setting the bar and inspiring other bands to become what they are today. This year, marking their twentieth anniversary, fans were delighted when the announcement of three American shows was made. After twenty years of playing together, GLAY was coming to the United States for the first time.

The fans started to line up at midnight on the day of GLAY's first stop on their US Verb Tour. Throughout the day, the line for the concert steadily grew with fans from all over the country - as well as many from Japan - until close to one thousand people were waiting to be let into the historic Fillmore Auditorium. At a little past 7 pm, the doors opened and the first concert goers raced in to claim their spot in front of their favorite member. As everyone filed in, they were greeted by a large ballroom-like space with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and a stage at the front, already set up and bathed in UV light. The anticipation from the front of the crowd grew as the start of the show approached. In the meantime, venue employees distracted the audience with the usual "no cameras" speeches, and asked if anyone wanted earplugs.

As eight o'clock (the posted starting time) came and went, the crowd began to grow antsy. Everyone began to clap for the start of the show until the lights dimmed and the opening SE began to play. The crowd cheered as TAKURO walked out on stage, followed closely by TOSHI, and Piano-ouji (Seiichiro Nagai); then JIRO, HISASHI and finally TERU. TERU took hold of the microphone to shout, "Let's go!", and the band jumped right into the title song for the tour, VERB.

The crowd rocked out to the first song, waving their hands in the air and singing along. To everyone's delight, the next song was the much older YUWAKU; in fact, the next three songs that followed were older titles. Each song was greeted by loud screams of joy from the audience. During YUWAKU - as GLAY does with many of their songs - TERU held the microphone out to the audience and encouraged the crowd to sing the English lyrics to GLAY's songs.

After YUWAKU came the first MC, spoken in English. TERU thanked the audience, "Okay! Thank you for waiting for us for so long and thank you for coming. I love you. Everybody rock!" Then he casually introduced the band members, asking, "You know TAKURO? You know JIRO?" and pointing at each as he said their names. TERU finished off his little introduction with himself and HISASHI.

As the band was getting ready to play another song from their VERB single, TERU engaged the audience in a little crowd/band interaction. TERU started out with a "Oh yeah, woh!" and then had the crowd repeat the line a few times as the introduction to STARLESS NIGHT. As the vocal part started, TERU slightly fumbled with a word or two, but quickly corrected himself and continued on with the song, which seemed to be a crowd favorite as everyone sang along to the chorus. TERU enjoyed getting the audience to participate in the live as much as the band: for in the next song, AMERICAN INNOVATION, he had the audience clap along to the drums as TOSHI beat out a specific rhythm.

During TERU's second MC, he gave much more formal introductions. He had pulled out a tambourine for the next song, holding onto it as he pointed at each of the band and session-band members. "On drums!" he announced, looking at the audience for the answer. He repeated this twice before yelling out the full introduction, "On drums, TOSHI! On keyboard..." Again, he looked to the audience for a response. When he gave the keyboardist's name, Piano-ouji, the two of them giggled about it as if his title was a small inside joke. TERU continued in this manner with JIRO, HISASHI, TAKURO and then finally arriving at himself stating, "Next--" He pointed to himself, and the crowd gleefully yelled his name. "On vocals... On vocals, TERU!"

The introductions ended and, tambourine in hand, TERU and the rest of GLAY began a sensual and arousing rendition of Lock on you, complete with microphone fondling and seductive facial expressions. The song came to a halt near the end and TERU begged into the microphone, "Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me please," before finishing off the song. The final chords sounded as TERU leaped up onto one of his speakers and jumped down onto the stage, as he had done during a few other songs.

In addition to the older songs that were played, the crowd was delighted when JIRO came to the front of the stage to belt out a bass solo before taking the microphone himself and singing the first verse to SHUTTER SPEEDS NO THEMA. As TERU took over the vocals later in the song, he climbed atop one the speakers to view the whole crowd as the rest of the band danced around the stage and tried to interact with the crowd by making eye contact.

The next song was the more recent PEAK HATESHI NAKU SOUL KAGIRI NAKU. This too seemed to be another crowd favourite. In the middle of the song, TERU had the crowd sing out the one unwritten line, "Wow wow glory days, wow"; in turn, he would yell back without the help of his microphone, "Motto! (More!)." TERU did this several times until the crowd yelled, "Motto!" back at the band - a response that made the vocalist laugh.

"I have a dream," TERU began as he started the last MC for the main set, "I wanna see you again! Eh, next song... BEAUTIFUL DREAMER." As the band completed the main set, TERU left the stage after a few words, "Really, thank you. Thank you. I was very happy to see you! Thank you, thank you. San Francisco, you're awesome!"

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the band reappeared for an encore; each member appearing one by one with JIRO taking pictures of the crowd. The drummer and keyboardist walked over to their positions only to be hailed back by TERU for a group photo with the audience in the background. TERU turned to the crowd to say, "This is a special time. Everyone smile... smile." When the impromptu photo session was over, he addressed the crowd again, stating that he had studied English very hard prior the concert.

The encore consisted of four songs, including the B-side from their newest, but not yet released single: a cover of David Bowie's SUFFRAGETTE CITY from the 1970's. The whole show was rounded off with the older song, ACID HEAD, during which both TAKURO and HISASHI had guitar solos. The show ended with TERU yelling out, "Thank you San Francisco! We will see you again! See you, San Francisco. Thank you very much. I love you, I love you a lot!" The whole band joined hands at center stage and, on the count of three, they jumped into the air to the crowd’s cheers. Once again, TERU thanked everyone who had come to the show: "Thank you San Francisco, thank you America, thank you world, thank you everybody." As the band walked off stage, TAKURO gave one last "Thank you."

It didn't take long for the crowd to start clapping for the band again, eventually screaming out for another encore - but, alas, the stage equipment was already being turned off and disassembled.

After slowly making their way through the merchandise line, fans were greeted by one last surprise. Each person was handed a unique poster that stated "GLAY, Tuesday August 12, 2008, Fillmore." It would always be a night everyone would remember.


Set list:

1. VERB
2. YUWAKU
3. GLORIOUS
4. IKITEKU TSUYOSA
5. GIANT STRONG FAUST SUPER STAR
6. STARLESS NIGHT
7. AMERICAN INNOVATION
8. Lock on you
9. SORRY LOVE
10. HOWEVER
11. KUCHIBIRU
12. KANOJO NO "Modern..."
13. SHUTTER SPEEDS NO THEMA
14. PEAK HATESHI NAKU SOUL KAGIRI NAKU
15. BEAUTIFUL DREAMER

Encore

1.SOUL LOVE
2.ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE
3.SUFFRAGETTE CITY
4.ACID HEAD