GLAY Returns to Hollywood

In Japan, GLAY can sell out arenas with over 50,000 people and even broke the world record with a concert with over 200,000 paying fans. However, their US tour consisted of 1,000 people at each stop, nowhere near their regular popularity in Japan yet still a good amount of fans for a Japanese band in Japan. On the last date of their GLAY US The Great Vacation tour the venue was filled, most likely a sold out date for the band.

The venue was filled with eager fans talking excitedly amongst themselves, yet most were facing the front once 9 PM drew closer. The talking slowed once the Japanese staff warmed up GLAY’s instruments and they left the stage. The lights suddenly went out, the fans screamed in unison, and started chanting "GLAY." ~Tokyo Vice terror~ played, welcoming the members to the stage as they walked out, or in Hisashi’s case as he ran out.

Just like the previous day’s performance, Hisashi’s entrance was comical and indicated how much fun the performance was going to be. Hisashi charged out onto stage wearing a beautiful silver wig, carrying a light saber, taking a few swings with it. The apparently high quality wig wasn’t very noticeable on him until he bent his head showing his nonexistent part. As it was in the same style as his original hair except the color and maybe a bit longer, many people did not even notice it really was a wig until they spoke with other fans after the show.

As the members walked to their places on stage, Teru already had his mic and was yelling out, "Are you ready? Welcome to the final show!" and then transitioned into chants of "Hey! Hey!" for the beginning of The Great Vacation. Teru seemed to have fun getting involved with the crowd, pointing out to fans, talking to them during MCs, and running around to each side of the stage encouraging them to get more involved. When the song ended everyone was dead silent waiting for the next song, Yuuwaku, and when Teru announced it, everyone gave a loud cheer.

The only disappointing thing about this night compared to the previous night was that Hisashi was not even half as energetic. Thankfully, Teru, Jiro and Takuro more than made up for it being even more energetic themselves. Teru came up to Hisashi for a few lines and wrapped his arm around for a bit of fanservice the girls went crazy over. The performance of this song was highly entertaining, the members always doing something so everyone in the venue couldn’t keep their eyes off of them for a second without missing something. Hisashi and Takuro went up front and center for a small guitar solo, eventually switching sides to go greet the fans on opposite sides of the stage. Takuro came over to the other side to greet fans by pointing and shooting them grins, even winking. Jiro ran up to the front of the stage and didn’t seem to be as afraid of the fans as the previous night.

It was time for the first full MC of the night by Teru. "I feel good. Today's song. Many hard songs. I want communication." With this he made the audience repeat a few Japanese phrases as loud as they could and ended the crowd participation by yelling out the next song. "I want your big voice! IKITEKU TSUYOSA!" It was a high energy song with a lot of hand motions the whole crowd was going along with, having fun and putting their all into singing it with Teru. Jiro surprisingly came up to the front once again, grinning and showing off and even staying for a bit. The next few songs played and it seemed no time had passed when Hisashi found his energy.

Starless Night was an amazing fan participation song, letting the fans sing half the song showing their enthusiasm and love for GLAY. Teru started off by telling everyone, "Okay next song Starless Night! Please enjoy with us. We want our big voice…loud voice…sweet voice!" As most fans know, Teru sings a series of notes and asks everyone to follow him getting more and more difficult with each line. As soon as everyone was able to follow him very well, he asked only the ladies to sing after him. However his English pronunciation was not very understandable so when he said "ladies" many people didn’t get him until he clarified it. "Only ladies. Girls!" He repeats the line again and boys still sung along until Teru pointed someone out in the crowd "Girl? No you boy!" and the next time only females could be heard. He got the boys to sing along next and that time was much more successful.

After this song came a short MC, with Teru pointing out a few people in the crowd and asking how long they have been fans. Everyone shouted out a few answers, Teru being impressed with each answer such as five years or seven years. The next question he asked was where everyone is from. As the previous night he got many different answers such as Alaska. While smiling, he pointed to the girl from Alaska and said "Alaska! I know! I remember you from yesterday! I remember everyone." He nodded satisfactorily. He finally laughed and said his English was broken English and moved onto the next song, RUN.

The next series of songs had a slower, steadier, and meaningful tone to them. The lights were turned down and a soft glow was put on the band, providing a tranquil atmosphere. After Teru said just one line of BE WITH YOU the whole crowd went crazy and began to sing a long and wave their arms in unison.

After this, there was finally an introduction of the band including the support members, Toshi on drums and Sei-chan on keyboard. One of their more recent singles, Verb started off with an intense, harder rock opening- a complete 180 from the previous songs that had just been playing. The theme of harder rock songs continued with the next few songs of Synchronicity, I am xxx, and HIGH COMMUNICATIONS. HIGH COMMUNICATIONS was definitely a fan favorite with Jiro jumping and moving around on stage, Takuro doing guitar tricks, and Teru all over the mic stand making all of the girls in the crowd go crazy with the fan service. One small MC later Teru praised the fans, "You did great!" and then they were onto the next song.

With More Than Love, the whole audience was into the show, even the people who walked in randomly and didn’t have a clue who GLAY was. They were even more impressed when Jiro started SHUTTER SPEED no Theme, his bass solo song showing off his skills, providing evidence for Teru’s previous introduction of him as "Best bass player in Japan!"

Acid Head was next and Takuro started off this song by thanking everyone who came. Teru’s fan service continued onto this song unbuttoning his shirt and eventually taking it off. With this song the show ended, the members lingering on the stage waving their goodbyes, leaving the fans wanting more and chanting for the encore they eventually got.

Not even five minutes had passed when the members reappeared on stage with their US tour shirts on. Teru started off by speaking to the crowd, saying it was a crazy night and asking everyone for a picture. The members crouched in front of the fans and Teru introduced the photographer who came out, taking a picture of the band with everyone at the venue. "Three! Two! One! GLAY!" Teru shouted, and a few pictures are taken.

Kanojo no Modern started off the encore, and all of the members began as if there had been no break in between. Takuro and Hisashi joined together for a double guitar solo up at the front of the stage. Takuro put all of his energy into showing off his skills and eventually spinning it behind his back. After the solo, Teru returned to the center and Jiro followed him to have the full band at the very front of the stage performing and looking extremely happy. They smoothly transitioned to Peak Hateshinaku Soul Kagirinaku which was another high energy song. It ended gradually and the energy died down, drawing out a more mellow mood from the whole venue.

A Japanese staff member then came out with an acoustic guitar for Takuro and even one for Teru for the song I’m in Love. Teru started another MC, speaking out to their fans. "Thank you everyone! I will be back! Uhh sorry, We! We will be back next year!" he promised.

Teru started singing and the fans began waving their hands in the air for this song. This was another very interactive song just for the fans. As GLAY’s fans sung the words to the song continually, House of Blue’s staff members stared at the crowd in wonder, the security guards even laughing and smiling to themselves as the whole venue sang together. Teru slowly took the lead back and ended the song. With that conclusion, the members said nothing, just grinned and waved to the fans as the walked off the stage.

Even two days in a row of seeing GLAY wasn't enough, and we can only hope Teru keeps his promise of a return. Maybe they might even look towards other cities for their next US tour.


Set List:

~Tokyo Vice terror~
M-1 GREAT VACATION
M-2 YUUWAKU
-MC-
M-3 IKITEKU TSUYOSA
M-4 GLORIOUS
M-5 Cynical
M-6 STARLESS NIGHT
-MC--
M-7 RUN
M-8 HOWEVER
1M-9 BE WITH YOU
-MC-
M-10 VERB
M-11 Synchronicity
M-12 I am xxx
M-13 HIGHCOMMUNICATIONS
-MC-
M-14 More than Love
M-15 SHUTTER SPEED no Theme
M-16 ACID HEAD

ENCORE
EN-1 Kanojyo no Modern
EN-2 Peak Hateshinaku Soul Kagirinaku
EN-3 I'm in Love