B'z LIVE-GYM 2001 ELEVEN REPORT Spanning almost half a year in time, B'z LiveGym 2001 Eleven's 46 concerts were viewed by more than 600,000 people. Its final concerts were held on July 14 and 15 in Tokyo Dome. More than 80,000 fans gathered in the extremely hot summer that it was hard to move around inside the stadium.

After finishing the day's rehearsal, B'z went back to back-stage room for the standard revival massage. Matsumoto used the brief time to practise some riffs while Inaba breathed steam from a steamer to keep his voice in the tiptop condition. These were preparations they had to do before live shows. As the clock's needle gradually moved nearing the concert time, fans who had been waiting in lines outside poured in. It did not take long before there was no empty seat left in the building. Damp and hot weather mixed with the excitement and anticipation of the fans waiting for the concert to start was thick in the air that it became difficult to even breathe. And the concert began! B'z support members appeared on the stage while Matsumoto and Inaba stepped onto the stairs of a round stage. As a board with "BGM" written on it went upward slowly, the audience started to cheer and clap to the intro music. Everyone screamed very loud when suddenly the lights on their chairs were turned off and red lights beamed continously on top of a giant black screen of two bold letters of "B'z". This screen was scrolled, reflecting the image of B'z while fireworks lighting up the background. The intro stopped. All giant screens came down, leaving a huge stage clearly on sight. On top of the stage, there were two boxes hanging in mid-air. Inside the top box appeared Matsumoto and below Inaba! At the same time, the music for "Ai No Prisoner" began, once again causing the audience to scream hysterically.

As the boxes touch-down at the stage, "Seventh Heaven" started. On both sides of the stage, giant screens reflecting images of both members of B'z, making the audience scream even louder. Inaba shouted, "Like usual, let's finish what we have started today, okay?" And as this was the cue, all lights went off while the middle screen played images of the previous LiveGyms, intensifying the mood of the fans. The images went blurry and the excitement of audience were once again riffled when Inaba shouted his stage dialog, "B'z no LiveGym ni yokozo!!!" (Welcome to B'z LiveGym).

As new and old songs were sung, the bond between the performers and their audience became stronger. Everyone seemed to be releasing intense amount of energy. Moving towards the peak moment of the show, Inaba's facial expression became more alive with passion and excitement. When the mood of the whole stadium reached its heighest peak, B'z performed "Ultra Soul". Matsumoto's guitar sped along Inaba's vocal, complementing it nicely. When the music of "Swimmer Yo! 2001" began, from two ends of the stage one red and one yellow huge trucks appeared and were dragged slowly until they hang in mid-air. The audience could not suppress their surprised screams! Everyone have already gone overboard with their exciment that they were completely drown inside the spirit and mood of the concert. They waved towels, sang and scream along on top of their lungs until the throats became sore. At the end of the show, the trucks opened their back doors, and enourmous amount of empty cans poured onto the stage. Inaba shouted "Thank you!" and with that, B'z left the stage.

The audience started to scream "Encore! Encore!" and they began wave-dancing accross the stadium, waiting for B'z to reappear. When Matsumoto and Inaba once again stepped onto the the stage, the audience clapped furiously and after their intense welcome, everyone started to dance to the special "Koi Gokoro" dance. Next was "Gold". The audience listened silently while orange and gold lightings created a beautiful scene of sunset as the backdrop of the song. Lastly, the final encore song, "Hadashi No Megami" was performed. The audience sang along loudly, their voice soaring, piercing high into the quiet night sky. At the end of the concert, more than ten huge fireworks began to light up. Inaba shouted "Domo arigatou!" (Thank you very much) and with the support members, B'z faced the audience and everyone shouted "Osukare!!!" (You have worked hard!). They bowed very deeply and waved hands to the audience. With one last shout "You're the best! Thank you!", B'z left the stage.

The perfect finalization of B'z LiveGym 2001 Eleven did not only depend on B'z performance. The audience played a great part in this when they willingly exude so much energy and happiness into the air. Making such great LiveGym's atmosphere possible does not only require our hearing and viewing, but also a touched-heart that contributes every single drop of its energy into the moments of the show.

Click here to see cool pics of B'z LiveGyms trucks, merchandises and posters
Pictures forwarded by F. Matsumoto at B'z Kairaku No Heya

August 29, 2001| B'z Party Newsletter (HK Edition) | Translated by Keen for this website ©

TOKYO DOME:

1. Koshi : Everyone, let's practise taking a deep breath, one... two... (breathe in deeply)
Audience : (breathe along obidiently and then laugh collectively)
Koshi : Good, very good. Tokyo is the best!
Audience : (cheer)
Afterwards, "HOME" began. When Koshi sang "Shinkyokuu wo hitotsu shite~" (*take one deep breath), all the on-going music stopped abruptly for a few seconds while on the back-screen "Breathe now~" appeared. As the audience happily inhaled together with Koshi, the music resumed. As soon as he sang "Aitsu wo ijimeta tte~" (*you've bullied him), on the back-screen appeared "Thank you very much", making the stadium roared with laughter.

2. On this show, when Koshi introduced the drummer, Kaichi Kurose and the bass-player, Showtaro Mizuno, the audience went "Haaa?" Because both support members of B'z now had ultra short hair so they looked nothing like when they appeared in LiveGym Brotherhood.

3. After "Koi Gokoro", Koshi went on to explain the meaning of "Eleven" ~
Koshi : I think everyone here knows that our album Eleven, has just been released...
Audience : (cheer)
Koshi : ... even though you must have heard it often, but what's the real meaning of Eleven? Well... actually it just means that it is our 11th album! (laugh)
Audience : (cheer) ^^;
Koshi : B'z has been around for more than 10 years and in all these years we have come up with many albums. This 11th one means we have come all the way to number 11. Right after no.1 is not no.11, is it?! (laugh)
Audience : (laugh) ^^
Koshi : No, no, after no.1 was no.2. Therefore, just like that, one by one, we released our albums. And eventually they opened our way to this no. 11 one. That is the deeper meaning of Eleven.
(The back-screen went to show Tak who was standing, holding his guitar and not paying attention)
Audience : (laugh)
Koshi (to Tak) : Are you listening?
Audience : (laugh hard)
Koshi (to Tak) : Hey, listen to me!
Audience : (more laughter)
Koshi : Anyway, it is amazing that this arena is gathering all the fresh energy that we are releasing, just look at it~ (pointing to the air above the audience) "~and because you always give us such amazing amount of energy, therefore we can manage to do such powerful performance.
Tak : (nodding head repeatedly)
Audience : (cheer)
Koshi : It's true! It's true!
Audience : (laugh)
Koshi : Well, today I want everyone to take home with them this amazing energy! Take lots of it, please!
Audience : (cheer)
Koshi : Because it really does have good effect (laugh)

SAITAMA SUPER ARENA:

1. During "Ultra Soul"
Koshi : Who has listened to the new single we released a few days ago?
Audience : "Haaiiiii ~!" (*yes)
Koshi : Fantastic! ... Is there anyone who hasn't heard it yet?
Audience : ......
Koshi : Nasty! (burst out laughing) ^^;
Audience : (laugh)
Koshi : I know you probably heard it from CM already, but... Well... we definitely still wanna do it~!
Audience : (cheer loudly)
Koshi : Wanna hear it? WANNA HEAR IT?!!!
Audience : (scream hysterically)
Koshi : HEY!!! ULTRA SOUL!!!

2. Before "ZERO", quite long MC-ing
Koshi : (after explaining what Eleven means/ *please see above) I think I've said too much today? (laugh) Aah, aren't the first days of LiveGym the greatest?
Audience : (laugh and cheer)
Koshi : All this energy in the air, if we use measurement to count, how much kilo-watt will it be? (laugh) Since such electrical power exists around us, let's make the most of it! Everyone, please take home this energy with you and use it anytime you like and for things you like to do! We will take home lots of it too (^^) Lastly, thank you so much for today!

Additional reports and song list are taken from LiveGym Eleven reports by various Japanese B'z Sites | Translated & gathered by Keen for this website ©