B'z LiveGym ~ Rock'n California Roll Venue: The Palace, L.A., Sept 24 2002 Report by --- M from B'z Sunshine

1. "B'z LIVEGYM 2002 ~ ROCK'N CALIFORNIA ROLL" REPORT

9/24/02, L.A.

This is super long! But I must report the completion of my mission on behalf of B'z Net Party.

All right guys, last night I was tired and filthy. Today I'm not, so I'm going to write some more. Btw, it sounded like everyone had a lot of fun chatting about the internet live! I heard you couldn't record it, but don't worry, I'm sure someone did.

To start at the beginning, I got there at 5 pm, and of course there was a huge line of all Asian people around the block. Obviously some had been camping out. The first thing I saw was a Koshi cosplayer! The weird thing is, he did a really good job! He had exactly the right Koshi haircut and shades and wore the rock and roll fatigues shirt. I think HE had some fangirls even. A lot of the fans there were wearing Rock and Roll concert Ts from the Green tour. And they were indeed just about all from Japan I think.

The doors didn't open until 6:30 so my brother and I went to eat. At 6 o'clock I was told to wait in the parking lot. There was a American guy next to me, and it turned out he directed B'z in Konya Tsuki no Mieru Okani in 2000!! He said that at the time he had no idea who B'z were, but quickly realized they must be massive when he saw people placing handkerchiefs under their bare feet during filming of the PV. lol. And he says no one around here has ever heard of his Konya pv. He's never seen B'z live either, but wasn't it nice of them to invite him? I would have liked to talk to Mr. Director some more but I was told to go inside the Palace.

No one else had been let inside yet, but my B'z guardians showed me the place they had saved for me and my brother. I was so amazed ~ it was right up front against the railing and just a tiny bit left of the middle. They warned me to run up there as soon as I saw fans coming in and to be careful. @_@

Anyway, the Palace is really small. The stage is tiny! As I was waiting we saw some fans stampede in, so we ran up to our spot. Good thing. The fan next to me delivered a vicious blow with her elbow to try to dislodge my arm from the railing, and this other girl was crazy. She was a bit slow and she desperately tried to squeeze up to the railing, while making really strange distressed noises. Oh, I might add that I wore heels to better see over people, but I didn't need to! :)

I think they were letting in fans a bit at a time. Anyway, the front was soon totally packed. It was really hot. The concert didn't start till 8. All of a sudden all the lights went on and then Billy walked out, followed by the rest of the band and Koshi and Tak! We were all screaming like crazy.

When Go Fight Win began, I realized that we were right in front of the speakers. Go Fight Win is indeed very exciting in concert, as B said about the Saitama live. Everyone was shrieking Go! Go! Go! GO FIGHT WIN!!! I think all the fans were sweating as much as B'z. Everyone was singing along. I was surprised by how much of the lyrics to the songs I remembered! When Koshi tells you to clap, you clap. When Koshi tells you to jump, you jump. When he tells you to scream "Angel!" you scream "Angel!" (Komachi Angel was great! He used the maracas!)

When they performed Zero, I was able to see in great detail Tak and his drill. It was a red glitter one this time! Unfortunately Tak did not throw anything in my direction the entire show. He spat a pick from his mouth once.

Koshi did his "B'z no B'z no B'z no" thing again. Several times he and Tak were right in front of me...I could almost, almost touch them! Sigh. Did you guys think Koshi's English was good? It is excellent! I couldn't catch the Japanese Koshi was saying at the beginning, but he said "Thank you, Los Angeles!" and "This is a song called Blue Sunshine." (as if he needed to say! ^^) later on. At the end, he was thanking everyone and he also said, "We never expected so many people to come!" Modesty! Tak didn't say anything, but he relied on his smile!

I think they added a lot of bass parts for Billy. But as I said before, it was so hard to hear anything but the bass much of the time. Like during Calling, when Billy stopped for a bit, I could hear Koshi's voice so clearly. He sings beautifully live. And during Koi Uta, well, Takboss, you would have been very happy. Tak was pouting in concentration with his eyes closed. And his guitar! The Tak Burst is really shiny and gorgeous! They projected some special lights for Koi Uta.

They were actually quite a few guys in the audience. There was this one dedicated male behind me who kept booming MATSUMOTO-SAN! I joined him! During each and every Tak solo!

I was really happy they played Samayoeru and Liar Liar. The crowd energy was at 200% for every song. Logic sounded really great too. I hope they release it soon. Atsuki and Ultra Soul were so much fun and the audience was really connected to B'z for these.

I think attending this concert involved a lot of exercise. Basically your arms are in the air like the entire time, you're screaming the entire time, jumping, and warding off other fans. But it was all really exciting. B'z are dynamic in concert and it went by so quickly! They rock so hard! It was a really surreal experience and I can't believe I was there.

Fangirl's Report

Hm, well, I think I'll start off by saying that 2 fangirls had to be evacuated. They were suffocating and I can understand why, because everyone was pressed up against each other. When someone fell, the entire crowd was slanting left and in danger of falling.
Also, one poor girl behind me kept going "Itai" the whole time. People were trying to get to the railing, especially when Koshi came up in front of me. Then I could feel the crowd surging forward and crushing my ribs. Haha. Yeah, next time I'll bring some armor.

Well, B is right. Koshi has more fangirls. But a lot of people cheered for Tak too. And a lot for Billy. Billy wore tights by the way.

Tak wore jeans (but of course) and a black concert T. His hair was greying in the front. He looked 41 but very lovable. He gives off this really warm and friendly aura. He has such a happy smile. By staring determinedly at his face when he was on my side, I managed eye contact with Tak! I gave him a thumbs up! Wahaha.

Koshi is dynamic in concert. He moves around in a really sexy way. When he's singing, he concentrates really hard and stares straight in front of him. But he's really friendly too!
When Billy was playing his solo, Koshi went and stood next to the keyboard. This was on my side of the stage (by this time, I had been shoved from the middle more to the left). OK, I know I should have been paying attention to Billy :P, but I waved to Koshi, and he smiled and waved back. *dies* It was his cute, friendly, happy smile! And when the cameras were trained on Tak later, Koshi winked and smiled at my section. Oh yeah, I was a 3-time happy victim of Koshi water spraying. It was pretty refreshing in that heat! He wore the same pants the whole time. Dark grey Giri Giri style pants with a strip of burgundy lace down each side. Tak didn't change. I think Koshi did some inappropriate grabbing, but I'll save that for chat, shall I, Keen-chan? ^^

B'z look exactly the same in person. Yeah, Koshi really IS that good-looking and Tak really IS that cute. But sort of...a bit smaller. You know how Koshi looks kind of tall on TV.

I feel I've sort of neglected Mr. Big in this report. They were very energetic but my eyes were looking elsewhere.

Well, I think I will stop writing this massive tome now. Questions or comments? You guys can tell me about the internet live! I wish all of us can go together some day and shock B'z with our unprecedented level of enthusiasm. =^0^=

- M -

SONGS LIST:
1. Go! Fight! Win!
2. Stay Green
3. ZERO
4. Love Me, I Love You
5. Gin No Tsubasa De Tobe
6. Taiyou No Komachi Angel
7. Surfin' 3000GTR
8. Blue Sunshine
9. Koi Uta
10. DEVIL
11. LOGIC
12. Calling
13. Fireball
14. Liar! Liar!
15. Samayoeru Aoi Dangan
16. Giri Giri Chop
17. Ultra Soul
ENCORE:
18. Atsuki Kodou No Hate
19. JUICE

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

B'z LiveGym ~ Rock'n California Roll Live Broadcast through Internet Venue: The Palace, L.A., Sept 24 2002 Report by --- Keen

2. "B'z LIVEGYM 2002 ~ ROCK'N CALIFORNIA ROLL" LIVE-BROADCAST REPORT

9/25/02, 12:00pm, Melbourne

I finally got around to write this report. As you all know already, B'z LiveGym Rock'n Cali Roll was broadcasted live from L.A. to all over the world through internet. More than 1.5 million people accessed the official website and supporting providers' sites. There were bandwidth of 300k, 100k and 50k to choose from. Since my PC back home is still the lame 50k dial-up, I decided to camp in some broadband internet cafe with expensive cappucino to watch B'z in style. My per hour session started at 12:00pm Aussie time, which was exactly 7:00pm L.A., half an hour before the concert was supposed to begin.

Now, some of us promised to meet on-line to chat before, during and after the live broadcast. I thought it would come in handy since who knew what problem we might encountered with the technical stuffs. I remember B was already there when I logged in. Poor B-chan, I think it was 4am in German. A short while after, Takboss, B2, Rockman, Irene and Koshi (was there anyone else, sorry if I forgot =p), 7 or 8 of us arrived in the chat room. We were all extremely excited but also at the same time nervous with the possibilty of *not* being able to view anything. Meanwhile, I was also checking Japanese B'z boards which were positively buzzing with activity. Fans posted messages like 2 seconds after one another. They were all asking advices on where and what to click, why is my screen still dark and so on. You could feel the tension and frustation on those boards.

In our chat room, we were basically typing the same desperate messages. Some tried out the numerous supporting providers available and told the others if they were any good or not. The screen available by Windows Media Player was incredibly tiny and it was constantly playing Green CM before the live began. One thing for sure, the sound quality was good. We kept clicking play just in case. But I think it was way over 7:30pm L.A. time when somebody typed in all caps, "DID YOU HEAR THAT?" There was a buzzing sound, according to those who heard it. And before long, "BLUE SCREEN! IT'S STARTED!"

The chat room was swirling with messages. I couldn't see or hear anything but Green CM and so did some of us. Those who were in the right site told the rest of us where to go and what to click. Soon enough, they were typing, "Omg, I see a tiny moving colourful pixel! It's Koshi!" >.< "Is that ZERO?" "Taaaak!" -_-;;; Around this time, I was still fighting the PC in front of me. Finally I clicked the right one and yes, the image of Koshi jumping up and down the stage was delivered smoothly to my screen, but unfortunately no sound. I kept trying to 'fix' stuffs and prayed for miracle, because even though Koshi and Tak looked great, heiii, B'z is all about music =p so I mustn't miss the sound.

I think it was around Surfin' 3000GTR when I realized miracle wasn't going to happen. I literally pour latte down my throat (and some on my shirt, I think) and ran to the counter to pay my bill. They might have been playing Blue Sunshine all along when I was out on the street running to the second internet cafe of the day. When I finally sat down and clicked on the right site, Tak was playing Koi Uta already. This time, I could hear everything loud and clear. Everyone in the chat room were relieved to know that. It was very heart-warming how we shared frustation and excitement to that level, right, guys? Hurhur.

So soon enough, I was also typing, "Wow, cool solo!" "Taaaaaak!" and then when Koshi was back on stage again, "Koshiiiiiii!" (of course). Btw, LOGIC is an excellent excellent number. Yet another unheard new style for B'z and it's in full English! We typed lots of fangrilly comments on this song. We also saw how Koshi had the audience sing his lines several times, like "wowowoww" in Calling and "aa, nani ga matteirundarou" in Atsuki~. Believe me, we were all singing and clapping along too! At least everyone else, because in my case, the guy behind the counter was watching me suspiciously. I had let out quite a few loud shrieks and not to mention having this idiotic wide grin on my face the entire time. But of course I clapped along too.

I can't remember much from the live except that it went by so quickly. The sound and image was actually very smooth and we had no big problems after the initial one of *getting* it right. Some of us had the set list on hand (taken from San Diego's live report) so we always knew what song was coming next. Somebody would type "Next is blah blah blah!" and always, there were somebody or everybody replying, "Oooooooh, my favorite song!" I can tell you one thing for sure, when that out-of-this-world intro of Samayoeru~ began, I got so excited I could hardly keep my chair steady. And that breath-taking awesome solo, sigh... Tak! Anyway, I think the entire time everyone else was also flippin' out on something, hehehe...

At some point between songs, I remember hearing fangrills screaming, "Inaba-saaaan, otanjoubi omedettoooou!" (= happy birthday) And Koshi screamed back, "Thank yooooou!!!" (cheer). We also heard clearly many times some *english-accented* "Matsumoto-saaaan!!!" Hurhur, I think it's that guy behind you, M! Oh, also, we heard Kosh thanking the audience in Japanese first and then broke into fluent and fast English. "We'd like to thank everyone who came here tonight. We never expected so many people to attend the concert. Thank you very much, Los Angeles." Well, something like that anyway. So we typed comments like, "Wow, did you hear that?" "How was his English?" "Perfect!" "I understood everything!" I'd say he has lost all hint of Japanese accent that accompanied Mars and Wicked Beat songs =^0^=

Finally, I'm glad to report that Koshi's voice was in tip-top condition that night. He sang high notes in Atsuki~ with ease and nailed the rest of songs while constantly jumping and running around as usual. And like always, Tak was kicking-azz with his sexy fingers on guitar. I don't know about the smiles, M, because there were many other things to keep us busy. As much as we wanted to fangrill about how they looked that night, the screen was too small and most of us really really paid attention to the music (like, of course!) B'z did a lot of improvisations on intro and outro of many songs, also on Tak's solos. They kept giving us pleasant surprises. Not one boring second at all. But we were quickly saddened with realization that it was gonna end soon. I remember clearly how B typed, "After this, Atsukyaa and Juice, and it's all over ToT ." And somebody typed, "Whaaaat? But they just started!" Le sigh...

The next day, I browsed through Taiwan, HK and Japanese boards to check on other fans' comments. Many fans in Asia had to take the day off school or work in order to view this in the middle of the day. But I found out that many of them couldn't hear anything at all the whole concert! So I guess I'm quite lucky to be able to at least watch the second half with sound.

All and all, this live-broadcast is a brilliant brilliant idea. B'z rocked L.A. and the world and we were fortunate enough to see it. I think it's just a fair thing B'z can do for international fans and I sure hope they will do it more often in the future. If it happens next time, we must hold chat session like this again because it's definitely much more fun to view the broadcast together with other fans. It was truly an amazing internet LiveGym experience that I think will stick to me for a long time to come. But right now, I need to plot and scheme my way to the real LiveGym next year (^0^). Japan, Taiwan or HK, anyone?

- Keen -

October 4, 2002 | Written by Keen for B'z Online Music Site©