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Artist: Gackt
Album: Moon
Release date: 6/19/02
Video link: Via YouTube
About the song: Noah, the first track on Moon, is a beautiful instrumental piece. There is such a variety of sounds that I couldn't even place what instruments were played where. It really sets an almost supernatural feeling for the album. In my opinion, it's perfect as an opening track.
Artist: Gackt
Album: Diabolos
Release date: 9/21/05
Video link: Gackt performing Farewell and Future on the televised version of his Diabolos tour
English translation by Mina-P: A silver crescent moon flutters down into my parched heart In this night without any moonlight, you tell me "you can walk even alone" Those words you gave to me, with kindness and warmth Turned the tears back into a smile on my face that was hung in dispair
When I'm sad, if I close my eyes, You're by my side
You refused to show your tears as you bid farewell And you gave me your same kind smile I will never forget that warmth
I smile even as the tears flow Even if this road comes to an end I'll unfurl my wings for you
The broad back that disappears into the fallen drops of the moon Teach me once more why I keep walking
I can keep walking without turning back Because you are always by my side
May my tears never spill over again Because I have decided not to go back Because that is the promise that we made that day
Even if the tears gather, the rain will wash them away Because if I ever get to see you again I want to be able to tell you that I surpassed you About the song: Gackt always has at least one song on every album that has very strong orchestrations. Farewell is one of those songs. Both the music and the lyrics give the impression of growing strong. The verses of the song give a feeling of sadness and loss but when the chorus kicks in, Gackt's voice gains strength and you can almost feel the forcefulness of the lyrics. In the background, the drums and guitar back this emotion up. During the verses, the guitar is almost nonexistent while the drums build up to the chorus where the guitar really takes over, giving the lyrics the wings they need to fly forth. This really is quite a powerful song.
Artist: Gackt
Concert: TRAINING DAYS 2006 DRUG PARTY
Date: 12/19/06
Location: Zepp Tokyo
GacktJOB members: You, Chachamaru, Ju-Ken, Jun-Ji
Song list:
1. Cube 2. Maria 3. uncontrol 4. Emu-for my dear- 5. seven 6. REDEMPTION 7. Ash 8. NINE SPIRAL 9. Speed Master 10. Lu:na 11. Storm 12. Papa lapped a pap lopped 13. Kalmia 14. Fragrance 15. mind forest 16. Metamorphoze 17. Birdcage 18. Mirror 19. ANOTHER WORLD 20. Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume
Tell me about the concert: This is one of Gackt's most laid back concerts. There are no costume changes, no backdrops and few videos. The entire concert is just Gackt and the band playing their hearts out in a smaller venue. None of his dancers are there but two new dancers - Kaori and Chika - dance in masked nurse uniforms to Storm and Papa lapped a pap lopped. On the DVD, only the second half of Mirror is performed. When you reach the extras, you will find that You and Chacha sang the first half of the song while Gackt slammed away on the drums. It is extremely funny to watch but I wish they had kept it in the context of the concert. I was very confused when the second DVD began with the infamous Gackt yelling in the middle of the song. There is also a beautiful rendition of Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume at the end of the concert. It begins slowly - almost like a tinkling jewelry box song - then it picks up speed, giving you a very satisfied ending to the event.
What are your feelings? TRAINING DAYS is my favorite Gackt concert. All of the guys seem more relaxed here and therefore seem like they are truly enjoying playing music together. There are some amazing performances in here. Fragrance and Birdcage are absolutely stunning. While I know that some people didn't enjoy this concert, I think that the lack of theatrics made it much more breath-taking than anything else he has done. This is a perfect example of the musical genius that is Gackt.
Artist: Gackt
Album: Mars
Release date: 4/26/00
Video link: On YouTube
English translation by Mina-P: You're never around during the crucial times You're not sure what's important to you Someone's sick of you
You only chase after novelties "Where did those good old days go!!" You have no right to lament things like that
Reflected in your eyes, my face doesn't return anything From the beginning you must have known...
Rush down underneath these heavens By yourself... I wonder if your arms can catch my fostered body
"I'll save the things I believe in" you say The angels are good at excuses with their nonsense, but god's also good at lying
Reflected in my eyes, your tears are all phony In the end I knew you must be smiling...
Embrace each other underneath these heavens The two of us... Your voice shouts, like it's reaching out to my broken heart... And then Hold me tighter
In order to get something, you have to lose something and someone will be hurt
Fall in love underneath these heavens Just a little bit... Because your voice lit a fire in my shyness
Because if these great emotions don't reach out Courageously... Your finger will strike the last blow to my shattered heart About the song: I love this song. It's extremely upbeat and it tells people to GO for what you want. Stop whining about things that happened in the past, look forward and find what it is that you want in life. It's a little annoying when Gackt performs this song because he always stops in the middle to yell with the audience. He runs and jumps around for the beginning of the song so I guess he gets tired and that is the closest he gets to a break. At least he looks like he's having fun performing it. I recommend this song to everyone. It's great to listen to when you're feeling a little down about life or even when you're happy and just want to listen to an awesome song.
Artist: Gackt
Album: Crescent
Release date: 12/3/03
Video link: On Veoh
(video also has White Eyes on it)
English translation by Mina-P: A silver dream, the sweetly spun sound of the rain Who's that standing behind you? Once more, close your eyes so we can meet
My burned out heart is bound in chains My torn wounds are embraced by the sun The light and shadows piercing my body, watching...
"Still, you can't change... so, close your eyes"
I can't wait until you find your way here Don't stop, the rain will tell you when it's over Don't cry, until the wishes you've drawn out have been granted
"Still, I can't let go... so, hold me tight"
"That wish won't be granted... so, raise your hands"
Burned by the sun break my body Pain and separation kill time Yearning for the sun entrust my body Embraced by loneliness kill me About the song: I didn't like this song until I watched Gackt perform it as the opening song for his Diabolos concert. Something about that performance left a powerful impression on me. The song is fierce, yet it has a soft side as well. A dybbuk is a piece of Jewish folklore. It is basically a soul that can't fulfill its duty while alive. It will attach itself to a living body in an attempt to accomplish its goal. Once the goal has been completed, it will leave the body and move on. These are not considered good souls and are often known as tricksters. Taking that knowledge and applying it to the song, we come up with a person that died but their soul could not move on. The soul probably could not let go of the person they loved while mortal. So now they beg for release yet they are stuck until their love has been fulfilled. This is a marvelous song that shows how much thought Gackt puts into his music, his lyrics and his performances. (Seriously, how many of you knew what a dybbuk was before I told you? ;) )
Artist: Gackt
Tour: Jougen no Tsuki
Year: 2003
Location: Yokohama Arena
GacktJOB members: ChaChamaru, You, Ren, Ryuichi
Song list:
Noah (plays in the background during the introduction)
Speed Master
Lu:na
Fragrance
Rain
Solitude -Regret-
Kimi ga Matteiru kara
Doomsday
Tsuki no Uta
Mirror
Another World
Soleil
wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra
Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume
memories
Birdcage
Orange no Taiyou
Tell me about the concert: As a few of you may know, Gackt is an amazing performer. If you muted the sound while watching this, you could still be very entertained by what you see. The DVD starts out with an introduction about the Moon Saga - a collection of projects that included CDs, concerts (with their DVDs) and a movie. From there, you slam into Speed Master, a high energy, fast paced, erotic song. As a warning, if you have epilepsy, you probably shouldn't watch a Gackt concert. Speed Master starts off with the lights flashing and twirling, making it somewhat difficult to distinguish the individual members of GacktJOB.
Immediately, Gackt slams into Lu:na. Most of his dancers come out wearing black clothes with white masks. Two of the dancers match Gackt’s white outfit, though they have a black hood and a white mask on. While Gackt holds his microphone, all of the dancers hold swords. The dance that follows is a mixture of sword fighting, martial arts and gymnastics.
Fragrance slows things down a little. Smoke surrounds Gackt’s feet as his dancers move around him. It’s a good break from the frantic opening songs.
In my opinion, the performance of Rain is really what makes this particular concert amazing. About halfway through the song, water falls from above and surrounds the stage. I don’t mean that there is one gush of water and that’s it. Rain falls steadily around the stage for a good ten minutes without any apparent splashing onto the stage. I still have no idea how he managed to pull this off without getting a speck of water on the stage. (The video for this can be found here.)
After a short guitar duet between ChaCha and You, a video of flashing lightning and moving clouds is shown. Gackt appears back on stage wearing his black baggy costume and performs a piano piece titled Solitude – Regret-.
Following the instrumental is the one-two punch of Kimi ga Matteiru Kara and Doomsday. Both are powerful songs but Gackt’s performance of Doomsday is exceptional. For those that don’t know, the song is about obsession ending in madness. Gackt uses his entire body to look quite insane as the song bounces back and forth between softness and almost yelling. At the end of the song, a blast of fire shoots upward from the stage as Gackt screams. It is definitely an appropriate ending to the song.
There is a short blackout before we find ourselves looking at a child. Anyone who has seen the movie ‘Moon Child’ would recognize the boy as the child version of Gackt’s character, Sho. The boy and Gackt, who has changed costumes again, stand a couple of feet apart from each other. As Gackt sings, he moves toward the boy. Once they are standing together, the boy begins to lip-synch showing that they are, indeed, the same person in child and adult form. Chalk this up to another beautiful performance for this concert.
Usually this is where Gackt moves into the ‘fun’ side of the concert. We are still treated to the high-energy, GAKUTO-screaming, jumping off the stage fun of Mirror and it is followed up by another high-energy song, Another World. However, this concert leaves out the U+K cat costume dance. Instead, the cats come out to Soleil. It’s not a bad song and I’m sure many people have tried to wash the men in tutus from their brains but it’s not U+K.
Wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra and Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume round out the last of the fast songs. Gackt finishes the concert with the slower songs, memories and Birdcage. Finally, the cast from ‘Moon Child,’ minus Hyde, come out and perform a small skit. Wang Leehom performs the duet of no Taiyou with Gackt as clips from the movie are shown. Toward the end of the song, the rest of the cast leave the stage and Hyde’s voice comes over the speakers. Gackt finishes off the duet with the recording of Hyde while standing next to an empty spotlight. He motions toward the spotlight and the concert ends.
What are your feelings? This isn’t the best Gackt concert by far but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching. If you enjoy watching plays or highly theatrical performances, chances are you will like this concert. Of course, you can watch it just for the Gackt factor too. It’s hard to not like a Gackt concert.
Artist: Gackt
Song title: U+K
Album: Mars
Release date: 4/26/00
Video link:http://www.veoh.com/videos/e174563pQx9jj27
English translation by Mina-P: So... Don't say anything You're just a little bit frightened now so Don't say anything You're just a little bit in grief so
In the last act, offer your prayers
The magic of the moon is... shalle a le rilla Because we whisper in sugary voices If just one more wish comes true I want to join hands with you and laugh
Inside of the dream... Inside of the memory, we'll definitely meet again...
If you can regain your smile If your laughing self returns Sadness will turn into kindness
"As that far off memory was..." with all your desires
The magic of the moon is... shalle a le rilla If you can forget your tears If you can touch your kindness I want to sleep near you
If the magic of the moon vanishes Because good-byes are visited again If we can follow our feelings right now I want to join hands with you and dance
Inside of the light, the place we should return to, Because I'll meet you again somewhere
About the song: As you can see in the video, this is the "dancing cats" song. It is weird that this song is so upbeat and cheery. Rumor has it that this song is about the death of Kami, the drummer for Gackt's former band, Malice Mizer. While Gackt himself hasn't come out and said this song IS about Kami, he has expressed sadness and guilt over the sudden death of his friend. In his autobiography (translation: http://www.midnightrevolution.org/asrundream/trans/book/jihaku/), he talks about how he felt like he could have done more to 'save' Kami and how he knew something bad was going to happen but didn't do anything about it. (Kami died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage, I don't know that there was anything Gackt could have done to stop that.) Since this was Gackt's first album after Kami's death, it wouldn't surprise me if this song really is about him.
I love this song because it is so cheery. Gackt doesn't see death as The End. As the lyrics show, he believes that he will see his loved ones again either in an afterlife or a rebirth. That's why this song touches me. I believe in rebirth so even when a loved one dies, I believe that I will see them again in another life. Death isn't something to fear. It's just another turn in the wheel of life.
Artist: GacktSong title: Speed Master Album: Moon Release date: 6/19/02 Video link: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v257966P6JN4CK4
English translation by Mina-P:
"love..." I love you Cause you give me everything So much that it destroys me, everything
I love you You let me coil around your wet body So much that is drives me mad again, everything
I can't get it again Pleasure from you
I love you Even your insane face is beautiful So much that I lose consciousness, everything
It won't go back again Even pain from you
But you're not here... I can't endure, all alone
But you're not here... Just once more I hold you
I won't let go again Even your rotten body
But you're not here... I can't endure, all alone
But you're not here... Just once more I hold you
But you... I can't fix it again
About the song: The music to this song, to me, is very erotic. It starts out with a fast pace then slows slightly to rev back up to a frantically fast pace again. The chorus has a sort of 'thrusting' sound to it. As for the lyrics, I interpret them as someone very deeply in love but they have lost their loved one...most likely to death. They just about go insane from missing the love they held so dear.
While I love this song by itself, it really comes to life when Gackt performs it live. He really knows how to bring the lust out of it. I know that Gackt isn't for everyone but it's difficult to turn away from someone thrusting their hips on stage ^_^