As I mentioned before, I found out about Loud Park via Outrage’s website. I purchased “Blind to Reality” way back in 1989 while in Japan. I’ve listened to their first four CDs countless times since. I’m not nearly as fond of their subsequent releases, but I am hopeful that their new CD, “Rise,” coming out in November will be great.

Before Outrage came on stage I landed a ticket to their signing session (サイン会). I was so happy. Not only was I finally going to see Outrage, live, but I was also going to get to meet them afterwards. I made my way to the front row before they started. Unfortunately, this meant crappy sound and no photos as security in front of the stage were all over me every time I pulled out my camera (despite the fact that the signs said no professional cameras which should exempt my little TZ7).

As you can see from the top photo, I got the picture off just before the security guard put his hand in front of my camera, but the picture came out horrible in the process.

Photos weren’t allowed when the drummers (including Shinya Tange, above, and Dave Lombardo the next day) met fans and signed autographs. Why? I have no idea. Nobody did. It was just a rule that had to be followed. I grabbed this one from far away and that is why it is lacking in quality.

My only other attempt at photography while Outrage was on stage didn’t come out well either. That’s Yoshihiro Yasui, the Outrage bassist.

Even with flash turned off, I was not allowed to take pics with the band or even of the band during the signing session. Oh well. The signing session was quite fun anyway as I was able to meet and speak with all of the members of Outrage. I had actually had prior internet conversations with Yousuke Abe, the Outrage guitarist, and Shinya Tange, the drummer. They remembered me which was cool. They also liked my Metaltown t-shirt.

They were signing everything in English. I asked Yousuke Abe (阿部洋介) and Shinya Tange (丹下眞也) to sign their names in kanji, too, and they were happy to do so. One funny thing about Outrage is their songs are all in English and Naoki speaks to the crowd in English even though they only play in Japan. They only spoke to me in Japanese though. 😉

When Naoki grabbed the microphone to begin their set he said something like, “It’s time for us to show you our samurai spirit.” I already had a smile on my face before he said that, but hearing those words made my smile even bigger.

Outrage was great, of course, although I would have liked to have heard tunes off of “Blind to Reality” and “The Great Blue.” Their set list (セットリスト) was something like this:
Megalomania
You Suck
Under Control of Law
Death Trap
Rise
Fangs
My Final Day
Madness

I’m not sure if Outrage was in control of the music before they began to play or not, but I thought it was really cool that they had an Opeth song just before the Immigrant Song which started their set.

These last two photos I did not take. They are from Shinya’s blog. I include them here since my pics of the band are so poor.

I liked Shinya’s shirt too (although I didn’t have time to tell him). Riot was a great band back in the day and “Restless Breed” was one of their better efforts–not as good as “Narita” and “Fire Down Under” but still classic.

I’ll be seeing Outrage again when they play in Tokyo next time. If you are reading this Shinya, let’s get together before or after the show. I noticed you said in your blog that you went to Shinokubo after Loud Park to eat and drink. I’m walking distance to Sinokubo so if that’s your spot I’m there. 😉

Posted on October 20th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, outrage. Comments Off on Outrage アウトレイジ @ Loud Park 2009

On the day before Loud Park was to begin, Ace Frehley backed out. To fill in for his spot Loudness was added to the bill. I was so happy. I saw Ace before, and have seen Kiss with him. I’m not a fan of either his solo act or Kiss. Loudness, on the other hand, was one of my favorite bands in the 1980s. “Disillusion” and “Thunder in the East” are their best two CDs, IMO, and they played a few songs off of them.

Before a band hit the stage the giant screen between the two main stages flashed their name as seen in the above picture.

This was the scene a moment later before Loudness made their first public appearance in quite a while.

Loudness’s long-time drummer, Munetaka Higuchi, died in 2008. Their new drummer is Masayuki Suzuki. Minoru Niihara is the vocalist.

Akira Takasaki is the brilliant guitarist of Loudness. One of his guitars had glowing frets. You can see the glowing frets better in the video at the bottom.

These pics aren’t great, but given that I was more than 100 yards from the stage and the lighting was poor, they aren’t that bad.

The setlist (set list?) was something like this:
Fire Of Spirit
Hellrider
Crazy Nights
Heavy Chains
Crazy Doctor
In The Mirror
Are’s Lament
Like Hell
S.D.I.
Hit The Rails

There is another image of Loudness in this entry.

Finally, a video showing what the small, Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 (ZS3 in some countries) can do. The audio is very good given the size of the arena (absolutely HUGE) and the fact that it is indoors. The sound bounces around quite a bit, but the TZ7 captures the audio pretty well. When in focus (which the TZ7 sometimes had problems with given the low lighting and hands occasionally thrusting into view) the zoom on the TZ7 sometimes provides a clearer picture with video than stills shot with the same camera.

Posted on October 19th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, people, tz7 zs3, video. Comments: 2

Children of Bodom (チルドレン・オブ・ボドム) was one of the bands I was most looking forward to at Loud Park. I should really like them given that I love most of their fellow bands in Scandinavia (In Flames, Opeth, Dark Tranquility, Amon Amarth, Dimmu Borgir, Finntroll, Enslaved, Satyricon, etc.), but Children of Bodom have never quite clicked with me. I was hoping that something would click on this evening. I enjoyed their performance, but they still don’t really move me.

Posted on October 18th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: concert photography, loudpark, metal. Comments Off on Children of Bodom @ Loud Park

I’ve seen many Napalm Death shirts over the years but this was my first time experiencing the band. My first impression was that they seemed like a bunch of recently escaped mental hospital patients. Their stage at Loud Park was nearly black through much of the set, making photography impossible. Mark Greenway, the lead singer, paced the stage in a rapid, clockwise circle through their entire set so I couldn’t have really captured him close up even if the lighting was decent.

Napalm Death played a few, really short songs (under a minute each), but for the most part, I think they focused on their more recent, longer song-length material. Overall, I enjoyed their performance.

Mark Greenway made some speeches between songs. Even though what he said was in English I couldn’t really understand him due to his thick Birmingham accent. I’m pretty sure the rest of the audience (99%+ Japanese) couldn’t understand a word.

What you see above is from the few moments when a fair amount of spot lights were on.

Posted on October 18th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, napalm death. Comments Off on Napalm Death @ Loud Park 2009

I started off day two (Sunday, October 18, 2009) at Loud Park a little later than day one. There weren’t any early bands that I wanted to see. The full schedule can be seen here. I arrived in time to see the last half of Hibria, a band I hadn’t heard before. They sounded like a mix of early Queensryche and DragonForce. Although I really like early Queensryche, I got bored of Hibria after a few songs so I went for a stroll instead.

The above photo would have been really cool had it been in focus. Oh well…

Hatebreed was next. I am not a fan of Hatebreed. Every time Pandora selects a Hatebreed song for my stations I end up thumbing it down so I don’t have to hear it again. Live, in Tokyo, however, they put on a good show. The singer was very upbeat and the crowd loved them. I don’t know exactly why I liked them, since I don’t like NuMetal, Metalcore, Rap Metal or whatever category they fit in, but they somehow were interesting to watch in concert on this day.

Will I continue to ban them from my Pandora play lists? Probably. If you feel the same way and happen to be at a gig when they are the opening act, I suggest you at least experience them live.

By the way, Pandora doesn’t work in Japan. Pandora is one of only a few things I miss about living in the good old USA. I’m stuck with Live365 Internet Radio over here, and it isn’t nearly as good.

Posted on October 18th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal. Comments Off on Hibria and Hatebreed @ Loud Park