Very first concert of Violet UK: 03, December 2002

 

First of all: Yoshiki played at this concert while suffering from athritis in his hands, and only for that let's tell him a huge: CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU!
(there were some "breaks" during which he didn't play (or barely played) for minutes, but still, there are more pleasant things than playing the piano while suffering from arthritis...)

So: mmmh we have some small idea about what VioletUK will sound like, but really small: it would be like judging what X sounded like after listening to the few songs they played this night (only ballads like Forever Love, The Last Song, Endless Rain, and so on...): you would say X was a pseudo-rockers-playing-honey-like-ballads band. In fact, only ballads were played this night, except one song ok I admit it.
So personaly I conclude only two things from this concert: First, VioletUK's singer really is excellent (a little shy but well... I especialy love her Japanese "hello"!). Second, Yoshiki didn't lose at all his gift for composing wonderful melodies (after all, after so many years without composing, it was not guaranteed). This exceptes, especialy about the musical style of VioletUK...

Still, one thing may give an idea of what it will be like: "Blind Dance", the only "not ballad" song that was played this night. Except that this song made me think of instrumentals of X (there always was one an album, and it always sounded... "strange", "special", especialy compared to the rest of the album): I don't know if this song really reflects the style of VioletUK, up to me it's a new "completely silly / typically Yoshiki-ike instrumental". But I won't know until the album is released... But it's not with only one song, this one or not, that we'll know if this album will be "dance-like", that's what Yoshiki said about it in his first interviews after his "come-back" after all, or more "heavy-trash" like, as he said in some comment written(/said?) a few days before this concert. I can only say that electro parts of this song (and there were not too many) did not stress me (electro music usualy does), I even liked them, so let's trust Yoshiki-san for composing something great, in whatever style... BUT IF HE COULD RELEASE IT QUICKLY, SO THAT WE COULD jUDGE IT "ONCE FOR ALL"!!
(one last thought: now that he also is a member of Globe he can play/compose dance-like music there, so he may not "need" it anymore in his own music... we can hope it anyway!)

One last thing Blind Dance may allow to understand: at first, we heard about "three singers" in VioletUK, although Yoshiki said that no there will be one and only one. And indeed we saw (and heard) only one singer in this concert... but during Blind Dance, we could also see a dancer and a "miss DJ"... maybe the three of them are members of VioletUK? BUT ONCE AGAIN IF WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT 1) THIS #%*§ ALBUM HAS TO BE RELEASED (which we haven't been wainting for a long time, nooooooo...) 2) VIOLETUK HAS TO GO ON TOUR!!!!! (a tour including Europe? please Yoshi-san and-I-don't-care-if-this-isn't-correct you could happen to have fans in Europe too, you know this don't you? please? don't you?)

(Some comments about the concert itself now, not "VioletUK" itself:
I and "symphonic arrangements" really don't seem to be friends, would it be only because of this bad use directors seem to have to add some instrument here or there, destroying the atmosphere created by other instruments: there were some of these "aaaaaaah but what is this instrument here for except destroying this part of the song!!!!" in nearly every every song, but especialy during Forever Love (I guess Yoshiki was backstage when they played it, he wasn't on stage anyway, or I didn't see him): please Mister Director, can you understand this sad/melancolic atmosphere is intentional and you do nothing but destroy the whole song trying to make it a valz/sometimes-nearly-ballroom song?!? Sometimes, I don't know why, I feel a strange need to go inside the video and use a great big hammer over some heads there...
Great realisation (I watched what seemed to be a tv-version), especialy because of the "close-ups" Yoshiki's hands... I want to have such hands and play that well, waaaaaaaaah why can't I!!!!!!! (BUT Yoshiki made some mistakes here and there, only few ok, but a few is still more than none: he is human! yes!)
I really hate "groupies yelling for their loooooooved-staaaaaaaaaar"... you could hope time would have cooled them down a little bit... but it doesn't seem so... anyway that's a positive point about Europe (for once!): IF VioletUK comes to Europe (please tell me they will!), and as X has always been unknown here, especialy among "screamiiiiiiiiiing groupies", I don't believe we will have to stand their screams... yes!)

Set-list for those interested:
(set-list I saw anyway, knowing I saw a version that had obviously been cut here or there, I don't know if it was shown like that on TV or not)

The Last Song
7th
Forever Love
Amethyst
Seize the Light (instrumental where Yoshiki leaves the piano to become the director of the orchestra... and I understand why he considered he said he was catastrophic then, after watching a tape of the concert on TV right after the concert (therefore he trained for this part for the concert the day after)... at first I believed it was nothing but false-modesty, but no it really was catastrophic! believe me you see a difference with, for example, Andre Matos (just "some" example, like that...) who had lessons in a "music school" (and wen out of it with "not so bad diplomas, but that's another story...) )
Screaming Blue
Blind Dance
Anniversary
Endless Rain (a children choir sang the lyrics... too bad we could barely hear them... and Yoshiki was crying at the end of this song, normal...)