30/05/2012 - SCREW live in London

So, yesterday I went to SCREW's London live, and it was easily one of the best lives I've ever been to. If you're not familiar with SCREW, here's a song I like from their new album:

Here's what I wore:

I arrived at Underworld (the venue) at about 2pm to queue with Chriss, who had been there since the night before (and as a result, was at the front of the queue- score!)!

At one point, the band came out to the other side of that fence behind us to take photos with the fans.

When it's sunny I glow like a frikkin Cullen lol :<

Dodo came along at some point so we could get ice cream from Chin Chin Labs. :D 

The day was pretty crazy, to be honest. There were these two drunk tourists (one from America, one from Holland, I think) who had apparently joined together the night before to find a hostel, but never did, and they stuck around until we went into the venue. They were pretty entertaining. Then this random middle-aged man showed up and started singing and playing his guitar (I don't think he was even asking for money; I think he was just enjoying the attention). The American tourist joined in with the singing. About half of the queue were off-their-faces-drunk too. Chriss, Dodo and I also got our photos taken for GQ magazine (an article on "fans of bands", apparently) wtf. Seemed a bit strange, because I swear it's a men's fashion magazine, but I saw the photographer inside the venue later, so I guess it was legit. Crazies aside, it was great getting to talk to people I hadn't seen in a while (amongst others, a couple of girls from my old school), and I met some awesome new people too. 

The live itself was amazing. SCREW sound (and look) even better in real life, and they were really enthusiastic. There are usually a few songs during lives where I get slightly bored, but I genuinely really enjoyed all of this, despite not knowing all of the songs, and was just smiling like an idiot throughout. I was standing a couple of rows back, towards Kazuki (lead guitarist)'s side, and had a really good view. The atmosphere was awesome; it kinda seemed like how very early D'espairsRay lives would have been, which made me happy, because I've always been sad I never got to go to any of their pre-[Coll:set] lives. 

I didn't take any pictures myself, so here are some Richard took:

I was slightly to Richard's right, so this is pretty much the view I had (but a bit nearer Kazuki). 

I was really surprised (and happy) that they played Death's Door. It's one of my favourites (I think it was actually the song that got me into SCREW), but I really wasn't expecting it, because it's an old one.  

There was also quite a lot of fanservice, which I've never really seen before. They're a PSC band though, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised haha. The band members kept leaning into the crowd so the fans could touch them and such (one time when Kazuki did this, he grabbed my hand and properly clung onto it for support loool).  I'm also pretty sure I saw Kazuki and Byou kiss at some point. They all did the usual water-spitting thing, and I swear one time Kazuki actually leaned forward and positioned himself to get it RIGHT in my face lol. :< 

I got one of Kazuki's plectrums! He sort of tossed it in my general direction, and no one caught it, but it landed right in front of me, so I managed to get it. 8D

Afterwards, about 20 of us waited outside to see the band off. After all the equipment and like a million suitcases had been loaded into the trailer on the back of the tour bus by the roadies (this one guy was wearing Hello Kitty slippers looool), the band came out, and waved as they got onto their bus. They were surprisingly tall for a Japanese band (except for Jin, LOL). Most of them were probably taller than me, actually, but it was hard to tell with my platforms on. 

Merchandise:

Poster

T-shirt. I was happy to see that there was also a women's shirt, as the men's ones are horribly unflattering. I got a medium to be safe, because it looked quite short, but I probably should have gone for a small, because it's kinda too big for me (not so obvious in the photo because I kinda tucked it in at the back lol). 

Back of the shirt. You can kinda see the size better here.

So yeah, I'd definitely recommend seeing SCREW if you ever have the chance. 

I leave you with the PV for Death's Door:

-Finlay