My friends & I are BIG Rentrer En Soi fans, as I introduced them to the band last year shortly before their epic album "The Bottom Of Chaos" dropped & we haven't looked back since... we were all looking forward to seeing the band as part of the "Clash Against Commercialism" show that was unfortuantely cancelled earlier this year, & were disappointed that we may have lost our one chance to see them as they were the #1 band for us at that show... Luckily AnimeNEXT came to our rescue & worked with he band's management comapny "Free-Will" to have them as their musical act for the June 20th convention. We were stoked, & when learning of the special VIP passes offered, I bought one for my brother Brain (+membership) for a belated b-day present, & invited my pal Mike to join me... It was a few months wait but June finally arrived & we embarked on a trip to New Haven CT at 4am to beat the rush & get to the Con early for registration... It took a litte learning on our parts to manage the subway & Port Authority bus trip, but AnimeNext welcomed CT residents & did a pretty good job in getting us there. The location is nice in New Jeresey with a small convention center (Meadowlands) & plenty of shops/resteraunts & hotels right on site... It's a quiet place & nothing like the mass hysteria we are used to with the 20,000+ people at Otakon... This con had less than a 3rd of that. The con itself is unimpressive by Otakon standards of excellence that we are used to, but it had a quiet charm... & the weather was PERFECT... with solem streets & a pleasant outdoor atmosphere... Cosplay was in heavy numbers, & the Staff seemed fairly knowledgable... complaints were far & few between, but I don't know how people would spend 3 days there other than really hanging out with there friends, BUT short lines, & timely delivery has it's pluses too... ^_- We spent most of Friday just waffleing about waiting for the show.... we got our VIP passes from the Dealers Room when in openned from Free Will's table & scored as much Rentrer loot as we could which included CD's & a T-Shirt that would entitle you to an autograph &/or photo opportunity if you bought both!! We are suckers for such things & love to tell the war stories of our cherished jrock star autographs & photos, but being such a big fan of the band, it really was a no brainer... RES is easily one of the best jrock bands on the scene today, with a unique progression to their sound, & a theatrical despair to their vocals, they really have a unique voice in the visual market... After eating & more wasting time we gathered to the half of the arena that what was reserved for the concert... VIP members were told to wait in a group (about 100+ of us) on the arena bleachers untill they were ready to organize us an half hour-ish ahead (the VIP's were 98% girls btw & some interesting flavors at that)... we even signed a form to get Girugamesh to play there next year... The organization was based heavily on the attendees own honesty & luckily they were as the staff checked us after words, I was positioned as #80 (Brian #81, & MK #82) & squeezed between some nice looking girls & we were ready for action, much to our surprise, they let us in & we found set up in front was a PIT just for the VIP's to rock out in... @_@ the stage was just a few feet away & beefy staff was placed in front ready to calm the crowd... the rest of the room filled in & Rentrer PV's played in the meantime while sound & lights were finalized, the show started in epic porportions as "En Soi" was played as in the S.E. intro & the band errupted into one of my favorite RES songs "Just Mad Pain". This was followed by "Amongst Follish Enemies", the fan favorite new single "Stigmata" & a destructive force of "Bottom Of Choas" tracks that hit the crowd HARD. They played a unreleased new song called "Unending Sanctuary" & my all time classic favorite "Taiyou no Todokanai Basho"!! I couldn't have picked a better setlist myself... @_@ The band 's technique was flawless, & Satsuki's vocals soared, particularly on ballads like "Shinwa"... the epic set ended off with another personal fave "I Hate Myself & Want To Die..." After a short break the band came back for their 1st encore... And blew away audiences with some classic numbers like "Protoplasm".... did a few more heavy hitters, & returned for a SECOND encore with more classics like "Re-Birth" & "Fuuya Tsuiso"... the crowd LOVED IT... The band ebnded off with throwing drumsticks, picks, & water at the audience & my brother Brian was LUCKY enough to score a drumstick (1 of 2) for himself after some struggle & get that badboy autographed by RES' drummer later. ^_- HAWT!!
RENTRER EN SOI "JUST MAD PAIN" AnimeNEXT 2008 Live Bootleg
RENTRER EN SOI "STIGMATA" AnimeNEXT 2008 Live Bootleg
After the show we headed back to CT to stay at our pals Jeff & Erik's for the night... woke up the next morning after a litttle sleep & added company to make a mad dash BACK to the con, (I don't think we ever moved do fast...weaving thru Subway & Bus passages like trained professionals) & made it to AnimeNEXT about 15 minutes before the scheduled PhotoShoot with the band @ 3pm... the area was moved to line up downstairs were we has about 70 people ahead of us in the Con Gallows... our worries were over for being to late as the line got sprung upstairs from the dungeon & moved very quickly to a what was seen in glimpses by the fans before us as a very unique & personal photo op where you were the star placed with band in almost a "family-style" photo session... taken with your own camera by what seemed to be a professional photog, my pals & I couldn't have been happier with the results as this was a very nice close session that was a true credit to the band & their fandom as I would never think Japanese fans would have such an opportunity... "Hey Guys..."
Rentrer en Soi & Chris 6.21.08
In order to get an autograph, you had to rejoin the photo line (if you had both, or wait for all the photos to end if you were only there for the autograph) ...& again the line moved VERY quickly & this time we had a chance to say a few words, get the autograph & shake hands with each of the members, it is truly a rare experience to get both opportunities at a Con, as usually there are too many attendees to have a chance of a photo, never mind a candid one, usually concert tours are the only place for such unique moments for us... I made sure to compliment each member & thank them for the autograph... it was truly a unique & friendly expereience, one I would GLADLY do again if AnimeNEXT gives me a shot. Rentrer is one of my favorite current bands & this was something I will never forget, so I can' thank them, Free Will & Anime NEXT enough for giving us what they did... it was fantastic!!... ^_-
Rentre En Soi "The Bottom Of Chaos" CD band autograph 6.21.08
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