I finally had the oppurtunity to watch ACIDMAN’s live DVD! and world tour final 20060409 is a recording of ACIDMAN’s concert performance at Zepp Tokyo on April 9th, 2006. The DVD was released July 19th and I’ve been itching to see it ever since. As expected, this DVD had everything ACIDMAN fan such as myself could want.

The concert begins with the same “introduction” song as the one found on the and world cd. This intro quickly turns into a remix by Super Samir. As the beat speeds up from its originally slow tempo, band member introductions begin. There’s no flash or glam rather each member walks from offstage, waves, and contiues to his instrument.

ACIDMAN actually begin the concert with “world symphony” as an opening song. I was delighted by this fact for a few reasons: it’s probably their biggest hit off of the and world album and it has so much energy. “world symphony” works great as a first song since it really gets the crowd (and me) moving.

There’s much more (text + images),

This performance is simply incredible and makes for one of the best lives I’ve seen (on DVD or in person). The band plays nearly 20 songs for over 2 hours! Within that 2+ hours, ACIDMAN performs their entire and world release and then some. A nice touch that I enjoyed was the inclusion of instrumentals. Both instrumental tracks off of and world are performed back to back…”water room” is proceeded by “SOL”.

Sets of songs are broken up by talking and conversation. It’s pretty awesome to see drummer Ichigo Urayama stand up, talk, and even read from his “nikki” (日記, journal). Lead-singer/guitarist Nobuo Oki does his fair share of chatting and storytelling as well. Bassist Masatoshi Sato seems rather reserved outside of performing actual songs…that’s where all his energy is channeled. The band tells stories and does a great overall job of interacting with the crowd.

The stage set-up is nice and simple. The addition of a projector and screen is basic but they makes full use of awesome abstract images that fit seemlessly with each song. The band members stay pretty consistent in position near their microphones. This in-turn makes the stage seem big and open, which it is. With this came my realization concerning the performance of the music: only 3 guys can put on a 2-hour long-straight concert!

As far as cinematography goes, th and world tour final 20060409 DVD is awesome. Every shot is crisp and clear. I was amazed at how close up (zoomed in) the camera was on the band members during the action. There is a large array of angles that really put the DVD viewer in the concert. It is DVDs with such production values as this that make me a fan of live recordings.

I could ramble on for much longer but I’ll stop myself…one more thing…

…I love the special features on the DVD!

and world tour final 20060409 has about 20 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage on the back end. All this is surely a welcome addition. The short documentary mostly follows the band as they are on the and world tour. Highlights are made at each city and stop (mostly other Zepp venues around Japan).

One hiliarious part is when the band and friends celebrate Ichigo’s 28th birthday. Things start out normal with a nice cake and all. But by the end of his part he is up dancing around naked. An image of Ichigo smiling takes the place of the black censor box.

The coolest thing about this backstage pass on film is that the viewer gets to see clips from past performances on the tour. This does a great job of showing how each gig is unique. Another nice sequence is when the group celebrates Masatoshi’s birthday with an onstage suprise. It’s all such a good time!

The last featurette once again involves Ichigo and humor. It’s pretty much a little sequence about walking in on Ichigo while he practices his drumming. It doesn’t sound too funny in text but its ‘laugh out loud’ funny on the DVD.

Ultimately, ACIDMAN’s and world tour final 20060409 DVD rocks and doesn’t let down. If your an ACIDMAN fan this is an obvious addition to your collection. This DVD also makes for a great starting point for checking out the band…you’ll love ‘em!

and world tour final 20060409 on YesAsia

 
LIVE PERFORMANCE

 
BEHIND THE SCENES