FUCK OFF

The organisation before the festival was shit. Europeans will feel the struggle with Envolpro. That means wrong information (like prices and times with meet and greet as eg), no informations, also wrong/missing informations between them and the bands. But feel free to explore the whole story at their Twitter account while checking the comments. It was just ridiculous.

Anyway. It was said that food, drinks and merch will be accessable all day and it will be only a short walk from Japan Expo. Lie. Again. We aren't natives and figured out that, if you arrive by public transport, it's either a around 45min walk from Japan Expo or a 20min walk by bus who will arrive once an hour. And no signs were to walk… Google will be your friend. Also, no info before the first days as reminder on socials and so. Neither after day 1.

Was there only Sunday, but luckily and curious I dropped by at Saturday evening to check the merch. The lady at security (I asked her if we need to show the tickets if only want some merch) didn't speak English at all, didn't try at all, just scanned and no further info. The ladies with the wrist bands were really nice (shoot out to them!!! They were so nice!!) and let us through. 

When checking the merch I noticed that we got the wrong wrist bands… So after the little walk we went back to the ladies and I asked them. They got confused, I explained who let us through (security lady disappeared) and they apologized. Luckily we could simply return the wrist band and they even offered to let us stay as it was their mistake. They also told us if there will be any issue with the ticket scan tomorrow, I should reach out.

Next day. The mess continues. Arrived early due to VIP stuff with Azavana. We had around 37°C the whole weekend… The arena was in the middle of nowhere and you were allowed only to bring a small bottle of water, but could refill for free. We passed without any struggle (still no English speaking security which was mess for non French obviously) and the lady remembered me! This time it worked and we were early, but nevermind. As said, super hot and middle of nowhere. The outdoor space with food and merchandise booths and we're you were also supposed to wait for the events to start, was big and had only four shadowy places. Three small tents under which only a small amount of people could fit under, not even a quarter of the people. The fourth was a shadow due to architectural structure which was getting smaller and smaller to mostly non-existence while the sun was moving around the building. Hot and sunny weather is not a surprise for a summer in Paris. That could have been foreseen and better prepared for. There was one water sprinkler, which was only shortly in use on the second day (maybe it just broke at some point and was not turned off on purpose, but the guy setting it up was rude). They closed the toilets and free water source for the outdoor place long before entrance from the outdoor space to the actual concert hall started  (at least one hour).

The meet and greet with Azavana was great itself, but on the other side ridiculous. I paid… 60€(? Not sure anymore as they fucked up before and needed to re buy) for a fucking hand shake. You couldn't even say 2 sentences cause the staff was rushing as hell. Then we had the group pic and it was another 40€(?) and at least they took several pics and again shoot out to the nice staff ladies who offered to carry the bag and explained everything well in English and even joked around! They really saved us.

I also read that at day 1 there was a delay at an event and that at Jiluka there was no re entrance when you were 5min late? I just saw that on Instagram and yeah... The poor lady lost 90€ - for a photo with Jiluka.

Some merch was available only after the bands had their show (like the Azavana Cheki) which was unfortunate cause again no info… It just said “bands will bring also their own merch”. And Kizu Cheki (random!!!) was 20€ per piece?! Wtf?! However, prices itself for merch was okay and I even traded a few Azavana ones with nice Japanese ladies.

Fun fact: from Jiluka I got the same Ricko 3 times, from Azavana I got Ryo (vocal as well…) also 3 times with same pose… what is ongoing with me and vocals?! So, line up was as the following: Imperial Age An Cafe  Azavana Jiluka D’espairsRay  Moi dix mois

Inside thankfully was AC but only 3 toilets?! One security lady told us there are 2 others when we lined up (“they are empty”). We checked and they weren't… so we went back. Lady told again and I was just so done that I told her it's not true. She looked confused and said “Not??” And left. She didn't even checked. Also there were no signs itself to the ground floor, 1st floor and so on. It wasn't a big venue, but still… Finally done we decided to stay left side at the sound thingy area cause front line was crowded and rumours said also not nice ongoing. We weren't into AnCafe but stayed cause curious. On instant a huge party went on and a tall blond guy (Europeans and Techno people: I swear he looked like H.P. Baxxter from Scooter) who lost it completely and was having fun so hard. Miku spoke a lot of French which surprised me personally. It was a nice gig, lots of fun, even if not my taste in music. After every band there was a 20-30min break to change the stage and prepare.  Azavana were making it themself mostly and I had a good spot for my boy Ryu!!! It was a great show and I cried and… ugh… I follow this guy since Far East Dizain back in 2014 so he was the main reason why I was going to Paris.  Unfortunately, lot of people left after AnCafe and it wasn't, compared, a big crowd for them but we rocked so hard!!! Lady in front of me to!! After the gig they finally had Cheki (I was asking 3 times during the day and the staff guy was super nice to me) and he lost it when I got 15. I love you, staff guy! Unfortunately, I missed Jiluka’s first song due to that but rocked on instant. The crowd lost it completely and they just broke us physically with several screams and mosh pits and wall of deaths. I also saw my beloved Boogie perfectly!!! Sena was pretty as always, no doubts. Mentally preparing for Despa, I assume the whole arena was waiting for them, and within a second the arena was on fire. It was as they never left us. Several “D’espairsRay” cores started when they took tiny breaks to get some water. All of us were enjoying them so much and Hizumi even spoke English. Wtf sir?! Excuse me?! After the show several people even cried, I was a mess too and we went out for a short break. We just came back for two Moi dix Mois songs and it's really like a cult. Tons of several blue light sticks and so on. Unfortunately, also not my kind of music but interesting! And as we had the issue with the public transport, we decided to leave after the two songs. Beside the whole organization mess, it was a great concert day. I also heard someone saying “if you just focus on the music, it's great” and I totally agree with that. Again, shout out to the lovely staff ladies, the awesome merch guy at the Azavana booth and also the Moi dix Moi fans who handed out light sticks before and were all so pretty and nice!! How dare you!! And all the fans who took care of each other, gave each other compliments and just had a great time. Edit: And now they try to put the responsibility on the fans, regarding the rules about taking photos and videos during the lives. No where at the whole venue had been any signs that forbade them. Some bands allowed it beforehand and encouraged it, even after the show, with liking and reposting. It seemed there was one announcement to not take photos before one band for that specific band, which was respected. A hidden rule in a list of q&a’s somewhere on one website is not enough, and not everyone follows every band and their socials to know.  Additionally, they should have briefed the staff members. Not only regarding taking photos but also at the entrance.  Fun fact: Shortly after B7 posted this shit about the pictures, Despa, Kizu and someone else posted again that they are FINE with it! And Jiluka repost everything anyway! This is a whole nightmare... Also heard some rumours about the flight handling of the bands (I know that Ryu's suitcase got lost on way back and some of the equipment as well. My poor guy!), but not sure about that. My Merch~