jpopexpress.com - LM.C Live at the Crash Mansion (July 5th; LA)

LM.C Live at the Crash Mansion
Saturday, July 5th at The Crash Mansion, Los Angeles, CA

Fourth of July weekend I traveled again to LA for interviews, AnimExpo and the LM.C concert. From what I have been told by friends who lived in LA, the area the Crash Mansion was in is a bit of a shady neighborhood. But when my friend and I arrived about 6:30PM, everyone we had encountered had been friendly and very helpful giving us directions to our destination.

The doors were supposed to open about 7pm, so we stood in the line to buy tickets and chatted. I talked with several nice people as we waited in line, and two of the gentlemen kept me company after my friend had left. After talking with two other friends for a while, they left to go sit in line for Will Call, and I watched as people filed in and were searched before being allowed upstairs.

I had had to bring my backpack with everything for my weekend in it, so I had to check it at the counter when I bought my tickets. The cashier forgot to give me my ticket though, so when I tried to walk in, the security guard stopped me, even though he stood there and watched me buy the ticket. After getting my ticket just to turn around and hand it to the security guard (who then threw it away!) I was allowed in.

The foyer where they had the merch table was dark and lined with a few small couches. Two doorways into the Live house itself cradled the bar. The inside was small, but not as small as some other Live houses I’ve been in lately! The inside was basically a large room with an oversized bar (this one had two), a small stage, a few VIP seats and balconies that wrapped around the room.

There was no barrier between us and the stage, so people were crammed as tightly as they could get against it, waiting eagerly. There was no AC, only a few industrial size fans going, and the energy in the room as time passed increased the heat greatly.

My group of friends stayed near the back, only about 3 rows in, if that, from the open floor. We passed the time chatting and telling stories, and before we knew it, the roadies had started setting out bottles of cold water for the band and a scream went through the crowd each time a masked man in a jumpsuit would walk across the stage.

I have no idea how long we actually waited, or what time it was when the house lights went dark and movement was seen on the stage, but the roar from the crowd was enough to make your brain misfire the signals being sent from your eardrums.

The lights went up and there stood LM.C, Maya in the center with a happy grin, Aiji stage right with a stoic expression as he looked down at his guitar, and the rest of the band flanked around them; Hiko on bass stage left, Death-O on drums, Jaykay in the back on keyboards between drums and Aiji, and Denki-Man in the back between Maya and Hiko.

The music started and the crowd moved with it, cheering as Maya bounced around as if on springs.

To think LM.C didn’t think they had any American fans is baffling. There may not have been as many of us as there was at Miyavi, but we made up for it with our energy and our voices. The floors shuddered as everyone began to move as one, making me wonder if the wooden floors would hold us all as we bounced around happily.

The concert itself is a bit of a blur of camaraderie and pure fun. There were a few girls who passed out, and people left the concert to help them out to cool down. I had left to help one of the girls, and when I returned, I was told Maya had jumped up on a box in the front of the stage and though he continued to sing, he watched us as we carried the semi-conscious girl out of the concert. It was about this time that he started spraying us with water.

I somehow made my way to the front, right behind my friends who had disappeared in the surge of bodies as the band had started playing. We were right in front of Maya and ended up soaked in cold water from his water bottle and spit from him spewing the water from his mouth all over us. Only a fan would appreciate being covered in a stranger’s spit, so we were in heaven!

Maya was throwing everything from half full bottles of water to confetti, bouncing all over the stage and occasionally stopping to turn his back to us and wiggle his behind at us, which got everyone screaming even more!

About halfway through, he stopped to MC, asking us through his translator to back up, because the crowd was pushing the stage hard enough to push it back! It is amazing to think it was possible, but everyone backed up a few steps and waited eagerly for him to continue. He asked that we do as he did, repeating him when he yelled etc, and when he yelled GO! we were to ‘toss your heads around’. We all laughed and told him the English word for head banging and he grinned and repeated it.

He MC’d a bit more; most of it I didn’t hear because the translator (who was practically yelling into the mic) had such a soft voice it didn’t carry even when amplified! They continued to play, and the night seemed to last forever, then suddenly they were tossing out Chupa Chup suckers and guitar picks and water bottles, and they walked off stage.

Everyone sat silent for a few moments then started cheering for an encore, the cries surged and ebbed, growing louder then dying off a moment as the time drug out further. The crowd had started to dissipate, people began to scour the ground for swag (myself included) then suddenly they were back, grinning and waving and ready to rock us again!

Everyone surged forward again, bouncing and head banging as they began again. I believe they played three more songs, including ‘Rock the LM.C’, threw out some more water bottles after dumping them all over us and shaking hands with everyone (I got to shake Maya, Aiji, and Denki-Man’s hands!) then they sat down with their backs to us and looked up to the balcony behind the stage and as everyone messed with their hair, they laughed and tried not to be drug back into the crowd.

All in all, it was one of the best concerts I have ever attended. I would recommend LM.C to anyone, regardless of whether you like their genre of music of not, just for the pure experience.

I believe everyone who attended had extremely high expectations for LM.C; especially considering Maya was ‘trained’, as it were, by Miyavi himself. I don’t think anyone left that concert disappointed, even the ones who were hurt or passed out from the heat. It was great to see people holding up other’s hands when arms grew too tired, helping strangers so they could reach Maya or Aiji’s hand as they swept the crowd or leaving the concert to help someone who needed medical attention.

It was an awesome Live, and when they come back to America, I plan on being there, right underneath Maya again to be spit on and drenched in bottled water!

As for a set list, I believe they played every song I have ever heard of theirs, a few possibly more than once

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