In case anyone wants to read about it...
I left the house at 4:30 and got to Astor Place in about ten minutes. I walked past the Continental the first time because I was too nervous to ask the bouncers about the show. >_>;; When I walked past again, I asked, and they said the doors would be opening at 5, so I took a brief walk down St. Mark's Place before doubling back and making a beeline for some girls standing in front of the venue. I noticed that one of them had a Kinokuniya shopping bag, so I figured they were waiting for Nookicky, too. Turns out that they were from Houston, North Carolina, and Baltimore to see the band - that's devotion for you. o_o; They were also there with their parents - I don't think any of them were 18+.
Regardless, we chatted and waited, and other fans showed up, including a surprisingly small contingent of Japanese fans - I expected a lot more. Two of the American fans were dressed in cheesy American-style lolita. I don't know what inspired them to dress up in lolita for a Nookicky show.
The bouncers made us all line up along the edge of the curb, and after some confusion over tickets, both fanclub and reserved, they started letting us in. The Continental was a lot smaller than I thought it would be - it's essentially a bar with a stage, which is probably 20' wide and 15' deep. When I got in, Nookicky was already on the stage, playing a song I didn't know. All of us fans went and stood up by the stage - I was in the front row center, about 5-10 feet from Full. I couldn't help but grin like an idiot for about 15 seconds.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
As for the band itself, there was an unknown guitarist on the left, Full in the middle, and U on the right. The unknown rhythm guitar seemed intent on not looking at anyone in the audience, and Full and U generally stared out over our heads (presumably at the few Japanese fans in the back?). It was kinda annoying.
After the song, Full started talking in English and Japanese. Don't remember exactly what he said - stuff like "This is Nookicky in New York," "It's... beri cold," and "Do you... understand?" People yelled out responses to his questions, and I called out, "Thank you for coming." Then he said in Japanese something like, "Okay, let's start." (His reply to someone who said "Yay!" was funny - something along the lines of "In Japan(ese), we don't say "Iiieee.")
The band had no bassist or drummer - they played with preprogrammed drum tracks, and it sounded absolutely perfect. I'd say I only recognized about half the songs that they played. They played "Rotten", which is my absolute favorite song from them; "Resume", which I believe was the song that was totally rearranged; "Funari"; "Rotepin"; and a track from One Aging By Nook that I'm too lazy to listen for now. They also played Guniw Tools songs - "fade story" was a big, big hit with the crowd.
Full reminds me a lot of my Japanese language sensei - both are quiet and speak in the same reserved kind of way. He was wearing a WIDE leather-looking hat and a long coat of darkish material that had little... arm flaps with slits in them - suffice it to say that both hat and clothing were styled in the way that only Full can do. During some songs, he'd make funny twisted little movements with his right hand, and at other moments, when the feeling was intense, he would lean forward with the microphone. He had a thin, worn-looking little book clipped to the mike stand, and it appeared to be a lyrics book because he'd flip through it as he sang. He sounds exactly as he does on the CDs, minus the voice-tweaking.
U seems to be actually pretty friendly - he interacted the most with us Western fans. He played all the lead guitar parts and had a number of solos - during one song, he actually moved right up at the edge of the stage and soloed away in our faces. XD Very hammy and entertaining. He played a dark red hollow body electric.
I'm not sure what the situation was with the rhythm guitarist, who is apparently called Taku or Takkun. He had what looked to be a J and P drawn in black on his right cheek. He did a lot of pedal-work, so I assume he made a lot of the "extra" sounds in the music, which didn't seem to be very audible. o_O; At one point, he went all Jimi-Hendrix and used his mic on his Fender guitar, which had stickers that said "Itai ga ki kara" snaking around the body and sported a little blue monkey-clippy thing attached to the headstock. It fell off once during the show.
After the show, the band hobnobbed with the fans, but I made a beeline for the merchandise table. I couldn't decide whether to buy a T-shirt or two, but by the time I made up my mind, they were gone ^^ - I guess the $10 price made them really attractive to people. I settled on copies of Pinhole with the cat cover and Cloudy Pop Book with the pop-up kit. Then I went to seek out the band members.
I found U first and waited my turn - I said "otsukare-sama deshita" and "shashin mo ii desu ka?" The first time, the flash didn't go off, so I had to ask "mou ichido?" This time it worked, and I was about to thank him, but he motioned to me and a Japanese fan took my camera and took a photo of us both, so now I have a total of 3 pictures of U. o.O;
There were quite a few people around Full, who had changed his stage clothes for street ones. While I waited, I saw Taku go by, so I quickly managed an "Otsukare-sama deshita." When I got a chance to talk to Full, I believe that I shook his hand and said, "Otsukare-sama deshita." I asked for and got a photo with him. Then I went looking for Taku.
He was standing off the side by the wall, and I said "Otsukare-sama deshita" again and asked if I could take a photo - he said "Okay" in response. o_O; When I was done, I thanked him in Japanese, and then he asked me something in Japanese. I caught something sounded like "Nihonmei blah blah blah?" I had absolutely no idea what he said - in retrospect, I should've ashed him to repeat himself, but I just said in English, "I'm sorry, I only speak a little Japanese."
I hung around a bit longer - went back to the merchandise table and bought a copy of the Four Years Works book for $30, watched Full make little drawings of people, and finally went back outside to head home.