Gagggggg
Guess I’m going to Helsinki on Sep 4th.
OMG they’re coming to Italy!! I’m definitely going on September 8th since I couldn’t get days off from work last month to go see them🤩
I was too busy to see them in Japan and didn’t got time off after that to see them in Cologne. So I am doing Berlin and bring a friend who is absolutely new to vk 
Berlin could work for them. Other side of Germany. SO36 has 800 capacity and Miyavi got it quite packed last year.
Proxima’s not a small venue, but seeing that the Madmans Esprit show sold out in literal minutes, the tiktok vk is a hot commodity in Poland at the moment. I’ll try to attend this time
Helsinki’s venue isn’t small either. Might’ve been too ambitious with that one
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I’ve seen complaints about the VIP ticket pricing and I’ve said it before their VIP part is ridiculous
Now let me go down to the point that I ha e come to the point that I understand they are a VK bands and some fans clearly need restrictions in dealing with these guys, so I guess VIP is not such a wrong idea.
But what are these prices in comparison to other bands??
Also just to mention here
I Prevail got bullied 4 years ago for having a VIP ticket for the same amount Jiluka have.
You can read more here
https://www.reddit.com/r/Metalcore/s/j6sySnlPPQ
For the lazy ones
Does it feel familiar???
This is jiluka’ vip ticket
And now remember Jiluka is a smaller band than I Prevail.
(And jiluka offer even less than I Prevail did)
Also I came across this and it made me chuckle, and you know VK bands like Jiluka sell polaroids/Cheki
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Funny, Oli Syke’s reaction was exactly my feelings on how cheki would have been received by the foreign fandom 15 years ago, but it seems to have taken off. Maybe hesitation about that is why so many bands held off on offering it during concerts overseas until the last couple of years?
It seems like they lowered the cost of GA but increased the cost of the VIP package. It could help get more metal heads out that don’t care about getting a picture with the guys, so I’ll give them that.
Tickets are actually a relatively reasonable price this time around so may head down this time. Though the timing for me isnt so good as got lots going on around that time. 
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To be fair, VIP wasn’t that common in 2019, that was before covid happened and before we had that general surge in prices (which people tend to call “inflation”) which made touring more expensive. Not even mentioning the very very weak Yen atm which means it’s even more expensive for Japanese bands.
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It’s all about how good you are as a band at selling yourself to the right people. Some people can sell a broom in the desert. Jiluka seem to be great a marketing themselves to the audience.
Vk is called vk for a reason. It is more than music. The visuals are part of the expierence. And Jiluka is letting the people pay for the looks as well.
There is a difference if you take a photo with them:
Or them:
And when people thought the goods are not worth the price, it can’t be helped. In the end it is seldom about the actual worth of a “product” but how much people are willing to pay.
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Exactly. That’s why I disagree with people calling VK a “music genre”, because the music/style does not actually matter that much. My favorite example for that is Nocturnal Bloodlust.
Regular metalcore band before 2011 with mediocre success, realizing they need a USP
“Turning vk” in 2011 to be “special”
Peak vk look around 2015
Realizing the visuals helped them to gain so many fans that they no longer need the look around 2019
Being very close to the 2011 look again in 2022
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Nothing can beat DIR EN GREY vips ahahahah🤣 Jiluka vips look pretty reasonable. You get a photo with a band!!! It’s great! Don’t forget that bringing bands from Japan to Europe is pretty expensive. Buy it or not It’s your choice!
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These deals all still look better than what MUCC brought to Shanghai in the winter of 2019 which was around 125 euros for early access to the venue, a group (30 people) pic with the band and an signed poster…no wonder the venue was half empty both days 
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W-what? Ahahahaha this is wild ahahahah
See?? People should stop complaining 
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The exchange rate is a double edged sword that way. Bad if it goes sour, because you’re out that extra money you spent to get there. But potentially very lucrative if it goes well, because those fans are paying you in Euro/Pound Sterling, not yen.
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Not necessarily.
When money doesn’t stretch as far as it used to, questioning the value proposed here is logical. I’ve been to shows where I see 3 to 4 artists for the same price as that VIP ticket. The last show I went to was a $30 ticket for a three hour show, with a free meet and greet after. ~$92 for VIP and a 90 minute set is hefty.
This is the fusion of two expensive hobbies (visual kei and live music), so it’s natural that some people will balk at being priced out, others will juggle finances to be able to go, and some just don’t care. It’s also true that the yen is weak now and that bands touring in international countries have hidden expenses. I think ~$92, while hefty, might be right on the mark for them breaking even. It’s up to each individual person to determine if it’s worth it or not.
If they ever came around my way, I might see them, but that VIP package is not worth it for me. It is what it is.
I believe that you can appreciate what you have while also pointing out room for improvement. There’s always lessons to learn from studying your peers. The visual scene has one set of demands and the international music scene another. If JILUKA is going to go global, they should see what other bands of their caliber are doing and emulate that.
This might mean leaving some of those visual-kei specific idiosyncrasies in Japan.
EDIT: @Rena corrected me on a mistake in my math. Earlier, I claimed that ~$92 was the price of the VIP ticket. What I did not account for was that you also have to buy the GA ticket too. It’s two purchases. So this balloons the price up to around $130.
Listen, $92 was a stretch for me. $130 is an instant no. And I actually have the money for that kind of excursion, but the value proposition is not there. This prompts me to make a comparison I originally wasn’t going to make, so here goes:
The most expensive ticket I ever paid for was $200 to see Dir en grey in 2019. I will not count this purchase, because I waited until the last minute to decide to purchase tickets (literally, the day before), so I had to pay the scalper tax. That’s on me.
The second most expensive tickets I ever purchased was ~$160 each to see Rage Against The Machine and Run The Jewels at Madison Square Garden. That was after ticket insurance and various Ticketmaster fees. I thought it was super expensive but worth it to see two legendary bands.
MSG looks like this on the outside:
And this on the inside:
We’re talking a full promenade, several booths for merch from both artists playing that night, multiple food options and restrooms, and a great view of the performers. This is exceptional and unusual for 99% of venues, but 99% of places aren’t charging $160 entrance fee. It’s unfair to compare RATM/RTJ against JILUKA? Then don’t charge RATM prices.
This is what I expect to get for paying $160 for a ticket and I was not disappointed, but it still doesn’t erase the fact that those tickets were ridiculously expensive to start!
Another venue I went to was an outdoor amphitheater. Tickets were $50 each. The view was great, the weather was fantastic, rich people with yachts can and do pull up to view the show from the bay, and there are even people who crowd the catwalk and listen in for free. This place also has a (smaller) outside promenade with various vendors and merch booths.
This is what you get for $50. Still too big? Fair, fair. I got you. Last concert I went to was in a concert hall, about the same size as the one JILUKA played. Three artists played in total, show went on for 2.5 hours, alcohol was served at the back. This picture is taken from the stage facing the entrance so you can see the whole venue in one shot.
$30. And I got to meet the artist I wanted to see afterwards, shake his hand, and take a few pictures for free.
I’m very well aware that for a lot of people going this concert, this might be your first (or second) visual kei concert. This might be the first or second concert overall! But this is one of those situations where understanding how other music scenes operate with respect to venues, packages, and costs and passing that along to the consumer colors my expectations. €40 entry fee seems fair at first but the set list is much shorter and there’s only one artist. €90 VIP on top for essentially a handshake and some pictures?
I…I really could not. MSG prices for concert hall experience mixes like oil and water for me.
Like I know the boys need money but I do too! But don’t let my negativity blunt your hype. If you really, really, really want to experience a visual kei concert in person, I assure you that you should go. But I wouldn’t financially handicap myself for the VIP.
EDIT 2: I swear I’ll shut up after this, but I just asked this question to two different metalheads that I know don’t listen to JILUKA. They’re part of the target audience that JILUKA is trying to reach out to.
The first one said that $30 to see the band was a steal and he’d jump on the opportunity to see them if they came by, but the VIP was a bit of a stretch and he’d pass on that.
The second said it’s straight up not worth it because he just paid $20 to see four bands, buy their merch, and got to chat and hang out with them after. He also said that it depends on how important the band is to you, and that there’s always people out there for whom it’s worth it.
So don’t take my rant as gospel. I still think the GA ticket is a reasonable price and I hope those sell like hot cakes. But that VIP? You gotta really, really, really like JILUKA.
But I guess that’s who it’s for!
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I am going to throw this thought out too, my complaint about the VIP price, isn’t me saying they have to include more merch or special merch.
But the band won’t fall from their throne, if they take some time to do stuff like 20 to 30 minutes of Q&A. Give them a drum solo from Zyean, or something like that.
All that won’t make the band lose money it’s just some extra time they have to spend with their fans and make that amount of money they spend more worthwhile.
Or are their foreign fans not worth that extra time?
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Again i guess it comes down to what people value, I literally coule not care less to have a picture taken with the band or a signed postcard or whatever so for me it isnt worth it but guess for some people it would be. Also, im just gonna put this idea out there that SOME people would go vip for the photos and stuff JUST so they can post about it on social media for clout basically. Which is totally lame, but not uncommon in these times.
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Wow yay, me and my friend literally hoped for a gig that would be a little closer to Helsinki than the ones in June, but thought it could maybe be possible like next year or something! Super excited to see them in Helsinki, and like quite soon after Kamijo. Such a weird feeling to have these VK gigs to wait for, almost feels like 2007-2008 all over again altho nothing like it at all obvs lol
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I thought sometimes at vkei concerts you could get photos with either a band member or the whole group and it was included in the cost but shoving it behind vip is…interesting
Taking photos with the band is only a VIP type perk regardless of it being a vkei band or Taylor Swift. You don’t just randomly take photos with bands at shows.
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