For the first trip out, it is understandable I guess that they’re mainly focused on die hards and general VK enthusiasts rather than trying to aim for the general metal head crowd. There’s still the Spanish and Portuguese dates that people can travel to if they feel inclined to not shell out the money to only see Jiluka. Maybe the venue sizes are a stretch, but we’ll see.
I’m curious as to how the lone LA date will factor into all of this. I know that Fukuro are mixing middle of the line ticket pricing with crowd funding perks as their strategy and I guess we’ll see how well that works in comparison.
Yeah i mean I can see it from several different angles, like i said before, if someone hasnt been to Japan and probably wont and this is potentially their only chance to see them then maybe its worth shelling out for. The fests will 100% be really good exposure for them!! So feel maybe AFTER those would have been a better time to do the tour. But guess my problem is I go to a lot of gigs inside and outside of the UK and am somewhat involved in the UK scene (extreme metal mainly) so am drawing comparisons from that so to me just isnt worth it. I have seen these guys before and will definitely visit Japan again so wouldn’t rule out seeing them on their home turf again in the future. But i mean im going to Germany this weekend for an all dayer, 12 bands, most of which are decently known in death metal/grind and that cost 60 euros, as opposed to 60 pounds for one band. + I have never seen any other metal band play the Underworld with ticket prices close to that high, that is more than Dir en Grey later this month who are also playing a much bigger venue. But guess what im trying to say is depends on the individual and how much they value certain things. One mans trash is another mans treasure after all.
I think the biggest main question here is, who are they trying to attract as an audience in europe?
VK-fans? Metalheads? or both?
(dont get me started here, that both scene’s have a different kind of fan and concert culture)
Like @DirDude mentioned, its actually normal for that kind of band to play with a bunch of others together.
Best example is Paledusk. They are touring currently together with Silent Planet, Polaris and Thornhill. Their date in Berlin costs 41 Euro, those are 4 bands (all more popular than Jiluka, if we can believe the spotify numbers), for a similar price Jiluka has all alone.
But here is the thing, VK fans won’t care about any other bands playing with Jiluka, meanwhile Metalheads willl high likley complain if a Band plays all alone.
(It depends a lot here also on how long that solo show goes tbh)
Which makes me wonder, @BaLa-DeDa you will probably know it, are Jiluka able to play more than an hour?
(i am also accounting here, that the major trouble will go down to the vocalist Ricko, if he would be able to do that)
pretty much that and alsso i think we all need to account the amount of concert newbie’s who have never gone to any concert and have never seen ticket prices of any other band
I’m not ecstatic about the price but I figured I’d pretty much never be able to see them otherwise £50 isn’t bad for a potentially once in a lifetime experience.
I mean, not if they play with another VK metal band…but even still, there are enough VK fans who are open minded enough to give other bands a chance (I think).
I can’t speak to Europe, but the NA VK shows that I’ve been to (all tours, and all independent of any convention) have all lasted around 70~ minutes of actual play time (not MCs, not the period of time calling for “encore-eh”). None have had an opening act.
Basically, the bare minimum to not be considered a complete rip off. I’m sure that to some people, it might not even make that cut off. If a Western band delivered that, I wouldn’t be so forgiving.
The key to success, I think, is knowing how to balance the needs of your dedicated “honmeiban” gya, general VK fans, and incidental casual fans who have no connection to VK culture. Dir en Grey does this well enough, but their growth cycle is behind them whereas Jiluka’s is just getting started.
They have the stamina for it. Their onemans in Japan are about 1hr and a half to 2 hours, MCs and encore included. I know they used to play longer sets in the past but because they do a lot of M&G post show and they’ve gotten bigger since BLVCK they’ve generally reduced a couple of songs in their sets in favor of more time meeting their fans. Venues have operating hours they’d like to see respected after all.
And yes, for metalhead exposure they have the festivals. I think they simply do not know, and maybe neither would the producers. Fake Star dwells in anime cons and as per the producer’s own tweets, this is their first booking ever in the strictly metal scene. And Kinetic Vibe is mainly a kpop producer, as I’ve seen on their insta account.
They had 100 VIP’s in Atlanta and half of that was 15 years old dragging their parents, maybe they’re counting on that 1st timer crowd for their Europe onemans. It is true that VK fans would tend to care more about a solo act and being able to play a oneman is a sign that you can pull the people instead of having to rely on other bands.
Regarding the Fukuro dates, there is ZERO connection between those bands and JILUKA plans their whole year way in advance for any of this to have been intentional. It’s simply how their availability and their plans and bookings in Japan since over a year ago fell into place. Also in Japan fans don’t overlap at all, they wouldn’t imagine overseas fans tend to be more overall VK fans and will go to any VK show for the sake of meeting a Japanese idol. That thought certainly didn’t cross their heads.
Whelp, let’s hope that the dates happen to be close enough that it wouldn’t put off people from travelling to attend. Still find it kind of befuddling that bands have known about the foreign fanbase for a couple decades and only Kiwamu seems to have figured out that it isn’t a waste of time to promote to Visual Kei fans in general…in 2003
Well I don’t know, this is one of those bands that young people in Europe are actually genuinely excited about. I’d say for PL I could 100% see the VIP tickets being sold out. I don’t think we’ve had any band that was this social media relevant in Europe, with the exception of The GazettE, in over 10 years at least. That’s why seeing how this is going to do is so interesting, because it’s the first time we’ll see if the TikTok fame actually translates to sold tickets.
Sounds legit though.
On me-shop (German ticket shop for JILUKA) you can put 999 tickets in your shopping cart and will end up with the max number.
By now there are 14 VIP left (on Saturday it was close to 40, so I assume it was something between 40 and 50), 79 early entrance tickets left (initially 100) and 16 normal tickets (initially something like 100-120, but that’s only for the hard tickets. They’re selling normal tickets on eventim too, me-shop is the only seller for VIP/EE though).
FAKE STAR USA Presents: K4RMIC RETRIBUTION 2024 featuring JILUKA, QUIETUDE, Lucrecia, & Last of Our Kind
On Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024, we will be holding our metal event at the 1720 in Downtown Los Angeles. K4RMIC RETRIBUTION features a line up of local talent as well as a headliner from Japan.
Ticket sales will start on Friday, April 19th at 12PM PDT through 1720’s website. (link coming soon)
VIP passes will include:
Early Entry
Artist Meet & Greet and Polaroid with JILUKA
VIP Laminate
VIP Gift
Please note that VIP Passes are an upgrade. You MUST purchase a General Admission Ticket along with VIP for entry .
It’s a step in the right direction to work with other bands, I think. To me, the distance between this and Fukuro’s date is still a bit too wide to justify paying LA hotel prices for six nights. So I’ll probably catch them in Japan again sometime.
I dont really get it either but maybe it makes more sense to those who live in the US. Am just imagining as LA is basically showbiz central that everyone was expecting something a bit more extravagant.
This thread is a wild amount of complaining for a band that is literally paying an insane amount of money to do a tour for the chance of breaking even. This isn’t some local band that can throw 4 guys in a van and drive around EU/NA, they have other staff that need to come along and go to shows with them (drivers, translators, staff that coordinate VIP, maybe even makeup artists) so thats already extra costs that your local metalcore band doesnt have. Not even counting the cost of shipping all those heavy guitars and amps halfway across the world. Visual kei is less popular than the late 2000s, and costs are exponentially higher than the late 2000s. Of course the cost will be passed down to the consumer, thats a necessary evil of being a live music fan in 2024.
If you’re unwilling to cough up an extra $50 bucks to see a band that will likely never be able to tour the EU again and would cost $1000+ flight ticket to see in Japan, you should probably reconsider your priorities as a fan of the band.
I’ll definitely be at the LA date. It would be nice to meet the band but ill probably end up passing on the vip. It would be cool to meet some members of the forum. If anyone else is going.
One thing I am wondering is how the crowd will react. Jiluka has some of the nastiest breakdown so I’m really hoping people will mosh and match the bands energy. But on the other hand I know a lot of VK fans don’t really get down with the moshing.
£50 isn’t bad for a potentially once in a lifetime experience.
