The rockers of GLAY have embarked on a continuously live concert programme, titled THE ENTERTAINMENT STRIKES BACK, through streaming them in four months. They started in March and it will continue until the end of June. Through HYPER JAPAN, it will be possible to get a good deal on your tickets to enjoy the upcoming streams of the band. Extra special is that these shows are each inspired by a different band member.
The rock band got formed in 1988 and created songs that fit the pop and rock genres, but they also use elements from a wide variety of genres. At the beginning of the career of GLAY, the band was connected with the Visual Kei movement. Nowadays, GLAY rank among Japan’s most successful acts and have sold 5 million records in less than a decade-and-a-half.
GLAY were launched by Takuro (guitar) and Teru (vocals), who had been friends since elementary school and were living on the northern island of Hokkaido. The name of the band is supposed to mean ‘gray,’ although it remains unclear whether the misspelling was accidental – which seems possible, seeing that GLAY started out when the members were still in high school.
After picking another guitarist, Hisashi, from the short-lived local punk-rock sensation Ari, GLAY managed to make a name in their hometown, but when they moved to Tokyo after graduation, they found out that the road to fame is never smooth – sometimes GLAY even had to play gigs with no audience at all. That changed later in the 90s, when they acquired bassist Jiro from one of Tokyo’s underground bands. His inclusion cemented a lineup that hasn’t changed since (although the band plays with session drummers). Later on, they were signed by the indie label run by Yoshiki of X JAPAN. That was the start of a steady rise to stardom.
The upcoming stream is planned for 29 May, after that, on 26 June. Ticket with a discount can be purchased here. It is also possible to buy a ticket for the live archive of the live programme of April until the 14th of May. The livestream can be viewed on Zaiko.
