Posted on February 9, 2016

With about two weeks left until the release of the home video of their 2015 tour 「B’z LIVE-GYM 2015 -EPIC NIGHT-」 on DVD and Blu-ray, the commercial made its TV debut during the broadcast of Detective Conan last Saturday. This version of the commercial features songs 「Uchouten」, 「RED」 and 「Las Vegas」. Check it out!

Posted on January 5, 2016

Japanese music magazine PLAYER has published its annual readers’ poll in the latest issue. Check out the ratings below.

Category “Best Artist”: B’z ranked 2nd
Category “Best New Album”: EPIC DAY ranked 2nd
Category “Best Live Performance”: B’z ranked 2nd
Catagory “Best Vocalist”: Koshi Inaba ranked 1st
Category “Best Guitarist”: Tak Matsumoto ranked 1st
Category “Best Drummer”: Shane Gaalaas ranked 6th
Category “Best Bassist”: Barry Sparks ranked 12th

Posted on January 5, 2016

As is tradition, a special New Year’s greeting from B’z is now available to start off 2016! The band looks back on the past year and tells fans what’s to come in the new year. As usual, we have subtitled it in English for you. Check it out!

Posted on December 31, 2015

The 2015 tour that saw B’z play forty shows in five months is at last coming to home video! 「B’z LIVE-GYM 2015 -EPIC NIGHT-」 is scheduled for release on home video February 24th, 2016 and will be available on both DVD and Blu-ray with a retail price of 6,800 yen. The 153-minute video captures the tour finale from July 26th at Nagoya Dome for the first time.

The tour, which came in support of their nineteenth album EPIC DAY, featured an eclectic setlist with revivals of several classic songs from years long past. The video naturally features a great many home video premieres, including for “Uchouten”, “Las Vegas”, “NO EXCUSE”, “Amari ni mo”, “Exit To The Sun”, “Black Coffee”, “Kimi wo Ki ni Shinai Hi Nado”, “Man Of The Match”, and the eponymous “EPIC DAY”. Popular hit single “RED” opens the show and will see its video debut on this release alongside 1994 B-side “YOU&I“, which had not been played live since 2000’s Pleasure LIVE-GYM “juice”.

One special inclusion in the release is the bluesy acoustic version of “ZERO” played in the middle of the show, which otherwise has not been played with such a revision. The high-energy setlist includes other singles “BURN -Fumetsu no Face-” and “Atsuki Kodou no Hate“, which both could only previously be found on one home release each (LIVE-GYM 2008 -ACTION- and 2002’s “GREEN”, respectively). Fellow GREEN song “Blue Sunshine” likewise returns since the tour of the same name

“TIME” returns for the first time since 2010’s “Ain’t No Magic”, while newfound fan-favorite “HEAT” sees its first performance during a mainline LIVE-GYM. Another beloved gem “Swimmer yo!!” also sees only its third inclusion on a home video. Staple singles “Ai no Bakudan“, “ultra soul“, and “Ichibu to Zenbu” round out the setlist.

 

TEASER

 

CONTENTS

B’z LIVE-GYM 2015 -EPIC NIGHT- Blu-ray: 1 Disc DVD: 2 Discs Release: February 24th, 2016 Price: 6,800 Yen (tax incl.) / Approx. $58 USD Pre-order: CD-Japan — Blu-ray / DVD 01. RED 02. NO EXCUSE 03. YOU＆I 04. TIME 05. HEAT 06. Amari ni mo 07. Exit To The Sun 08. Black Coffee 09. Kimi wo Ki ni Shinai Hi Nado 10. Man Of The Match 11. Atsuki Kodou no Hate 12. ZERO (Bluesy Acoustic Version) 13. Blue Sunshine 14. Uchouten 15. ultra soul 16. Swimmer yo!! 17. BURN -Fumetsu no Face- 18. Las Vegas 19. EPIC DAY 20. Ichibu to Zenbu 21. Ai no Bakudan

Posted on November 20, 2015

Footage from last night’s SHOWCASE 2015 -Shinagawa Uchouten NIGHT- has been circulated to the media and has been appearing on various news programs in Japan this morning. The clip, sourced from Mezamashi TV on Fuji TV, features footage of 「Ichibu to Zenbu」 and 「ZERO」 as performed during the show. Additionally, an excerpt from Koshi’s MC section can be seen, in which he greets the crowd and mentions that it’s the first fanclub-only show to date. He continues, noting that the tickets were only available “through a lottery” and quickly followed up with “And you got them!”.

Posted on November 19, 2015

The second SHOWCASE performance this year has come to an end, with the band ready to rock and roll at the upcoming TV Asahi Dream Festival this weekend. The show ran for a truncated setlist of only 14 tunes compared to the usual 20. As previously reported, the show was limited to B’z PARTY fanclub members and is confirmed to have been filmed in full. It is possible the SHOWCASE will be included on a future home video—possibly as a bonus paired with B’z LIVE-GYM 2015 -EPIC NIGHT-.

Recent singles「RED」and「Uchouten」opened the show, followed by the 2009 single「Ichibu to Zenbu」and 1992’s perennial classic「ZERO」next. B’z then returned with undoubtedly one of their most popular ballads in「Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni」and continued with「Negai」— both of which had not been played since 2013.

The two most surprising inclusions came next:「Naite Naite Nakiyandara」— a ballad from 1997’s SURVIVE that has not been played live since 2007, and「hole in my heart」— a B-side to the 1994 single「MOTEL」 that received its very first live performance tonight. This reduces the amount of B’z songs left unperformed to just over sixty.

The band then closed the show with several well-known songs:「Hadashi no Megami」from 1993,「ultra soul」from 2001,「girigiri chop」from 1999, followed by EPIC DAY opener「Las Vegas」and ending with fan-favorite「Ai no Bakudan」as they did during the EPIC NIGHT tour proper.

B’z SHOWCASE 2015 -Shinagawa Uchouten NIGHT- Setlist

★ Denotes a song was also played during EPIC NIGHT

01. RED ★
02. Uchouten ★
03. Ichibu to Zenbu ★
04. ZERO ★
05. Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni
06. Negai
07. Calling
08. Naite Naite Nakiyandara
09. hole in my heart
10. Hadashi no Megami
11. ultra soul ★
12. girigiri chop ★
13. Las Vegas ★
14. Ai no Bakudan ★