Live Viewing Japan, a distribution company focused on bringing Japanese entertainment media to an international audience, has just added two additional U.S. cities that will screen the live concert film “Glay: Stadium Live 2012 – The Suite Room in Osaka Nagai Stadium.”
The three-hour film captures a mesmerizing live performance by the best-selling J-rock band that took place this past summer in Osaka before a massive audience of more than 100,000 people.
It will play for one night only in San Francisco on Friday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m. at New People Cinema, and also on Saturday, Nov. 17, in Los Angeles at 6 p.m. at the Downtown Independent Theatre. Advance tickets are $20 and are available for the San Francisco screening at: www.newpeopleworld.com/films/films-11-2012/ and for Los Angeles at: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/282701.
Glay’s original four-hour live performance took place on July 28 and 29 and was adapted into a concert film depicting the best moments of the legendary performance on July 29 and featuring many of the band’s greatest hits. Additional information on this special event can be found at: www.liveviewing.jp/glay-screenings/.
New People Cinema is a 143-seat subterranean theater located in the basement of the famous New People Japanese pop culture entertainment venue in San Francisco and features plush seating, digital as well as 35mm projection, and a THX-certified sound system. New People Inc. (www.newpeopleworld.com) offers the latest films, art, fashion and retail brands from Japan through its unique venue located at 1746 Post St. in San Francisco’s Japantown.
The Downtown Independent Theatre is located at 251 S. Main St. in Los Angeles.
As a special bonus incentive, the first 50 people to show up for the screenings in San Francisco and Los Angeles will also receive a special commemorative Glay notebook that was originally only given to concert-goers that bought a Glay CD at one of the band’s live shows.
Since their debut in 1994, Glay has led the music scene in Japan to become one of the best-selling rock acts in the country and has also garnered a substantial worldwide following. To date, the four-piece band has released an astounding 45 singles and has sold more than 40 million albums in Japan alone.
The band’s name is a deliberate misspelling of the word “gray,” which represents the style of music the members wanted to play; a mixture between rock (black) and pop (white). Takuro, the band’s founder and leader, writes most of Glay’s songs and music and is an ardent Beatles fan, and the group’s music is heavily influenced by English as well as American rock fans.
Although Glay primarily composes songs in the rock genre, they have also written songs in styles ranging from reggae to gospel. The band has emerged as one of the most successful and well-known bands in Japan and most of Asia. The members of Glay are also heavily involved in a variety of social and charitable causes.
Glay is also known its massive live shows. On July 31, 1999, the band held a huge show called “Glay Expo ’99 Survival” in Chiba that became the largest single concert event ever held in the country, attracting over 200,000 people. “Glay Expo 2001 Global Communication” was held at three venues and presented to over 280,000 people while “Glay Expo 2004,” held at Universal Studios Japan, drew more than 100,000.
Live Viewing Japan is a Japanese-based media distribution company focused on bringing a variety of entertainment properties to a global theatre-going audience. More information on the company and its projects is available at www.liveviewing.jp.