Do you remember the Boston Public and The Practice crossover episode, where characters from each show appeared on the other in the same plot? Well, the blog-o-sphere has pulled a David E. Kelly… and last night, Gothic Lolita met Visual Kei (with photographic proof above)! ‘Twas was the culmination of a series of fortunate events:

1. Jimi Blumer is the mastermind behind Rock Japan Elec-tric, an addictive blog with Visual Kei concert reports and updates on the journey of his own band, Laverite.
2. I run a Gothic Lolita blog with a small category for Visual Kei. We share many of the same readers.
3. When I wrote about Australian Goth Loli designer Lang Leav, I included a photo of her interpretor, who happened to be Jimi.
4. A reader of both blogs told Jimi that she did a double take when she saw his photo on my site.
5. Coincidentally – and on that very same day – Lang emailed us and said we should meet in Tokyo!

And so we did the right thing. On Friday, I trekked to Urawa (north of Tokyo) to watch Laverite perform. I’m practically a Visual Kei concert virgin, so I was delighted to experience five bands at a small but sound venue called Narciss. Laverite played third, and I snapped over a hundred photos of Jimi (bass), Yue (vocals), and Ryota (guitar).

I was amused by the Japanese teen girls in the audience, who came in their school uniforms and performed the same synchronized “rocking-out” hand movements. Some got into Exorcist-mode, dropping to the floor and shaking their heads as if possessed. Out of all the bands, Laverite had by far the most people pumping their fists over the railing.

I’ll let Jimi report on the music while I cover fashion – and you can cross-reference the posts! The first band, Cra-Mirror, could have stepped out of a Sex Pot Revenge ad; the singer wore several low-slung belts over a plaid skirt and drainpipe trousers, and the bassist had a leopard-print handkerchief tied over the mouth. Every member of Session Band was a flop; the singer looked Ziggy-esque until the lights went up, revealing his bare feet, white jogger shorts, and T-shirt under an aristocrat coat with cheap feather boa attached to one shoulder. As you can see from the photos, Laverite’s stage costumes created a pleasing aesthetic unity; I appreciated their (relatively) minimal use of colors and accessories. The fourth band stuck to black and was sartorially unremarkable. Christine OMeGa ended up being a solo performance by the singer, whose goofy antics matched his multicolored hair.

As a teen, I loved sneaking my camera into concerts and taking live pictures . I got to re-visit that thrill as I snapped away at Laverite.

The bridge between Visual Kei and Goth Loli Punk fashion has been forged, and I’m looking forward to further explorations. Cross over to Jimi’s blog for a unique insider’s look at VK life in Tokyo (you’ll find photos of Jimi with members of Versailles! )

Back home, I amused myself with some Visual Kei self-posturing in front of the mirror. These bands have got it down to an art form!