I have mentioned the ESP Museum before. It is part of ESP Craft House, located in Shibuya near Tower Records. The museum holds exhibits for musicians along with their displays of various guitars. Following the Deep Sanctuary VI concerts, they put on a very special exhibition of MALICE MIZER guitars and memorabilia. Now, they have shown both Mana's and Közi's guitars, but this time they also had items belonging to Yu~ki and Kami.
A little background first. MALICE MIZER was formed in August, 1992. Going through a few different formations due to vocalist changes, they were one of the more influential visual kei bands of their time. Even though they ceased activities in December 2001, they still have very loyal fans. Starting in 2010, three of the founding members, Mana, Közi and Yu~ki would get together every couple of years at their Deep Sanctuary concerts and play a few MALICE MIZER songs. This year, they performed two full concerts for the first time since 2001. That was Deep Sanctuary VI.
Starting the day after the concerts, ESP Museum opened up with their MALICE MIZER exhibition. Items that were shown or used at the Deep Sanctuary VI concerts were displayed. Here are some of the vintage posters.
Pardon the quality of these photos. There was a lot of glass and bright lights. Still, I had to try to capture what was on display. Images from various time periods of the band's history. The posters above are from the end of 1999 to 2001.
Earlier posters. The set along the top include images taken at LA TABLE de Joel Robuchon restaurant in Ebisu. I wrote about it here http://blukats.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-malice-mizer-mystery.html.
Inside video and music were playing from one of their concerts.
In the middle of the room was part of Kami's drum kit from the concerts. Since I went the first day, there wasn't much there, but items were added in the days after.
Kami's triple cymbals. Rose petals were strewn below the exhibits. Red roses were used a lot in the later band visuals.
The custom front of Kami's kick drum. Sakura had put this together for the show, using images that Kami had created. Kami was fond of butterflies, and there were butterflies through out the exhibit.
They also had Mana's and Közi's synth drums that they had played just the night before. The riding crops were also there, at that time they were on the floor below the guitars.
The guitars made up the bulk of the displays. Far left is Yu~ki's bass, and then various guitars belonging to Közi. Some of these I had seen before because they are usually on display at the museum. The difference was that normally they do not allow photographs in the museum, but for this exhibit they were allowing fans to take photos.
Yu~ki's yellow bass and Közi's various guitars.
And the three. Mana's jeune fille, Yu~ki's Amaze custom, and Közi's Akutsui.
Since they were allowing photos, I finally got one of Mana's jeune fille blanche. That's a custom paint job by Mana, who dripped red paint on.
And the jeune fille II that was played the night before.
There were also current ESP artist series guitars on display. These are one that customers can buy.
There were a couple used guitars in another room. The jeune fille x lazuli -Cross Ray- was very tempting with it's flashing light.
Besides the instruments, items that were used in MALICE MIZER music videos were on display.
The book that was used in the Bel Air ~Kuuhaku no Shunkan no Naka De~ de L'Image film was displayed. Someone did a nice job creating this book and distressing it. The "Pays de Merveilles" book, along with printed pages inside, was also shown in the Gekka no Yasoukyoku video.
Also used in the Gekka no Yasoukyoku video were the Mana doll and Közi marionette. Next to these in the display was Közi's doll that he used when performing the song Brise. My photo did not turn out well. It was all that glass and bright lights.
The items that received the most attention were ones belonging to Kami, MALICE MIZER's drummer who passed away in 1999. Various drum sticks were displayed including these obviously used ones.
One of his bags for drum sticks.
Which someone drew on in blue marker. I wonder who. Difficult to see but it is still visible.
Some of the flowers they used at their concerts. Red roses thrown at the beginning of the show and the others Mana placed in their musical instruments during Madrigal. My last two posts were about the concert, so there is more information there.
Along with Mana's teddy bear bag.
Shown with Mana's tambourine. Both were used during Madrigal in the two Deep Sanctuary VI concerts. That bear has seen a lot of use. It is one that Mana would put candy in and then throw it during concerts. No candy this time.
The tambourine has LED lights. I didn't notice if it was lit up during the concert.
While visitors were looking at everything, the items that got the most attention were these gloves,
And this hat. Both items belonged to Kami. I had hoped they would have something of his that he wore, so it was amazing to see this.
Kami wearing the hat with the matching outfit.
Sadly I was not able to return later in the week when they put the costumes, that were worn during Deep Sanctuary VI, on display. I only had two days in which to visit the museum. And that was difficult because of what happened to my right leg at the concert. Still, I was not going to miss this. It was worth seeing.
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