You can check out the preliminary lyrics here: http://bzwiki.offthelock.com/Into_Free_-Dangan-_(Lyrics)

Tour: B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see-
Venue: Club Nokia, Los Angeles
Date: July 24th, 2011

Just as expected, B'z has gone official with some exciting news. Their hit song "Samayoeru Aoi Dangan" is going to be re-released in a re-recorded, English version as Into Free -Dangan- which will be the theme song for Capcom's upcoming game Dragon's Dogma. The game is slated for a May 24th, 2012 worldwide release.

Interestingly enough, Shane Gaalaas helped out on the lyrics! He's credited in the lyrics section.

Lyrics: Shane Gaalaas, Koshi Inaba
Music: Tak Matsumoto

Following the news, a trailer featuring the song has been uploaded to B'z official YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHuxBr0FS_E.
For those who can't see it because of stupid rights regulations, you can also check out the trailer on Capcom's official website: http://www.capcom.co.jp/DD/collabo04.html

Further news regarding the release date of the song are yet to be announced. Get hype and wait a bit!

There haven't been a lot of news concerning B'z lately. They wrapped up their C'mon tour around christmas and then went on break. But for how long? Apparently not for too long as we got word from Sydney that B'z is currently shooting a new Pepsi NEX TV commercial. The first shot that was tweeted by user @greenapple21 which showed a bunch of people on top of a parking garage. She claimed it was B'z shooting a new promo video. However, the picture was taken too far away to confirm.

Today, another picture has surfaced, which clearly show Tak and Koshi sitting at a table - with apparently two Pepsi Nex bottles on the table. Looks like B'z has got a long running advertisement contract with Pepsi now? Sounds interesting... So is it a new music video they're shooting? Or a new music video AND a commercial for pepsi nex? Or just the commercial?

As B'z is currently filming, it will be a while before news get out. We suspect that news should hit the official channels by the beginning of February.

Stay tuned, B'z Brothers!

PS: Here's the picture in question:

Check out the set list after the break!

B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 -C'mon- Dome Tour Set List

1. Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi yo
2. Samayoeru Aoi Dangan

B'z no LIVE-GYM ni youkoso~!

1. Don't Wanna Lie
2. Pilgrim
3. BE THERE
4. Homebound
5. Boss
6. Meimei
7. DAREKA
8. SPLASH! (English Version)
9. Brotherhood
10. #1090 -Thousand Dreams- (Tak's solo)
11. BLOWIN'
12. Ichibu to Zenbu
13. Hadashi no Megami
14. Liar! Liar!
15. ZERO
16. DIVE
17. The Meister
18. C'mon

Encore

1. Itsuka no Merry Christmas
2. ultra soul 2011
3. Calling

Ending Theme: Hitori Ja Nai Kara -Theme of LIVE-GYM-

B'z will play an encore concert at the venue again tomorrow night, and from there will move onto Sundome Fukui on September 24th. The arena portion of the tour will conclude on November 6th after seventeen performances, with the dome shows beginning on December 4th in Fukoka before wrapping up on Christmas Day at Tokyo Dome.

Setlist obscured beyond the break to avoid potential spoilers.

B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 -C'mon- Setlist (09.17.2011)

1. Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi yo
2. Samayoeru Aoi Dangan
3. Don't Wanna Lie
4. Pilgrim
5. Hadashi no Megami
6. Homebound
7. Boss
8. Hito Shizuku no Anata
9. Mei Mei
10. DAREKA
11. SPLASH! (English Version)
12. Brotherhood
13. #1090 Thousand Dreams (Tak's Solo)
14. Ichibu to Zenbu
15. Liar! Liar!
16. ZERO
17. DIVE
18. The Meister
19. C'mon

Encore

1. ultra soul 2011
2. Calling

So... first of all, a C'mon themed site has opened and on it, various awesome things are revealed:

1) The Los Angeles performance will be streamed live on UStream! The channel is right here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/pnx-tv
As you guys know, the show's on at:

July 24th, 7 PM - L.A.
July 24th, 10 PM - NYC
July 24th, 11 PM -  Buenos Aires
July 25th, 3 AM -  London
July 25th, 4 AM -  Paris
July 25th, 6 AM -  Moscow
July 25th, 11 AM - Tokyo

2) B'z now has their own Official YouTube Channel! You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Bz There, you can check out the music video for C'mon and also the new Pepsi commercials as well as the making-of!

3) Also, there's now an official B'z Facebook page as well as Twitter account(but I doubt B'z themselves will be tweeting)! Like B'z Official Page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bz-LIVE-GYM/140529986025592 And follow B'z LIVE-GYM on twitter here: https://twitter.com/#!/Bz_LIVEGYM

4) Check out the new B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 page! Tour logos have been revealed, and I have to say, they're brilliant! You can also check out the tour goods for the North American tour on the page! Right here: http://www.bz-livegym.com/

Before I forget it, you can get to the C'mon themed website here: http://www.bz-vermillion.com/cmon/

Rock on, people!!

On to the news!
There have been quite a lot of good news the past days.

UStream Account indicates LA Performance will be streamed

An Account called PEPSINEX_LIVE has been spotted on UStream and it looks like they're testing the equipment for streaming the show right now. On the channel page it says " PEPSINEX_LIVE started broadcasting: B'z LIVE in L.A.(300Mbps) 1 days ago". And since the account is called Pepsi NEX... they might also stream the PEPSI NEX special performance on September 28th. Who knows? We expect official news in the next days. Stay tuned!

Source: http://www.ustream.tv/user/PEPSINEX_LIVE (Account was deleted I think, so I took screenshots)

B'z participating in Linkin Park secret concert in LA on August 31st

Linkin Park is inviting B'z to perform with them at their special secret concert. All you have to do is create a page at http://www.give2gether.com/projects/music-for-relief/, raise $500 for Japan with your page and get 2 tickets to the secret concert on August 31st!

C'mon full version is on air

The full version of C'mon is now broadcasted by radio stations across Japan. C'mon proves to be a good song, but it's far from hard-rock as you'd imagine. It's a song for a commercial after all. It does convince me with its bright melody and brilliant guitar solo (Tak ). Look forward to listening to it!!

B'z performing at TV Asahi's Dream Festival

It was announced that B'z would be performing at the TV Asahi Dream Festival in Nippon Budokan on September 25th. A ticket costs 9,000 Yen and B'z will be performing at 3 PM. I couldn't find any information on whether it's on television or not, but I suppose it will be.

B'z guest in a radio show on J-WAVE

On July 18th, J-WAVE is hosting a special radio program called "J-WAVE HOLIDAY SPECIAL PEPSI NEX presents GO NEXT! GO SUMMER!". B'z will be there as a guest on the show. It will be broadcasted from 9AM to 5:55PM. I'll try to get you guys the B'z bit of the show

This does sound fishy, right? How could AKB48 sell so many singles in one day? So I did some digging ... look what I found on a Japanese blog:

There are in fact people buying a LOT of copies of the very same single. Looks like there's a lot of Japanese Otaku who are buying 2200 copies of the single to show AKB48 how much they worship and love them. (see the picture below)

But will AKB48 be able to keep up the strong sales? Their daily sales have dropped to a "low" 54,000 per day, but it is no doubt that AKB48 will get the #1 spot in the weekly single chart this wednesday. However, with AKB48's sales dropping per day, I don't see any indication that B'z will not get the #1 spot on the day before the release of their new single "Don't Wanna Lie". But will B'z also be able to get the #1 spot on the weekly chart? Only time will tell.

The tour at a glance:

7/20 Vogue Theatre - Vancouver, Canada
Open: 7 PM Start: 8 PM
(Tickets: http://www.voguetheatre.com/ - AVAILABLE MAY 14 10AM)

7/22 The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
Open: 8 PM Start: 9 PM
(Tickets: http://www.livenation.com/ - AVAILABLE MAY 15)

7/24 Club Nokia - Los Angeles, CA
Open: 6 PM Start: 7 PM
(Tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com/ - AVAILABLE MAY 14, 10AM PDT)

Update: Word is out that there might be a livestream for the North American tour so that Japanese fans will be able to watch it as well. That means it could be livestreamed on Ustream or on NicoNico Live. Also, tickets are not available to Japanese fans through B'z Party, however they can buy a "travel package"(with ticket) to the LA performance.

When is B'z finally coming to Europe?!

Oh and here's a snippet from the Japanese newspaper that revealed the information:

The title of the tour has yet to be determined. As the tour begins in September, we can deduce that the new album will be out in July/August. However, August is more likely as B'z second single, Don't Wanna Lie, is going to be released on June 1st.

Hall Tour

9/23 Sundome Fukui
9/24 Sundome Fukui
10/1 Marine Messe Fukuoka
10/2 Marine Messe Fukuoka
10/9 Kobe World Kinen Hall
10/10 Kobe World Kinen Hall
10/16 Toki Messe, Niigata Convention Center
10/22 Hiroshima Green Arena
10/23 Hiroshima Green Arena
10/27 Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center - Kitayell
10/29 Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center - Kitayell
10/30 Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center - Kitayell
11/3 Saitama Super Arena
11/5 Saitama Super Arena
11/6 Saitama Super Arena

Dome Tour

12/4 Fukuoka Yahoo JAPAN Dome
12/10 Nagoya Dome
12/11 Nagoya Dome
12/15 Kyocera Dome Osaka
12/17 Kyocera Dome Osaka
12/18 Kyocera Dome Osaka
12/22 Tokyo Dome
12/24 Tokyo Dome
12/25 Tokyo Dome