I've watched a couple of vids of complete "lives" and I've noticed that they totally stop the show, take off their instruments and talk to the audience for about 10 minutes or so. With Haruna doing most of the talking.  Is this common among Japanese bands? Is it alway the same "thanks for coming out" ? I love watching interviews and seeing the girls talking, even if i don't understand a word. Their personalities are captivating in any language.

I can't answer your question, but I agree they are "captivating" when they talk in interviews and on stage.  Their personalities come through even though I don't understand what they're saying.  I have started to learn Japanese just so I could eventually understand the MCs and interviews.  There is a lot of non-subtitled and untranslated content on YouTube to dig into..  If the girls weren't so likeable, I doubt I would have sat through all of it without knowing a word.

They usually only remove their instruments and do extra-long MCs at bigger shows (AKA the ones filmed for DVDs) or at their solo shows, but doing MCs are always standard for them. Other Japanese artists do do them too (ex: UNISON SQUARE GARDEN did one at SCANDAL's Joint Band Tour in Tokyo), but it's hard to say just how common that is.

SCANDAL's MCs are basically conversations (albeit a bit one-sided) between the band as well as the audience. The content always changes and depends on what kind of performance it is, but they usually mention what event/show they're playing, how long it's been since they played in that area/if they've never been to that area before, any memories of that event/area.


Examples:

-SCANDAL's 47 Prefecture Tour: They talked about the area they were in. One of the stops I went to was the one in Utsunomiya where they talked about gyoza (Utsunomiya is famous for them) and asked the crowd if they ate regularly gyoza (they didn't lol) as well as past instances the band has gone to Utsunomiya.

-SCAFES: They talked about when they first formed the band.

-PERFECT WORLD: They talked about New Year's resolutions (the show was held in early January).

-Wonderful Tonight: They talked about memories of their times in Osaka when they were first starting out.

-SCANDAL vs Budokan: The other three played a prank on TOMO and told her that the cost of SFX for the show had been taken out of her bank account with the help of her mom lol

-World tour: They talked a bit in the languages of the countries they were in, and if they had been there before they'd talk a bit about their past experiences. They did the best with English in London and the US shows where they spoke almost entirely in English.

Thanks for the post T.G.E. I feel like I've missed so much by only just discovering this band so far into their career. Sorry for all the newb questions. I'd love to see a subbed version of that "Wonderful Tonight" talk.