TWISTED LOVE: Concert Reports
yhee's Report
It was still good weather, a really important thing. It was sunny and warm, quite the contrary to the rest of the weekend. So concerning the weather Dir en grey were really lucky...
After the Wednesday13 set there was some guy handing out promotion CDs with the words "this is Dir en grey, they're next"...
There were 3 rows of fans, and a lot of people behind, but not packed, just people who were either there for Wednesday13 or for Simple Plan. I was really surprised that we were so few...
I still can't say if they were in a good mood or not. All that you
could feel that they were really nervous.
Kyo was trembling, his left leg on the riser, before Merciless cult
started. But with all his psycho behavior, this might also be
"normal".
Die was headbanging a lot, but not smiling.
Quite the contrary was Toshiya. He was enjoying the live, jumped off
stage and played there his solo, smiling like mad.
Kyo did the mouth thing and was just... well, Kyo.
Haven't seen much of Kaoru and Shinya.
Just look around, I'm sure that there will be a lot of pictures soon. So many people were filming and taking pictures. Maybe I'll upload some of mine, too. Pictures say more than my descriptions...
I was really pissed of that they didn't play Child Prey, as they apparently did at RiP. This is a PERFECT live song for such a festival, so WHY not???
I read short messages about RaR... about Kyo throwing a water bucket into the audience. Yes, he really did that. And it was a BIG water bucket, full of ice. I was shocked... and happy that I was 2nd row. People in the first row got all the ice in their faces... and not the guys booing...
Die kept all his picks this time. In Berlin he threw them all...
I only talked to some people after the Diru set. I overheard them
asking... "who the fuck was that". Of course I had to explain.. and
they admitted "they were really good".
But others were like "haha, China let some of their idiots free" and
some other replied "no, those were
Imho Kyo should've said at least SOMETHING to the audience, to introduce Dir en grey etc. I know that he's not doing that in Japan, but we're in Europe... They're not playing in front of fans now, but a "normal" crowd. You have to speak, most bands even learn some phrases in German... A mumbled "Dankeschon" (what was NOT the case at RaR) is not enough.
A friend of mine was filming in the back and he told me that quite a lot of people were leaving the front area during their set. (But he's always exaggerating, so lets wait for other reports). There were not only fans in the first rows but also behind the first bars, maybe the entrance was already closed by then?
There were commercials for Dir en grey at the center stage. In between
the sets of the bands there were commercials for bands who have been
on stage the day before, for films and so on. Always for 30 min.
On Saturday there were commercials in between the sets of Slayer,
Motley Crue, Marylin Manson and Iron Maiden for Dir en grey, always ~4
min.
My friend doesn't know Dir en grey, so it was a bit hard to get the
information, but apparently they played what is on the promotion CD,
that is parts of the PV for the final ("a lot of fire"), some of
Machiavellism ("a huge Japanese crowd").
I think most of the promotion CDs found their way to fans, not to the average male at 25, your normal festival goer. Many people (Slipknot fans etc) from the first row handed their CDs to fans after the Dir en grey set. Some found their way as to the stage during the Simple Plan set... But some people really kept theirs, so maybe that was not all in vain. Yet most were handed to fans. I saw Japanese with no less than ~15 CDs...
What people find on the CD is:
PVs for
The Final
Machiavellism
Saku
Kodou
audio
Merciless cult
dead tree
spilled milk
higeki...
live concerts clips
discography with pictures
and a profile that reads
Dir en grey formed in 1997 with the sole purpose to spread the feeling of hurt and sorrow caused by weakness, shallowness and egoism of humanity. Since then, their grotesque ways, their warped affection, and their crazy live shows took the independent record scene by a storm, putting them on the very top.
In 1999 Dir en grey's fame caught the attention of then CEO of East West Japan. Signing them to a major record label, they debuted with releasing 3 singles at once, very rare for a newcomer. All 3 songs hit the top 10 on the charts. After that, all their releases would hit the top 10, proving that more and more people were sympathizing with their music.
In 2002, Dir en grey's fame hit all of Asia. During their Asia Tour they traveled to Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai. In Shanghai, public safety officers had to be called in to calm the excited fans.
When Dir en grey first formed, their expression of ?hurt? was to hold inside all their anger and sorrow and just writhe in pain. But in 2003 with their new album ?VULGAR? their expression had changed. It was not just struggling. It had turned into a message.
Then on March 9th 2005, Dir en grey released their 5th album ?Withering to death.?. As you can understand from the title of the album, they have revolutionized and became prophets to the human race.
They will soon perform their first time in Europe on May 28th 2005. It will be in Berlin, a place known to all once as a place of sadness and hurt.
Dir en grey's songs, live shows, and their statements are all deep, sad and hurtful. But beneath, lies the strong will. There are so many bands in Japan existing right now of Japan's original genre, the Visual Band. But very few are like Dir en grey. Their souls are in fact the sound of their music.
Japan's Music business is currently in a state of mass production and reproduction. Dir en grey is the only band that challenges this with its screams and strong will through their music.
...(I think I already read that somewhere)
Thank you yhee!
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