D’espairsRay Live at San Francisco, CA, @ Slim’s, August 4, 2010 Live Report Part 1
WARNING: This live report took up 20 pages in Microsoft Word, so it is VERY, VERY, VERRRRRY LONG. Be sure to grab a snack, or uh, an assortment of snacks and drinks and other necessities to ensure your survival while reading it! I am not responsible for any deaths caused along the way from reading for an extended period of time.
After a wild and rowdy live, a hot shower, and being freshly dressed in your PJs, what other good way to relax than to WRITE A LIVE REPORT FUCK YEAH ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?!??!???
Okay, before the actual report begins, a few shout-outs to the people I met there (Readers, you may skip this part if you weren’t at the actual live itself):
-To Rochelle and her group of friends, you guys were just AWESOME and SO nice!! I hope we bump into each other again in future lives :DD
-To the girl texting on her iPhone(?) and to the girl in the green jacket standing next to my friend and I in line, if you’re reading this right now and have an Livejournal account, please give a shout-out, because although I didn’t talk to you guys much (or rather at, ALL), it’s still nice to see fellow fans in line that were with you on that one particular day :) I totally KNEW that you were listening in on our conversation, girl in green jacket!! I appreciated you silently giggling to yourself over my lame and immature jokes~ 8DDD
-To the couple in front of me during the live: Sorry for jumping on you guys so much, you know what excitement does to people. I’m also sorry for grabbing at your backpack so much, girl who was in front of me. I hope it wasn’t stained with my sweat or anything after the live!! ^^;;;
-To the Asian girl that was originally in front of me during the meet-and-greet lineup, thank you for letting me cut you in line to talk to the fans I met earlier. You were so nice ;___;
-And most of all, to my friend for giving me a ride and waiting with me in line and not making me lonely and rocking out with me and turning into a converted D’espairsRay fan and being patient with me when I blabbered with other people and not getting bored and for just being plain AWESOME. I wouldn’t have been able to go this concert and all this wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for you and your SUPER NICE dad!!! Why are you so good to me TT_______TT I will offer you my first-born in the future to make up for everything.
And now, for the part that everyone actually cares about: THE SETLIST.
I am pretty much 200% sure of the exact order of the setlist yesterday because I brought a small notepad and pen with me to write down all of the songs that were going to be played. NERDY, I know, but you’ll never regret it at the end, remembering all of the songs by heart that were previously played! I seriously advise others to do this if you want to remember a live longer. No matter how dumb you look, you won’t be the one going, “Dang it, if only I had recorded the setlist at that time... What was that one song they played at the beginning again?” ;P
My technique for this was to whip my notepad out whenever a song started/ended, quickly scribble down the title of the song in sloppy handwriting, then shove it back in my pocket and proceeding to jump up and down/headbang about. I’m pretty sure the band noticed me writing stuff down during the live, as some other fans me around me did, and will probably remember me as “that one weird fangirl who kept on scribbling stuff down on her suspicious-looking notepad...” XDDD;
Setlist:
1. DEATH POINT
2. dope
3. REDEEMER*
4. going on!
5. LOVE IS DEAD
6. 13 -Thirteen-
7. Abel to Cain
8. HOLLOW
-15 min. intermission-
9. HUMAN-CLAD MONSTER*
10. ANGELDUST
11. SIXty∞NINe
12. Born
13. Infection
14. abyss
15. DEVILS’ PARADE
16. MIRROR
17. Garnet
I believe that the number of songs from [Coll:set] is a homage to the fans for the previous SF live that took place years ago, back when they were promoting their first album in the U.S.... But that’s just my guess! ^^;
Yes, there was no encore. It was a rather strange live... I would mostly blame the crowd for it though, although there could have been many other factors as for why no encore was presented. But I’ll get to explaining more about the crowd later.
This is my first time writing a live report, so please bear any biased opinions/ramblings of a fangirl. I am not a professional writer; I am striving for a live report that will entertain and inform YOU, the reader, and hopefully, thoroughly enjoy it! I will not be writing in the “typical” live report style where it sounds like a regular journal entry, but will be addressing and describing the songs individually. Without further ado, let’s go!!
This is the before-the-live report. It’s kinda lengthy, so you may skip straight ahead to the live report itself if you want; simply scroll down. By the way, we couldn’t make it to the Cure Rock Radio autograph session in Japantown that happened earlier that day, so no report about that here.
My friend and I arrived at Slim’s livehouse venue at around 6:00, an hour and a half before the doors would be opened at 7:30. Slim’s was a familiar place to us, due to us going there before for an An Café concert, and had appreciated its small size and close stage proximity to the band. The weather was chilly and windy, and the skies were choked with fog. Although we both got frozen minutes before the doors were open, that certainly didn’t dampen our spirits for the live!! \m/
There were about 70-90 people in total for the event. When we arrived, there was only about 30-50 people waiting in line. About half an hour before the doors were opened, more people had begun to arrive. I had expected at least 100 people, but unlike the An Café concert, the line wasn’t even winding around the block!! DDD8 That made me a bit disappointed that there weren’t that many fans of D’espa, yet secretly-selfishly glad before the live since that meant more D’espa to ourselves. ;]
With only 30-50 people initially in front of us, we were confident that we would get a good spot and about 3rd row or so. And we were right. So next time you want to hit a D’espairsRay concert in SF, I would advise going around 4-5:00 to get at least 2nd row! Unless camping out is your thing. I would never camp out in San Francisco though, the city of relentless eternal chilly windy nights. Not a good plan at all.
There was also D’espa’s tour bus smack dab in front of the venue, with poor Karubi getting squashed up right against the front window. Those evil guys, treating Karubi so harshly during their tours... But like the sacred pilgrimage Muslims make to the holy city of Mecca, fans approached the huge bus, giggling to themselves and daring each other to touch the door handle and posing in front of if for the camera. I too, touched the sacred door handle of the bus, and felt its holy energies channeling and crackling within as I laid my hand on it. Okay, it wasn’t like THAT, but hey, you too can touch D’espa’s tour bus! Give it a go when you see it; it’ll bound to be in front of your venue. Be sure to try the door knob to see if it’s unlocked! :DDD Unfortunately, it was locked for us. :(
After going through a grueling bag check where I had to throw my food and water bottle away (rest in peace, Cheddar-flavored Sunchips, turkey sandwich, and water bottle TT____TT), we finally were let in the venue. Oh yeah, there were no cameras allowed in too. Not like I brought one anyways, knowing Slim’s. D: Unlike the An Café concert, where people just straight RUSHED to the stage, there were only about 2 rows or so formed in front of it, while most people either bought merchandise beforehand or chatted with each other in the back. I took the liberty to buy merchandise too, and bought the black and white design T-shirt and a poster. A good $40 spent without any regrets, I must say.
Apparently, if you bought a poster or a T-shirt, you were eligible to participate in a meet-and-greet event after the show, or so the lady at the merchandise table told us! I thought that was only for the LA live yesterday, but I think that it applies to all cities now! So be sure to buy a poster or a T-shirt; the poster costs $15 and T-shirts $25! After despairing over not making it to the Japantown autograph session, I found hope that I would be able to get the member’s autographs! As I literally shouted, “THERE IS A GOD!!!” before the merchandise booth. TTwTT
I highly recommend buying a poster/T-shirt before the live begins in order to save yourself some time and immediately rush to the area where the meet-and-greet is located with your goods in hand, rather than being stuck in line at the merchandise booth after the show. I bought my stuff before the show, if anyone is wondering. But that didn’t guarantee me to be in front of the line for the meet-and-greet and was all the way towards the back, because I am slow and was too busy wondering where the line was before finally spotting it in the back. D’oh. I still got autographs, though, so don’t fret if you’re the last person in line or something! :DDD
The doors were opened and we were let in at 7:30, but the live would begin at 8 in thirty minutes. Due to befriending some extremely kind and AWESOME fans next to us, I was able to put my bag along with their stuff in a safe spot, right in front of the stage. Being able to flail about without a bag burdening you = Good. :B We were on Zero’s side, the left side of the stage, due to me having a long and personal relationship with that man damn his constant spam Ameblog entries. I could also see Tsukasa’s drum set clearly, which looked elaborate with extra symbols attached to it over a regular old drum set. As I mentioned earlier, everyone was EXTREMELY CLOSE to the stage. How close, exactly? Close enough to see Karyu’s sweat glistening on his guitar. 8’DDD
There was no barrier or rail set up, so we were free to grope the members as much as we pleased whenever they came near our grabbing hands. We could also see their instruments and roadies really up close and personal. There was this overhead-like screen that hung directly over Hizumi’s spot which covered the center part of the stage, leading my friend and I to joke about people in the center getting angry over not being able to see the vocalist. On the screen was a wavelength image that pulsed and throbbed while changing colors.
After waiting for a half an hour, background music began to play, signaling the start of the show. We greeted the slowly emerging members with loud cheers and screams, first with Tsukasa coming out, then Zero, then Karyu, and finally Hizumi, who got the loudest cheers. And then without a single uttered word, the live finally started!!
This is where my “individual address” begins. From the livehouse to the members to the staff members to the songs themselves, here is what you’ve been wanting and waiting to hear! Since this was my very first D’espa live, I will be writing about my impressions on everything. :]
The livehouse: The stage was sorta small, but not really, so the members had some room to roam around and jump up and down and such. The stage was quite wide. There are two tall, thick black poles that were placed near the center of the stage, but one on the left side and one on the right, and those can get annoying sometimes because they can block your view of the band. Luckily, I wasn’t in front of it, so I had a pretty clear view of all the members :D There was a bar in the back where Slim’s staff members try to persuade you to buy their own drinks. >___>;
I know people usually hate comparing bands, but compared to the An Café concert, the sound was DEAFENING during this live! DDD8 I could hear pretty much everything clearly during the An Café live, but the speakers during D’espa drowned nearly EVERYTHING out!! It was so bad that you could hardly hear Hizumi sing, or Karyu even playing a guitar solo >A<;; The giant speakers must have been put at OVER MAXIMUM VOLUME, because everything just PIERCED through my ears. My ears were ringing so badly after the live, and I could hardly hear what anyone was saying to me after the live D8
My friend and I were like old deaf grannies after the show, going, “What??” over and over again and we had to go super close to each other to hear what we were saying. It was as if both of us were submerged underwater and trying to talk to each other DDDX I don’t think it was because of bad acoustics because yet again, the An Café live was nice and crystal-clear, but whoever did their sound check during rehearsal... That deaf person should be flogged for atonement of their sin >A>;;
1st song: DEATH POINT: A pleasant surprise for me when they opened with this song. It’s a very solid song to open with, and made the crowd immediately jump up and down and scream their lungs out. Very, very fun to sing along to the “Death Point! Death Point! Death Point!” parts. Since it was a song off their newest album, no one really knew the lyrics to it besides the title, lol.
dope: VERY fun live. The “swaying” tempo will sure to have you rock back on forth on your feet and your head bob along as you shout with Hizumi to the lyrics.
REDEEMER*: The reason why I put asterisks next to some of the song titles is to indicate when mistakes had happened. When the familiar opening drums greeted us, the crowd got instantly excited and flailed about. After about a minute or two into the song though, I began to notice that there was a noticeable tempo change in the drums as the beat slowed down, and the song slowly morphed into something that was not known to mankind... Redeemer turned unrecognizable, and there was the familiar “RAT-TA-TAT-TAT... tat....” slow drum roll that signaled the end of a song, with the members playing one last note and everything, and the vocalist bringing their hand down like a karate chop. You know what I mean. There was this disgusted, frustrated expression on Tsukasa’s face as he stopped playing the drums, and Karyu looked rather disappointed as he stopped playing as well. Hizumi turned around in confusion, while Zero maintained the same facial expression as usual. He didn’t even turn around, that rascal!! The whole crowd went “AWWWW-!!” audibly in disappointment. Anyway, after consulting his other band members a bit to find out what was the problem, Hizumi said a quick apology before yelling, “Let’s go again!!” and the crowd roared in approval.
With Redeemer round 2, although Tsukasa messed up the first time, it went smoothly this time, with no more mistakes. I forgive you though, Tsukachi!! ;w; <333 The shouting part near the end was fun, as was expected. Most people seemed to know the lyrics, as I could hear them singing around me. Very fun to sing along to live.
going on!: Not much to say about this song. Very fun and energetic. Not many people seemed to know the lyrics, though, other than “Going on! Going on!” Try playing a drinking game with how many times I repeat saying “fun” in the following sentences! XDDD
LOVE IS DEAD: The crowd got excited when they heard the opening electronic notes in the intro, and quickly got riled up as Hizumi shouted, “Shall we dance!!” It’s very easy to time your jumps to the dancey beat, so be sure to jump really high for a member to notice you! Also very fun to sing, “Once, infection! Twice, addiction!” and “Lalalala love is dead~” out loud with dozens of other people around you :DDD The members almost looked like they were dancing on stage XDDD Well, Tsukasa couldn’t exactly dance, but he sure had a happy expression on his face as he whacked at the drums around him :D
13 -Thirteen-: Let me tell you, you will appreciate this song and other slower-paced songs in the setlist, because you will be drenched in sweat and your legs and arms will be aching and be just plain TIRED and slower songs cure just that condition. ;D This song was a needed breather as we stood and pumped our fists to the beat, while yelling, “Hey!! Hey!!” The members looked like they were still having fun, even though this was a slower song.
Abel to Cain: The song that threw me off and surprised me the most that night. I was literally thinking in my mind, “OMG, THIS SONG?!?? NO WAY” when the familiar distorted intro began, and the fans around me seemed to think the same thing as well, as there were many wild screams, followed by immediate jumping up and down. It seems that D’espa really took heed of that poll made to select songs for their setlists, because I definitely voted for this song, as it’s my 2nd favorite song of theirs! <3 I never thought I would hear this song ever performed live :D
This song is just SEXY live. |DDD As Hizumi sang the lyrics with this grating edge to his voice, we jumped in time to the beat. Zero did the exact same bass slapping he did in the Liquidize DVD, with his thumb thwacking at the thick steel strings. I must have jumped up and down the whole time this song was played :DDD
HOLLOW: A long, drawn out intro was played by the band that had me thinking, “Hmm, this song sounds familiar?!” Then the familiar guitar riff came, and then it hit me. Hollow!! <3 Shouting out the title of this song with the other members with mics was really fun, but you know that distorted guitar part that’s looped in the middle? Yes, this is D’espa’s infamous looping “eternal” song, but it seemed to go on FOREVER. D8 It was fun at first, yelling “Hey! Hey! Hey!” with Hizumi, but after minutes passed... I wanted it to end >A<; STOP, before you call me insane!! I did want the song to end, but you know that feeling when you want to stop something, but at the same time, you want it to go on forever? That was the torn feeling I had during that looping part. DX Still was a fun song, though! X3
After those 8 songs were played, the members left the stage... That was strange, leaving the stage after only about 45 minutes into the show? An announcement came saying that the band would take a 15 minute intermission, and then continue on with the show. We were puzzled at first why they would do such a thing, but shrugged and waited around. The overhead screen with the pulsing wavelength image was also put back up again to cover up Hizumi’s spot in the center.
With the fan I met next to us, we went on the hunt for cups of water we saw suddenly appearing in people’s hands while our friends saved our spots. We found it at the bar nearby, being given out for free. You bastards at Slim’s, making us drink your water while preventing us from drinking our own!! >OOO Ah well, the water was free and nice ‘n’ icy cold, anyway. :D People also bought more merchandise at the booth while others wiped off their sweat and chatted amongst each other. I still don’t know why the band took that break, because they didn’t look really tired... Perhaps because of technical difficulties? It’ll probably remain a mystery to me from this day on. It was a nice breath of fresh air though, as we were all pooped out from rocking out so much. :D
To continue reading on, please move to part 2 here! x]
After a wild and rowdy live, a hot shower, and being freshly dressed in your PJs, what other good way to relax than to WRITE A LIVE REPORT FUCK YEAH ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?!??!???
Okay, before the actual report begins, a few shout-outs to the people I met there (Readers, you may skip this part if you weren’t at the actual live itself):
-To Rochelle and her group of friends, you guys were just AWESOME and SO nice!! I hope we bump into each other again in future lives :DD
-To the girl texting on her iPhone(?) and to the girl in the green jacket standing next to my friend and I in line, if you’re reading this right now and have an Livejournal account, please give a shout-out, because although I didn’t talk to you guys much (or rather at, ALL), it’s still nice to see fellow fans in line that were with you on that one particular day :) I totally KNEW that you were listening in on our conversation, girl in green jacket!! I appreciated you silently giggling to yourself over my lame and immature jokes~ 8DDD
-To the couple in front of me during the live: Sorry for jumping on you guys so much, you know what excitement does to people. I’m also sorry for grabbing at your backpack so much, girl who was in front of me. I hope it wasn’t stained with my sweat or anything after the live!! ^^;;;
-To the Asian girl that was originally in front of me during the meet-and-greet lineup, thank you for letting me cut you in line to talk to the fans I met earlier. You were so nice ;___;
-And most of all, to my friend for giving me a ride and waiting with me in line and not making me lonely and rocking out with me and turning into a converted D’espairsRay fan and being patient with me when I blabbered with other people and not getting bored and for just being plain AWESOME. I wouldn’t have been able to go this concert and all this wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for you and your SUPER NICE dad!!! Why are you so good to me TT_______TT I will offer you my first-born in the future to make up for everything.
And now, for the part that everyone actually cares about: THE SETLIST.
I am pretty much 200% sure of the exact order of the setlist yesterday because I brought a small notepad and pen with me to write down all of the songs that were going to be played. NERDY, I know, but you’ll never regret it at the end, remembering all of the songs by heart that were previously played! I seriously advise others to do this if you want to remember a live longer. No matter how dumb you look, you won’t be the one going, “Dang it, if only I had recorded the setlist at that time... What was that one song they played at the beginning again?” ;P
My technique for this was to whip my notepad out whenever a song started/ended, quickly scribble down the title of the song in sloppy handwriting, then shove it back in my pocket and proceeding to jump up and down/headbang about. I’m pretty sure the band noticed me writing stuff down during the live, as some other fans me around me did, and will probably remember me as “that one weird fangirl who kept on scribbling stuff down on her suspicious-looking notepad...” XDDD;
Setlist:
1. DEATH POINT
2. dope
3. REDEEMER*
4. going on!
5. LOVE IS DEAD
6. 13 -Thirteen-
7. Abel to Cain
8. HOLLOW
-15 min. intermission-
9. HUMAN-CLAD MONSTER*
10. ANGELDUST
11. SIXty∞NINe
12. Born
13. Infection
14. abyss
15. DEVILS’ PARADE
16. MIRROR
17. Garnet
I believe that the number of songs from [Coll:set] is a homage to the fans for the previous SF live that took place years ago, back when they were promoting their first album in the U.S.... But that’s just my guess! ^^;
Yes, there was no encore. It was a rather strange live... I would mostly blame the crowd for it though, although there could have been many other factors as for why no encore was presented. But I’ll get to explaining more about the crowd later.
This is my first time writing a live report, so please bear any biased opinions/ramblings of a fangirl. I am not a professional writer; I am striving for a live report that will entertain and inform YOU, the reader, and hopefully, thoroughly enjoy it! I will not be writing in the “typical” live report style where it sounds like a regular journal entry, but will be addressing and describing the songs individually. Without further ado, let’s go!!
This is the before-the-live report. It’s kinda lengthy, so you may skip straight ahead to the live report itself if you want; simply scroll down. By the way, we couldn’t make it to the Cure Rock Radio autograph session in Japantown that happened earlier that day, so no report about that here.
My friend and I arrived at Slim’s livehouse venue at around 6:00, an hour and a half before the doors would be opened at 7:30. Slim’s was a familiar place to us, due to us going there before for an An Café concert, and had appreciated its small size and close stage proximity to the band. The weather was chilly and windy, and the skies were choked with fog. Although we both got frozen minutes before the doors were open, that certainly didn’t dampen our spirits for the live!! \m/
There were about 70-90 people in total for the event. When we arrived, there was only about 30-50 people waiting in line. About half an hour before the doors were opened, more people had begun to arrive. I had expected at least 100 people, but unlike the An Café concert, the line wasn’t even winding around the block!! DDD8 That made me a bit disappointed that there weren’t that many fans of D’espa, yet secretly-selfishly glad before the live since that meant more D’espa to ourselves. ;]
With only 30-50 people initially in front of us, we were confident that we would get a good spot and about 3rd row or so. And we were right. So next time you want to hit a D’espairsRay concert in SF, I would advise going around 4-5:00 to get at least 2nd row! Unless camping out is your thing. I would never camp out in San Francisco though, the city of relentless eternal chilly windy nights. Not a good plan at all.
There was also D’espa’s tour bus smack dab in front of the venue, with poor Karubi getting squashed up right against the front window. Those evil guys, treating Karubi so harshly during their tours... But like the sacred pilgrimage Muslims make to the holy city of Mecca, fans approached the huge bus, giggling to themselves and daring each other to touch the door handle and posing in front of if for the camera. I too, touched the sacred door handle of the bus, and felt its holy energies channeling and crackling within as I laid my hand on it. Okay, it wasn’t like THAT, but hey, you too can touch D’espa’s tour bus! Give it a go when you see it; it’ll bound to be in front of your venue. Be sure to try the door knob to see if it’s unlocked! :DDD Unfortunately, it was locked for us. :(
After going through a grueling bag check where I had to throw my food and water bottle away (rest in peace, Cheddar-flavored Sunchips, turkey sandwich, and water bottle TT____TT), we finally were let in the venue. Oh yeah, there were no cameras allowed in too. Not like I brought one anyways, knowing Slim’s. D: Unlike the An Café concert, where people just straight RUSHED to the stage, there were only about 2 rows or so formed in front of it, while most people either bought merchandise beforehand or chatted with each other in the back. I took the liberty to buy merchandise too, and bought the black and white design T-shirt and a poster. A good $40 spent without any regrets, I must say.
Apparently, if you bought a poster or a T-shirt, you were eligible to participate in a meet-and-greet event after the show, or so the lady at the merchandise table told us! I thought that was only for the LA live yesterday, but I think that it applies to all cities now! So be sure to buy a poster or a T-shirt; the poster costs $15 and T-shirts $25! After despairing over not making it to the Japantown autograph session, I found hope that I would be able to get the member’s autographs! As I literally shouted, “THERE IS A GOD!!!” before the merchandise booth. TTwTT
I highly recommend buying a poster/T-shirt before the live begins in order to save yourself some time and immediately rush to the area where the meet-and-greet is located with your goods in hand, rather than being stuck in line at the merchandise booth after the show. I bought my stuff before the show, if anyone is wondering. But that didn’t guarantee me to be in front of the line for the meet-and-greet and was all the way towards the back, because I am slow and was too busy wondering where the line was before finally spotting it in the back. D’oh. I still got autographs, though, so don’t fret if you’re the last person in line or something! :DDD
The doors were opened and we were let in at 7:30, but the live would begin at 8 in thirty minutes. Due to befriending some extremely kind and AWESOME fans next to us, I was able to put my bag along with their stuff in a safe spot, right in front of the stage. Being able to flail about without a bag burdening you = Good. :B We were on Zero’s side, the left side of the stage, due to me having a long and personal relationship with that man damn his constant spam Ameblog entries. I could also see Tsukasa’s drum set clearly, which looked elaborate with extra symbols attached to it over a regular old drum set. As I mentioned earlier, everyone was EXTREMELY CLOSE to the stage. How close, exactly? Close enough to see Karyu’s sweat glistening on his guitar. 8’DDD
There was no barrier or rail set up, so we were free to grope the members as much as we pleased whenever they came near our grabbing hands. We could also see their instruments and roadies really up close and personal. There was this overhead-like screen that hung directly over Hizumi’s spot which covered the center part of the stage, leading my friend and I to joke about people in the center getting angry over not being able to see the vocalist. On the screen was a wavelength image that pulsed and throbbed while changing colors.
After waiting for a half an hour, background music began to play, signaling the start of the show. We greeted the slowly emerging members with loud cheers and screams, first with Tsukasa coming out, then Zero, then Karyu, and finally Hizumi, who got the loudest cheers. And then without a single uttered word, the live finally started!!
This is where my “individual address” begins. From the livehouse to the members to the staff members to the songs themselves, here is what you’ve been wanting and waiting to hear! Since this was my very first D’espa live, I will be writing about my impressions on everything. :]
The livehouse: The stage was sorta small, but not really, so the members had some room to roam around and jump up and down and such. The stage was quite wide. There are two tall, thick black poles that were placed near the center of the stage, but one on the left side and one on the right, and those can get annoying sometimes because they can block your view of the band. Luckily, I wasn’t in front of it, so I had a pretty clear view of all the members :D There was a bar in the back where Slim’s staff members try to persuade you to buy their own drinks. >___>;
I know people usually hate comparing bands, but compared to the An Café concert, the sound was DEAFENING during this live! DDD8 I could hear pretty much everything clearly during the An Café live, but the speakers during D’espa drowned nearly EVERYTHING out!! It was so bad that you could hardly hear Hizumi sing, or Karyu even playing a guitar solo >A<;; The giant speakers must have been put at OVER MAXIMUM VOLUME, because everything just PIERCED through my ears. My ears were ringing so badly after the live, and I could hardly hear what anyone was saying to me after the live D8
My friend and I were like old deaf grannies after the show, going, “What??” over and over again and we had to go super close to each other to hear what we were saying. It was as if both of us were submerged underwater and trying to talk to each other DDDX I don’t think it was because of bad acoustics because yet again, the An Café live was nice and crystal-clear, but whoever did their sound check during rehearsal... That deaf person should be flogged for atonement of their sin >A>;;
1st song: DEATH POINT: A pleasant surprise for me when they opened with this song. It’s a very solid song to open with, and made the crowd immediately jump up and down and scream their lungs out. Very, very fun to sing along to the “Death Point! Death Point! Death Point!” parts. Since it was a song off their newest album, no one really knew the lyrics to it besides the title, lol.
dope: VERY fun live. The “swaying” tempo will sure to have you rock back on forth on your feet and your head bob along as you shout with Hizumi to the lyrics.
REDEEMER*: The reason why I put asterisks next to some of the song titles is to indicate when mistakes had happened. When the familiar opening drums greeted us, the crowd got instantly excited and flailed about. After about a minute or two into the song though, I began to notice that there was a noticeable tempo change in the drums as the beat slowed down, and the song slowly morphed into something that was not known to mankind... Redeemer turned unrecognizable, and there was the familiar “RAT-TA-TAT-TAT... tat....” slow drum roll that signaled the end of a song, with the members playing one last note and everything, and the vocalist bringing their hand down like a karate chop. You know what I mean. There was this disgusted, frustrated expression on Tsukasa’s face as he stopped playing the drums, and Karyu looked rather disappointed as he stopped playing as well. Hizumi turned around in confusion, while Zero maintained the same facial expression as usual. He didn’t even turn around, that rascal!! The whole crowd went “AWWWW-!!” audibly in disappointment. Anyway, after consulting his other band members a bit to find out what was the problem, Hizumi said a quick apology before yelling, “Let’s go again!!” and the crowd roared in approval.
With Redeemer round 2, although Tsukasa messed up the first time, it went smoothly this time, with no more mistakes. I forgive you though, Tsukachi!! ;w; <333 The shouting part near the end was fun, as was expected. Most people seemed to know the lyrics, as I could hear them singing around me. Very fun to sing along to live.
going on!: Not much to say about this song. Very fun and energetic. Not many people seemed to know the lyrics, though, other than “Going on! Going on!” Try playing a drinking game with how many times I repeat saying “fun” in the following sentences! XDDD
LOVE IS DEAD: The crowd got excited when they heard the opening electronic notes in the intro, and quickly got riled up as Hizumi shouted, “Shall we dance!!” It’s very easy to time your jumps to the dancey beat, so be sure to jump really high for a member to notice you! Also very fun to sing, “Once, infection! Twice, addiction!” and “Lalalala love is dead~” out loud with dozens of other people around you :DDD The members almost looked like they were dancing on stage XDDD Well, Tsukasa couldn’t exactly dance, but he sure had a happy expression on his face as he whacked at the drums around him :D
13 -Thirteen-: Let me tell you, you will appreciate this song and other slower-paced songs in the setlist, because you will be drenched in sweat and your legs and arms will be aching and be just plain TIRED and slower songs cure just that condition. ;D This song was a needed breather as we stood and pumped our fists to the beat, while yelling, “Hey!! Hey!!” The members looked like they were still having fun, even though this was a slower song.
Abel to Cain: The song that threw me off and surprised me the most that night. I was literally thinking in my mind, “OMG, THIS SONG?!?? NO WAY” when the familiar distorted intro began, and the fans around me seemed to think the same thing as well, as there were many wild screams, followed by immediate jumping up and down. It seems that D’espa really took heed of that poll made to select songs for their setlists, because I definitely voted for this song, as it’s my 2nd favorite song of theirs! <3 I never thought I would hear this song ever performed live :D
This song is just SEXY live. |DDD As Hizumi sang the lyrics with this grating edge to his voice, we jumped in time to the beat. Zero did the exact same bass slapping he did in the Liquidize DVD, with his thumb thwacking at the thick steel strings. I must have jumped up and down the whole time this song was played :DDD
HOLLOW: A long, drawn out intro was played by the band that had me thinking, “Hmm, this song sounds familiar?!” Then the familiar guitar riff came, and then it hit me. Hollow!! <3 Shouting out the title of this song with the other members with mics was really fun, but you know that distorted guitar part that’s looped in the middle? Yes, this is D’espa’s infamous looping “eternal” song, but it seemed to go on FOREVER. D8 It was fun at first, yelling “Hey! Hey! Hey!” with Hizumi, but after minutes passed... I wanted it to end >A<; STOP, before you call me insane!! I did want the song to end, but you know that feeling when you want to stop something, but at the same time, you want it to go on forever? That was the torn feeling I had during that looping part. DX Still was a fun song, though! X3
After those 8 songs were played, the members left the stage... That was strange, leaving the stage after only about 45 minutes into the show? An announcement came saying that the band would take a 15 minute intermission, and then continue on with the show. We were puzzled at first why they would do such a thing, but shrugged and waited around. The overhead screen with the pulsing wavelength image was also put back up again to cover up Hizumi’s spot in the center.
With the fan I met next to us, we went on the hunt for cups of water we saw suddenly appearing in people’s hands while our friends saved our spots. We found it at the bar nearby, being given out for free. You bastards at Slim’s, making us drink your water while preventing us from drinking our own!! >OOO Ah well, the water was free and nice ‘n’ icy cold, anyway. :D People also bought more merchandise at the booth while others wiped off their sweat and chatted amongst each other. I still don’t know why the band took that break, because they didn’t look really tired... Perhaps because of technical difficulties? It’ll probably remain a mystery to me from this day on. It was a nice breath of fresh air though, as we were all pooped out from rocking out so much. :D
To continue reading on, please move to part 2 here! x]