Dir en grey live @ Nissan Pavilion [Family Values tour] - 9/17/06
It really astounds me how small our j-rock community is. I saw so many people that I’ve seen at other lives and anime cons, it was ridiculous! It seemed like a huge meet-and-greet at Family Values in Bristow, VA of all places. All of us gathered to support one little band. It was a really great feeling to see all of those people.
First of all, Jon and I were not feeling it. I mean, usually I’m so pumped to go to a concert. This time, we both were “meh”. Anyway, after all of the trials and tribulations we had to endure to get to Bristow, I started to get a little excited when we pulled up on the rocky entrance. I was stopped by a couple of venue ladies telling me that I probably couldn’t get in because of the chain attached to my hip bag. Yeah, well…I hardly got checked. So, Jon and I looked at the stairs to the lawn seats thinking that we had to go there. We both said “nah” and I took the path to find the FYE tents. I wanted to get the Ryoujoku no Ame single. Yeah, I know, I know, I said that I’d give up on buying singles, but I LOVE that song and I like the version of The Final on it. Plus, I don’t need another American Version of Withering to Death, I don’t like Six Ugly, and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I did ask for an autographed version of something, but I really like when I see the band sign my stuff. I’ll probably never have that opportunity with Deg, but still that’s what I want. Anyway, we heard Walls of Jericho as we were walking around. I was complementing people who had on my shirt or other Dir en grey paraphernalia. Finally, we made our way over to the pit.
It wasn’t a lot of people there, but the middle was pretty full. The lawn was full, but hardly any of the seats were occupied. We made our way to Die’s area. I wanted to be between Die and Kyo again (No offense Kaoru and Toshiya). Anyway, I saw nana007and a few other faces from various places. Bullets and Octane were finishing up by the time we got down there. After them was Deadsy, I think. I’d seen Deadsy many, many moons ago at the last Family Values tour. I didn’t like them then…I don’t like them now. I think the third song was ok, but I was just bored. When Bury your Dead came on, they infused some life into the audience. They’re not anyone that I’d actively listen to, but their enthusiasm was infectious. I found myself bobbing my head to the music and smiling at the little lead singer. The bass player was cool and the girls in front of me were giving him love. 10 Years were up next. Man, it took so long to set up the stage for them, but it was so worth it. They were wonderful. I only know about them through Jon and I’ve only heard a song or two, but they have a new fan in me. The vocalist has this haunting quality that reminded me of Maynard from Tool. When he came out in his parka and yellow galoshes, I was like “WTF?!” But, it’s all about the music, baby. The bassist was so into the music, I couldn’t stop smiling at him. They were great in preparing me for my main event.
As soon as 10 years got off of the stage, we started chanting “Dir en grey, Dir en grey!” I had already seen Kyo by the speakers during Bury your Dead’s set and I was ready to see the little man again. Harry, Nora, and the roadies came out to prepare the stage. I saw John and we waved at each other. They brought out Shinya’s drum kit and it put all of the previous drummers to shame. “Now THAT’S a drum set!”, I exclaimed. Once the banner was hoisted in the air, I knew that it was almost show time. G.D.S. was played and Dir en grey’s faithful fans threw their hands in the air and prepared for the “KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL”. Some people were offbeat, but it was still ok. Shinya lead the charge, followed by Die, Toshiya, Kaoru, and finally Kyo. I was a lot closer than in New York, so it was pretty great. They had no break and launched into -saku- right away. It was ok. I was hyped up but, I didn’t hear too many of the words. After that was Beautiful Dirt, I couldn’t recognize it at first (and I still don’t know if I’m right). Again, I couldn’t hear all of the words, but it wasn’t too bad. But, the third song was definitely The Final. Kyo had his hand raised high. We joined him and the song was beautiful. It’s one of my favorites. I sang along until he started scratching and cutting. I can never watch that. Then, it was Kodoku ni Shisu, Yue ni Kodoku. Beautiful, simply beautiful. Kyo took off his shirt on this song and gave a little dance at the beginning. From there, they played dead tree, which is another song that I love from Withering to Death. I was swaying and singing along. After that, my Diru song of the moment, Ryojyoku no Ame was played. The song is absolutely awesome live. Just…words cannot express how good the performance was. People who say that Kyo can’t sing live anymore just need to sit down and shut up. They then played CLEVER SLEAZOID. I’m glad that they played those two songs back to back. They are like reversals since CLEVER SLEAZOID is mostly in English with that line of Japanese, and Ryojyoku no Ame is mostly in Japanese with that line of English. Anyway, we didn’t get to hear “Last song”, but The IIID Empire was the last song. I nudged Jon because of our favorite part, “spark and spark”. The band started tossing picks and sticks. I screamed at Die and he threw a pic in my general direction, but as usual, I got nothing. I almost knocked Jon over to get it though, lol. Oh, well. I was still in disbelief for a second until I realized that I had to run to the FYE tent to get in line. Well, my feet were a bit sore (Damn you, Ike!), but Jon and I made our way to this huge ass line. The pit was pretty much cleared out and was standing in line. I passed by Nadia and we got in line with her. I called my ride and figured that by the time I got through the handshake line, I’d be ready to go. I did want to see Deftones and Korn, but it just wasn’t meant to be. They made us wait for about an hour, but it wasn’t that bad since the conversation was good. I like talking to people who know what they’re talking about when it comes to jrock.
When the line started moving, it was lighting fast. We joked how we were going to shake the member’s hands in slow motion. But, of course it didn’t happen that way. Shinya’s small, bony hand was so nice. He softly said “Thank you” and I said it back to him with a little bow. Kaoru’s hand was cool to the touch and he didn’t grasp me as tight as Shinya, but we looked each other in the eye and he gave a little smirk. We also said “Thank you” and bowed a bit to each other, then the line people attacked my wristband with scissors and it was all over. I said my goodbyes and made the walk to the car. It was a whirlwind experience and I’m happy that I went. My throat was a little sore from singing (read: yelling) along, but it was a good pain.
Toshiya was looking beautiful. None of that headwrap shit. Someone threw some shirt or something onto the stage; Toshiya mopped his face off and threw it back down. I don’t know why, but that was funny to me. His crooked toothed smile made me grin to myself. Sir Chinpubes (read: Kaoru) was looking hot and totally “rockstarish” when he came out. He was trying to get us to be louder at times and seemed to be threatening us to with his mean face and hand gestures. How cute. A cymbal covered Shinya’s face most of the time where I was, so I guess it was cool that he was at the handshaking so I could see him full on. Die was gorgeous as usual, but he seemed tired (or maybe hung over). He gave our side some attention and for that I was grateful. Kyo was great. Whether he was writhing on the ground or having a bucket on his head, he was into it. After he cut himself and they had a break, the look on his face was unnerving. I don’t know if he hurt himself or if he was tired or just mixture of both, but he looked so blown and his eyes were stretched wide. Maybe the stuff was burning his eyes, but he didn’t look so well. Some of the non-fans around me were a bit shocked when he was cutting himself. I don’t know if that was a good or a bad thing. I cheered for him when he threw his little, red platform repeatedly.
As usual, I have a complaint. The only thing that I can really complain about is how Dir en grey brought the teenies. Ok, everybody is a teenie sometime in their lives. I have no problem with that but when the dude (I think in Bullets and Octane) said something like “Who wants to see Dir en grey?!” Almost the whole pit raised their hands and hollered. That was a little weird, but luckily some of the teenies did enjoy some of the other bands, so I guess that makes it ok.