Dir en grey at Nokia Theatre NYC 2/10
This weekend, I journeyed back to New York City, for what may be the last time in a disappointingly long while.
So! the Dir en grey live at Nokia Theatre! I basically missed seeing everyone I wanted to see. In fact, the only people I really saw this weekend were my parents (who doted on me with ridiculous attention and food), Sarah (after the Dir en grey show, when we caught up briefly at the teahouse), Eric, Eric's mother, Eric's cat, and Eric's tutor.
But more about the show: I heard it was tight, sweaty, and brutal up against the barricades, but I experienced none of the Dir en grey live experience that I had the last time I saw them live. None of the waiting at 9 in the morning for a show that starts at 6 at night in the frostbite inducing, painfully windy cold. None of the being bored out of my mind for those hours. None of the catty fangirls who would engage you in that passive-aggressive dance in the crowd.
Actually, we waltzed in at 7:30PM, after witnessing the line that wound around the entrance of nokia, down the middle of Times Square along the MTV studios, looped around the side passing the Marriot hotel, inward towards the parking/courtyard, and illegally snaked on across the Canadian border, we went home and ate cake. Eric and I skipped the really bad first opener (Bleed the Dreams), and spent the rest of the set sitting in the lobby, and judging/talking smack about people, and checking out the shitty merch and shirts that looks like my unborn child had doodled over it. We finally went to see the second opener, then finally Dir en grey came on, and by that time, a third of the people originally up front trickled out, fleeing the third world conditions.
"Larissa": so how was the concert? lots of wannabe anime girls there? i hope you totally fucked those bitches. just tell me you did, i'll believe you
"Me": ok i did. i machine gunned them all
"Larissa": wow jenny, thats totally impressive and hardcore of you. way to go!
At the first concert last year, I was too cocooned in my imaginary perfection of the performance, and I refused to believe anything but that Kyo was a god. This time around, it pains me to admit, but whenever Kyo was able to hit the notes or he actually sung it the way it sounded on the albums, we were floored. He omitted certain parts of many of the songs, and did not even try to sing the fast parts. There were two highlights of the show: Kyo's second acapella, which was beautiful and impressive, and I wonder why the rest of the live didn't have that same consistency in the quality of vocals; and when he hit the last note in Dead Tree and DID NOT FUCK UP. lalala Shinya was hot.
From my vantage point, it was fairly tame, with the exception of a single guy futilely flailing to start a mosh pit, while everyone around them collectively resisted. Then this guy lit up a cigarette during the show. In fact, it was way more intense trying to get to coat check after the show. And the girl next to me got Shinya's drum stick and all the fanboys in the immediate area simultaneously jumped her for it and she was practically in tears as she curled up on the floor.
While moshing towards coat check afterwards, I overheard a desperate fan asking one of the guys from Bleed the Dreams for his number. And his reply was, "I don't have a cell phone...heh, I'm like the Flintstones you know" and the girl slit her wrists.
GDS
1. THE FATAL BELIEVER
2. Agitated Screams of Maggots
3. 朔-saku-
4. Mr. Newsman
5. THE DEEPER VILENESS
6. Grief
- Kyo's first acapella -
7. 愛しさは腐敗につき
8. 孤独に死す、故に孤独。
9. OBSCURE
- Kyo's second acapella -
10. 凌辱の雨
11. audience KILLER LOOP
12. Merciless Cult
13. THE FINAL
14. dead tree
--
15. C
16. THE IIID EMPIRE
17. Beautiful Dirt
18. CLEVER SLEAZOID
I need to get their new album, for I was verily confused during the live.
So! the Dir en grey live at Nokia Theatre! I basically missed seeing everyone I wanted to see. In fact, the only people I really saw this weekend were my parents (who doted on me with ridiculous attention and food), Sarah (after the Dir en grey show, when we caught up briefly at the teahouse), Eric, Eric's mother, Eric's cat, and Eric's tutor.
But more about the show: I heard it was tight, sweaty, and brutal up against the barricades, but I experienced none of the Dir en grey live experience that I had the last time I saw them live. None of the waiting at 9 in the morning for a show that starts at 6 at night in the frostbite inducing, painfully windy cold. None of the being bored out of my mind for those hours. None of the catty fangirls who would engage you in that passive-aggressive dance in the crowd.
Actually, we waltzed in at 7:30PM, after witnessing the line that wound around the entrance of nokia, down the middle of Times Square along the MTV studios, looped around the side passing the Marriot hotel, inward towards the parking/courtyard, and illegally snaked on across the Canadian border, we went home and ate cake. Eric and I skipped the really bad first opener (Bleed the Dreams), and spent the rest of the set sitting in the lobby, and judging/talking smack about people, and checking out the shitty merch and shirts that looks like my unborn child had doodled over it. We finally went to see the second opener, then finally Dir en grey came on, and by that time, a third of the people originally up front trickled out, fleeing the third world conditions.
"Larissa": so how was the concert? lots of wannabe anime girls there? i hope you totally fucked those bitches. just tell me you did, i'll believe you
"Me": ok i did. i machine gunned them all
"Larissa": wow jenny, thats totally impressive and hardcore of you. way to go!
At the first concert last year, I was too cocooned in my imaginary perfection of the performance, and I refused to believe anything but that Kyo was a god. This time around, it pains me to admit, but whenever Kyo was able to hit the notes or he actually sung it the way it sounded on the albums, we were floored. He omitted certain parts of many of the songs, and did not even try to sing the fast parts. There were two highlights of the show: Kyo's second acapella, which was beautiful and impressive, and I wonder why the rest of the live didn't have that same consistency in the quality of vocals; and when he hit the last note in Dead Tree and DID NOT FUCK UP. lalala Shinya was hot.
From my vantage point, it was fairly tame, with the exception of a single guy futilely flailing to start a mosh pit, while everyone around them collectively resisted. Then this guy lit up a cigarette during the show. In fact, it was way more intense trying to get to coat check after the show. And the girl next to me got Shinya's drum stick and all the fanboys in the immediate area simultaneously jumped her for it and she was practically in tears as she curled up on the floor.
While moshing towards coat check afterwards, I overheard a desperate fan asking one of the guys from Bleed the Dreams for his number. And his reply was, "I don't have a cell phone...heh, I'm like the Flintstones you know" and the girl slit her wrists.
GDS
1. THE FATAL BELIEVER
2. Agitated Screams of Maggots
3. 朔-saku-
4. Mr. Newsman
5. THE DEEPER VILENESS
6. Grief
- Kyo's first acapella -
7. 愛しさは腐敗につき
8. 孤独に死す、故に孤独。
9. OBSCURE
- Kyo's second acapella -
10. 凌辱の雨
11. audience KILLER LOOP
12. Merciless Cult
13. THE FINAL
14. dead tree
--
15. C
16. THE IIID EMPIRE
17. Beautiful Dirt
18. CLEVER SLEAZOID
I need to get their new album, for I was verily confused during the live.