Concert report - Dir en grey | Paradox of Retaliation | Budapest [2011. 08. 18.]
So, as promised, I finally got down to this. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. The live vids are not mine, sadly. I made a few with my cell phone but they are too low quality to be enjoyed.
_ice_lady_, elkica and myself arrived at the venue a little less than an hour before the concert, because sanochisato was awesome enough to save us spots. It was hot, the crowd was weird (and by that I mean that I just couldn't feel the good kind of 'omgsoexcited' before concert vibes) and it was hot, and to be honest I didn't feel all that hyped up. It was surreal in a way to be standing there in front of a pretty run down building that obviously used to be a warehouse of some sort and waiting for Dir en grey to happen.
But first Icy brought me to the point of heart attack because she didn't bring any ID and the venue staff was checking them upon entry. But we still got inside, thank god for foreign documents and general incompetence in that regard.
The venue was odd, a Wild West themed club lined with bars and a huge painting of some Native American chieftain that looked like Imai in one of his bad periods. The merch guys were German again, for some reason. Snagged a girl shirt (it has tentacles on it, okay? TENTACLES!) but once again had to note that the band is still under the illusion that their fans are XXL sized males. Someone should give them a heads up on that, seriously.
The wait for the band was long (supposedly because Die was sleeping? I don't know, but knowing that would've at least made it more tolerable.) The main problem was that it was really damn hot inside and rather stuffy too, I was pretty much wet before the show even started (not like that, you pervs). If I ever needed a demonstration on how it must feel like being cooked alive, this was it. The lengths to which I go for my porn, seriously... Ahem. Anyway, once the first notes of KYOUKOTSU NO NARI started playing, it was on. And when I say it was on, I mean it was FUCKING ON. Screaming fans, hands in the air, the long, agonizing wait suddenly skyrocketing into the best kind of tension full of awe and excitement and a certain degree of euphoria as the band smashed the stillness opening with HAGESHISA TO, KONO MUNE NO NAKA DE KARAMITSUITA SHAKUNETSU NO YAMI.
Now, I have seen the band once before, at the Nova Rock in 2009, and let me tell you, it just simply cannot compare. (There is a whole world of difference standing in the drizzling rain with scattered shivering people in the knee high mud and being roasted in a pushing, pulsing crowd going wild in the colorful lights of the stage indeed.) Kyo's vocals got so much better that the change is astonishing, to say the least. The band also seemed to be feeling the crowd more and having fun, which of course made it even better for everyone. There was no staring at living statues of musicians, hell no. There was no dum spiro spero here. Just veni, vidi, vici.
We've got OBSCURE and LOTUS in the beginning, working up the crowd with an old and new favourite, then went through a sequence of harder songs which, amazing as they were, gave me a much needed little breather. (You try and jump around for twenty minutes in a sardine can of a concert hall while your skin is melting off.) So, hello there, eyecandy.
SHINYA - That man amazes me and after seeing him up close while he is drumming, my respect has grown exponentially. His movements seem to come not from his arms or legs but from his whole body, without even having to look, completely absorbed in what he is doing. I honestly have no idea how on earth he was even standing afterwards, pouring out so much energy and doing it so magnificiently. But he was standing, he came up front and threw his sticks to the crowd, smiling. Unphotogenic man for sure, because holy cow, I was astonished how pretty he looked live. Just... so. flailingly. pretty.
DIE - The ultimate sweetheart. Those smiles, people, those smiles! That's a puppy having fun for you right there. He was just so incredibly cute, and twice he even switched sides, so that we could admire him a little too (yeah, biased enough to be standing on the left, sorry baby). He really could've lost the damn shirt over the wifebeater (did I mention it was HOT?) but hey, I was still having a blast watching him sing along to Kyo (or, at least, trying).
KAORU - Allmighty Leader-sama of All managed to shock me into utter happiness with the fact that he actually seemed to have fun. *GASP* He smiled a lot, or better say, graced us with a perpetual little self-satisfied smirk as he surveyed the crowd like a military genius looks over the troops at battle (or a proud owner at his monkey circus *cough*), adding the occassional Pout of Badass(TM) and a couple chin thrusts to nudge the crowd into a little more audible worship. Srs bzns firmly in place, of course.
TOSHIYA - *clears throat* Let me preface this one with GOOD GOD MY BOY Y U SO MEAN? Showing up in a perky little plaid skirt just to have everything covered over with a potato sack twice your size is not my idea of funny. Thank Korea god for plunging necklines. At least something. Considering you are the one who is actually capable of marketing that band, you should know better. And no, I don't care that it was the only thing that Tora let you steal from his wardrobe. (You get cookies for the sleeveless wannabee edition, though.)
On a different note, sweet mother of god, is that sweet sexy thing an attention whore on stage. He loves it so damn much, he glows with it. He would come to the front every now and then and make the crowd cheer and roar and drool and change panties (yes, even the guys). He would point his fingers at the crowd and at himself and his own eyes, demanding all eyes on him and he got them all right.
KYO - This is the point where I am tempted to just express the unexpressable in a bout of keyboard smash, but I shall restrain myself. Kyo was simply amazing. There are no words to describe a man practically ripping his chest open for you and giving you a tour of his insides. (Okay, that just sounds wrong but... you get the meaning, I hope.) His voice has never been better, he hits notes with precision and incredible stability. I honestly wasn't expecting him to be abe to pull off the new songs to the finest detail, but boy, was I wrong there. And the way he performed was nothing short of breathtaking, heartbreaking, bewitching. At points, he looked at the audience like he could see right through all of us, down to the bones. Others, he was just simply... not there. (Yes, we have our own theory about that one and subspace and uhh, yeah, moving along.) He kept putting on a show that shifted between grotesque play, chilling honesty, raw beauty, deperate pain and hopeless need, at times making it literally impossible to look away.
Swear to god, if I had that kind of cash, I would cross oceans and continents (and a few solar systems if needed) just to see these guys play.
Without the oglefest ever ending, we moved on and were given the most amazing lovely little combination of "YOKUSOU NI DREAMBOX" ARUIWA SEIJUKU NO RINEN TO TSUMETAI AME, BUGABOO and ROTTING ROOT, rocking it out like no tomorrow. And that was still not the end, followed by TSUMI TO KISEI and a reprise of INWARD SCREAM, where Kyo showed us again that the things he does with his voice are in fact, incredible.
To give you an idea how damn blown away I was... I barely even remember anything. (Way to waste so much money, my mom would say, but that's really not the point.) I remember the music, the drums resonating in my chest, loud, too loud for such a tiny stage, the bass like a thread of deep, dark balance under the virtuosity of the guitar play and all of that topped off by the most amazing performance that I have ever seen a vocalist do. It's all there but it blurs, distorts like a reflection on a soap bubble because that moment, that elation does not translate to anything a human mind can grab. Brainfried would be the appropriate expression, I guess.
I completely lost track of time, and just couldn't believe that the encore was already there. Hell, I couldn't believe I was there, and they were there and I was staring at the most amazing band playing live right in front of me. It is still surreal. Three more songs, and I was really expecting to hear INCONVENIENT IDEAL, but we got ain't afraid to die, so I guess no reason to complain. (Except that I.I. is one of my favourite songs and I was really REALLY hoping to hear it live, because holy cow, perfection.) Perhaps as a compensation from above, we got a really warm goodbye from the band (or at least compared to Nova Rock).
A bunch of guitar picks were thrown, the guys teasing the crowd all the way. Kaoru and Toshiya were spraying water and throwing water bottles as well. Then Toshiya the moron decided that spraying the crowd with a shaken up can of beer was a good idea. I got a bit of Kao's water and Toto's beer on me. FUCK YEAH. (My friend's comment on that? "Bouncing off the walls because a dude spat beer on you three days ago? Now that is love.") Then Toto stole Kyo's little rage box and stood on it, putting his hands together and saying something to the audience that looked like "Thank you", but then again, I do not claim to be an expert in lip reading Japanese. When Shinya threw his sticks, people took a jump backwards for it and the whole middle section close to the front went tumbling down. I lost my sunglasses in the fall (didn't have a bag), but a girl found them for me afterwards, and they weren't even broken, so yay.
We left drenched, tired, thirsty, out of breath and heads spinning. Now the only question is: can we do that again?
_ice_lady_, elkica and myself arrived at the venue a little less than an hour before the concert, because sanochisato was awesome enough to save us spots. It was hot, the crowd was weird (and by that I mean that I just couldn't feel the good kind of 'omgsoexcited' before concert vibes) and it was hot, and to be honest I didn't feel all that hyped up. It was surreal in a way to be standing there in front of a pretty run down building that obviously used to be a warehouse of some sort and waiting for Dir en grey to happen.
But first Icy brought me to the point of heart attack because she didn't bring any ID and the venue staff was checking them upon entry. But we still got inside, thank god for foreign documents and general incompetence in that regard.
The venue was odd, a Wild West themed club lined with bars and a huge painting of some Native American chieftain that looked like Imai in one of his bad periods. The merch guys were German again, for some reason. Snagged a girl shirt (it has tentacles on it, okay? TENTACLES!) but once again had to note that the band is still under the illusion that their fans are XXL sized males. Someone should give them a heads up on that, seriously.
The wait for the band was long (supposedly because Die was sleeping? I don't know, but knowing that would've at least made it more tolerable.) The main problem was that it was really damn hot inside and rather stuffy too, I was pretty much wet before the show even started (not like that, you pervs). If I ever needed a demonstration on how it must feel like being cooked alive, this was it. The lengths to which I go for my porn, seriously... Ahem. Anyway, once the first notes of KYOUKOTSU NO NARI started playing, it was on. And when I say it was on, I mean it was FUCKING ON. Screaming fans, hands in the air, the long, agonizing wait suddenly skyrocketing into the best kind of tension full of awe and excitement and a certain degree of euphoria as the band smashed the stillness opening with HAGESHISA TO, KONO MUNE NO NAKA DE KARAMITSUITA SHAKUNETSU NO YAMI.
Now, I have seen the band once before, at the Nova Rock in 2009, and let me tell you, it just simply cannot compare. (There is a whole world of difference standing in the drizzling rain with scattered shivering people in the knee high mud and being roasted in a pushing, pulsing crowd going wild in the colorful lights of the stage indeed.) Kyo's vocals got so much better that the change is astonishing, to say the least. The band also seemed to be feeling the crowd more and having fun, which of course made it even better for everyone. There was no staring at living statues of musicians, hell no. There was no dum spiro spero here. Just veni, vidi, vici.
We've got OBSCURE and LOTUS in the beginning, working up the crowd with an old and new favourite, then went through a sequence of harder songs which, amazing as they were, gave me a much needed little breather. (You try and jump around for twenty minutes in a sardine can of a concert hall while your skin is melting off.) So, hello there, eyecandy.
SHINYA - That man amazes me and after seeing him up close while he is drumming, my respect has grown exponentially. His movements seem to come not from his arms or legs but from his whole body, without even having to look, completely absorbed in what he is doing. I honestly have no idea how on earth he was even standing afterwards, pouring out so much energy and doing it so magnificiently. But he was standing, he came up front and threw his sticks to the crowd, smiling. Unphotogenic man for sure, because holy cow, I was astonished how pretty he looked live. Just... so. flailingly. pretty.
DIE - The ultimate sweetheart. Those smiles, people, those smiles! That's a puppy having fun for you right there. He was just so incredibly cute, and twice he even switched sides, so that we could admire him a little too (yeah, biased enough to be standing on the left, sorry baby). He really could've lost the damn shirt over the wifebeater (did I mention it was HOT?) but hey, I was still having a blast watching him sing along to Kyo (or, at least, trying).
KAORU - Allmighty Leader-sama of All managed to shock me into utter happiness with the fact that he actually seemed to have fun. *GASP* He smiled a lot, or better say, graced us with a perpetual little self-satisfied smirk as he surveyed the crowd like a military genius looks over the troops at battle (or a proud owner at his monkey circus *cough*), adding the occassional Pout of Badass(TM) and a couple chin thrusts to nudge the crowd into a little more audible worship. Srs bzns firmly in place, of course.
TOSHIYA - *clears throat* Let me preface this one with GOOD GOD MY BOY Y U SO MEAN? Showing up in a perky little plaid skirt just to have everything covered over with a potato sack twice your size is not my idea of funny. Thank Korea god for plunging necklines. At least something. Considering you are the one who is actually capable of marketing that band, you should know better. And no, I don't care that it was the only thing that Tora let you steal from his wardrobe. (You get cookies for the sleeveless wannabee edition, though.)
On a different note, sweet mother of god, is that sweet sexy thing an attention whore on stage. He loves it so damn much, he glows with it. He would come to the front every now and then and make the crowd cheer and roar and drool and change panties (yes, even the guys). He would point his fingers at the crowd and at himself and his own eyes, demanding all eyes on him and he got them all right.
KYO - This is the point where I am tempted to just express the unexpressable in a bout of keyboard smash, but I shall restrain myself. Kyo was simply amazing. There are no words to describe a man practically ripping his chest open for you and giving you a tour of his insides. (Okay, that just sounds wrong but... you get the meaning, I hope.) His voice has never been better, he hits notes with precision and incredible stability. I honestly wasn't expecting him to be abe to pull off the new songs to the finest detail, but boy, was I wrong there. And the way he performed was nothing short of breathtaking, heartbreaking, bewitching. At points, he looked at the audience like he could see right through all of us, down to the bones. Others, he was just simply... not there. (Yes, we have our own theory about that one and subspace and uhh, yeah, moving along.) He kept putting on a show that shifted between grotesque play, chilling honesty, raw beauty, deperate pain and hopeless need, at times making it literally impossible to look away.
Swear to god, if I had that kind of cash, I would cross oceans and continents (and a few solar systems if needed) just to see these guys play.
Without the oglefest ever ending, we moved on and were given the most amazing lovely little combination of "YOKUSOU NI DREAMBOX" ARUIWA SEIJUKU NO RINEN TO TSUMETAI AME, BUGABOO and ROTTING ROOT, rocking it out like no tomorrow. And that was still not the end, followed by TSUMI TO KISEI and a reprise of INWARD SCREAM, where Kyo showed us again that the things he does with his voice are in fact, incredible.
To give you an idea how damn blown away I was... I barely even remember anything. (Way to waste so much money, my mom would say, but that's really not the point.) I remember the music, the drums resonating in my chest, loud, too loud for such a tiny stage, the bass like a thread of deep, dark balance under the virtuosity of the guitar play and all of that topped off by the most amazing performance that I have ever seen a vocalist do. It's all there but it blurs, distorts like a reflection on a soap bubble because that moment, that elation does not translate to anything a human mind can grab. Brainfried would be the appropriate expression, I guess.
I completely lost track of time, and just couldn't believe that the encore was already there. Hell, I couldn't believe I was there, and they were there and I was staring at the most amazing band playing live right in front of me. It is still surreal. Three more songs, and I was really expecting to hear INCONVENIENT IDEAL, but we got ain't afraid to die, so I guess no reason to complain. (Except that I.I. is one of my favourite songs and I was really REALLY hoping to hear it live, because holy cow, perfection.) Perhaps as a compensation from above, we got a really warm goodbye from the band (or at least compared to Nova Rock).
A bunch of guitar picks were thrown, the guys teasing the crowd all the way. Kaoru and Toshiya were spraying water and throwing water bottles as well. Then Toshiya the moron decided that spraying the crowd with a shaken up can of beer was a good idea. I got a bit of Kao's water and Toto's beer on me. FUCK YEAH. (My friend's comment on that? "Bouncing off the walls because a dude spat beer on you three days ago? Now that is love.") Then Toto stole Kyo's little rage box and stood on it, putting his hands together and saying something to the audience that looked like "Thank you", but then again, I do not claim to be an expert in lip reading Japanese. When Shinya threw his sticks, people took a jump backwards for it and the whole middle section close to the front went tumbling down. I lost my sunglasses in the fall (didn't have a bag), but a girl found them for me afterwards, and they weren't even broken, so yay.
We left drenched, tired, thirsty, out of breath and heads spinning. Now the only question is: can we do that again?