D'espairsRay @ Toronto Mod Club Theatre, Aug 11/10

[atomicduck]

A rundown of things.

Doors opened a bit late, around 7:30pm. The opening act, The Set started playing at 8:10pm and wrapped up before 9pm. They were from Victoria, BC, a very obvious indie rock kind of band, but enthusiastic and well-received. The fans were thankfully very encouraging

Comments

[kidoairaku]

There were less than 100 people at the SF show, and quite a few people were chaperones. Maybe they didn't get to sound check for very long because they were super loud and had technical problems at our show.

I'm glad they had a good mix of old and new songs. Sounds like the Toronto crowd was pretty active. Was Karyu's side less crazy? Zero seems to attract the wilder fans.

And was the Japanese fan wearing a Hizumi jersey? I think there were about 5 or so here.

I don't know if you saw the Askew tour pamphlet, but it is very lulzy. It reads like a JaME report.

[atomicduck]

That's so disappointing that the turnout was low for SF. :( Do you think there were any particular reasons why? I would've thought that they had a lot of fans in California.

I couldn't see too much of Zero's side from my side, but it seemed that his fans were more nuts. Karyu had people reaching for him all the time, too, but nobody displayed insane behaviour (e.g. no dangerous crotch-grabbing, etc.).

The Japanese fan was wearing pretty normal clothes... she was girly, kind of a toned-down gyaru. She would saku ALL THE TIME in my face, so I could see that she had a lot of nail art. I'd be surprised if any Japanese fan had the kind of money to stop at multiple dates!

Haha! I did flip through a copy briefly though I didn't buy it. I think that's what you get when you have fans writing the info: 2-page spreads on Karubi...

[raksacker]

Hizumi's voice was also drowned out during the LA show.
Thanks for the report!

[atomicduck]

I wish they'd learn from their earlier tour stops and turn it down. :( There's no danger of us not being able to hear them.

[notafanboy]

Damn, why wasn't I there?! T^T My luck with overseas lives seems to be pretty bad.
Actually they weren't wearing Love is dead masks even when they played this summer FC lives. I guess they used them only in spring when the single had just been released. Pity.
Saw it in the comments... 2 pages about Karubi? lolol Now I start to wonder how much of that magazine was fiction and how much actually true. Jame reference reminded me of D'espa bio posted there which claimed they met in high school and formed the band. I didn't bother to read any more after that lol

[atomicduck]

Yeah, I don't have the greatest luck with overseas lives either... this is the first ever time I saw them abroad, lol.

Awww, I guess they just did the masks to make the single debut kind of special. What a waste of masks!

lol! "Fiction"! Actually, I forgot to mention: the tour bus was parked across from the venue, and guess who was sitting in the window? Of course: Karubi. I took a photo but forgot to upload it. So I guess they know Western fans love Karubi, haha. I do wonder if anyone in the band double-checked the magazine...!

[mithredat]

Very random question, but are you going to see Japanese bands in your area often and would you be willing to write live reports about them?

[atomicduck]

Hey! Well, I'm seeing Dir en grey in a few weeks, but after that, I'm actually moving to the UK... hahaha. So I'll try to go to shows there, but bands don't seem to perform there a lot. Plus, I'm assuming you're asking for JaME and you have a lot of writers for JaME Europe, right?

[mithredat]

lol I thought it was just me not reading LJ for not knowing that, but looking at the other comments, it seems I'm not the only one XD We do have a lot of writers in Europe but only one in London. London is not on the mainland, y'know 8D I think London gets more Japanese gigs than Canada though, also counting the obscure Jp bands XD

Good luck over there though, seems recession is far worse in England than it is over here, but I have no clue about Canada really.

[atomicduck]

Haha, yeah, I forgot to really write about it in my lj so it seems to have surprised some people. I'd still be happy to write up the Dir en grey show next week if you need somebody to do it, since I'll be going anyway.

Yeah, I kind of picked moving to England at a bad time (but I can't wait forever... I'm not going to be young forever!). The recession seems to have hit it harder than most of Canada, but at the same time, London is a much bigger city, with more jobs overall. So, I'm hoping we will find something available. Cross your fingers for me. ;-;

[deadtree]

dude, I didn't know you were moving the UK! (in response to mithredat's question) I am out of the loop.

It's too bad they didn't bring their silly sides with them-- a lot of bands do that touring overseas though, don't they? Like they're afraid their humor won't translate. Or they're too busy being srs bzns. I dunno. LOL Maybe I'm just mad because they canceled their TX shows, but I hear the turnout has been pretty bad. I wonder why?

[atomicduck]

Oh yeah! I kind of forgot to write in my lj about it, but I'm moving there for a year or two for work. I feel like I want to travel some more and since the job prospects in Ontario are not that great anyway, it seems like the perfect time to do it. (Although job-hunting would be better in general if we weren't in a recession... I'm sure you know what I mean.) I'm moving in September, so if you're ever in London, gimme a shout. :D

[deadtree]

Wow! That's awesome. You already have a job lined up and all?
I'd really like to go overseas for work again, but without access to my transcripts it seems to be no-go. Have a lot of fun! That sounds like it would be amazing.

Yeah unless you think fish-hooking is funny you can't really expect that from them xD But it's sad if Despa left behind their personalities for their shows. I think it was the same when I saw them play in TX years ago too, actually, which is really sad. I remember Karyu was SO ENERGETIC before and after the show and during practice, but then on stage they were so serious. What the hell.

Concerts have been suffering in general this summer though, at least in America-- huge acts have been canceling their entire tours or taking off big chunks of their dates, so I'm not surprised a foreign act had the same problem.

[atomicduck]

Well, sort of lined up, haha. I'm employed by an agency right now, so I will do supply work to begin with, and hopefully a contract will come my way soon enough. And thanks, I'm hoping it will turn out to be a good experience. :) How come your school won't give you your transcripts? Isn't that their job to forward those?

Yeah, Diru are at least consistently gloomy wherever they go, lol. I think D'espa seemed energetic for sure, but it was possibly a cultural barrier. I wonder how the final went in NY last night.

I didn't know other bands have been cancelling tours in America! Who else? It could be still the economic situation, maybe. Fans don't have the funds to travel and buy tickets for shows, which are admittedly a luxury. I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that it's happening to other artists and not just the foreign ones.