#the return! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yridenergyridenergy · 2 years

Text

Live report - Dir en grey tour22 From Depression to____ at Kawasaki Club Citta [2022/10/25]

Setlist

Rasetsukoku (2011 ver.)

Ash (2018 ver.)

T.D.F.F.

Wake (2018 ver.)

OBSCURE (2011 ver.)

The Perfume of Sins

Kodoku ni Shisu, Yueni Kodoku.

Oboro

Ain't afraid to die (2022 ver.)

DRAIN AWAY

Merciless Cult

-Saku-

THE IIID EMPIRE (2018 ver.)

Encore:

G.D.S.

Kodou

[KR]cube

Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami

CHILD PREY

--------------------

Up until the very second Shinya walked on stage, opening the way for the rest of the band, I kept thinking this was a dream and could not really be happening.

Three years since I last saw Dir en grey. I'd said it: as soon as Japan opens the gates, I will be there. Here I am. And yet, there were so many variables that could have gone wrong until the very last minute: I did my part of being very careful not to catch COVID-19, I monitored my overly-high Canadian body temperature (they totally did not check, in the end), but with the last couple of weeks' Tsutaya autograph sessions, I could still be let down by just one of the members or staff getting infected.

Fortunately, at last, they were still alive and well!

It seems like somebody stomped their foot and decided: "Fuck the fans, we don't want to play I'll", although tomorrow's setlist will be different, so I am sure that some still have their fingers crossed.

In fact, I came into this show not only starved from Dir en grey and sukekiyo, but I also have not looked at the "BEST SONGS" ever since the final results of the song battle polls were posted. All I knew was that Phenomenon was out, as well as most of the last ten years... Anyway, I felt like keeping that surprise of what songs should be featured in the setlist would get me more excited.

While we were waiting for the show to start, instead of playing some background songs picked by Kaoru from other bands, it was a few of Dir en grey's remixes. I can remember CONCEIVED SORROW (unplugged?), Dozing Green before construction, embryo, Filth, the fucking good Gyakujou no tannou keloid milk remix from the Drain Away single, etc. The onr that sounds like the Matrix soundtrack in the second half.

As always, eventually we hear the last remix's volume double, the tell-tale sign that the lights will get shut and the band will appear on stage!

Shinya wore a white top as usual. His hair was quite purple/pink. Die wore probably a brand T-shirt, but he had cut it so, so wide that within a minute and for the rest of the main set, we literally saw his right nipple! He also wore a black shiny necklace, the kind that drops in the shape of a triangle toward the chest. Toshiya wore a white prince jacket with black flourishing, tight black jeans. Kaoru had a rather professional suit top on but he wore some ample scarf or whatever underneath, and a dress shirt of course. The suit was black I think, whereas the stuff underneath was bronze-ish.

As for Kyo, he had black tight leather pants under a long green checkered dress. I think it was open on the sides, below the waist. It looks like some of his Madara Ningen dresses? He had a red knot bow at his neck but man... Above the shoulders? His hair has grown and is still blond, and he styled it super spiky. His hair seriously looked close to Cloud Strife in that sense! The masterpiece of it all was his makeup though. The eyes were heavily shadowed with white dots or "piercings" to the side and below+under them. Above each eye was a wide blue trail, not too sure. The eye shadows were linked on his forehead by a an upside down U, like an arc, and there seemed to be something dead in the centre but I wouldn't say it was a third eye. His mouth was well highlighted with dark makeup and elongated with thin lines horizontally on each side. Going back to his eyes, he wore red eyelashes and he had white contact lenses at least in the main set, so when the stage was bathed in red light, he seemed to have dead empty eyes, enlarged by all the red.

Already anticipating a huge nostalgia trip that the band would reluctantly play, it did not seem like much of a surprise to hear the first notes of Rasetsukoku. Kyo had said at his Tsutaya signing session that that was the ome song he was looking forward to play this tour, when a fan asked, so I thought that they wanted to start with that to pump up everyone and themselves, rather than to do the dreaded I'll first. But no, it just kept getting fucking better!

New Ash, new TDFF, new Wake... As you can see above, I got a bruise on the back of my right hand from pumping my fist/hand so fucking hard at these songs despite wearing a bracelet with metal. In Wake, it was only near the end, progressively, that some people joined in putting their hands up. My deltoids did not ghost me, I was able to keep a strong arm up the whole show, alternating between the two, sometimes putting up both. The band was on fire!

Toshiya was so demanding in the beginning, and he did all the mouthing that we have seen him do in the DVDs. It's weird, having had just that to experience these past three years. But yeah, for the main part, they were all exactly like how I'd watched them hah.

In Obscure, Kyo did his traditional hand-thrown-up kind of headbang. You know what I mean. I think Toshiya spun around after the first heavy part as usual, but I was busy following Kyo who had also seemed to spin toward the right side of the stage and stopped himself short of backing into Die, who wasn't looking.

The Perfume of Sins started and I was so glad that we had accurately predicted that they would play some songs from Phalaris, because those songs were not part of the polls, right hah?

Kyo set his mic on his vertebral stand and the moment he sings: "NOSE", the atmosphere turns HEAVY. The Perfume of Sins is performed to make it the literal heaviest song ever. He leans backward with the mic on stand for each word in the introduction, then the band members all get laser focused playing at such a fast pace. Shinya was crouched on his drums, I really hope that song isn't the death of him.

Then, when singing the first real verse, Kyo gestured the "hitotsu", from what I remember, like his two index fingers were coming into or out of his eyes. After that, for "oboete hoshii", the fingers move outward as though expulsed from his ears, and for "soko no inochi", those fingers which were levitating in mid-air start disintegrating downward.

When that part is repeated in the second half, suddenly Kyo became a dysfunctional, agitated pantomime or robot, both arms swaying mechanically up and down disorderly.

One last thing I remember for that song is that in between his verses, at some beat, Kyo leaned forward with his mic supportinh him in the opposite direction (like a long upside-down V) and seemed to almost pant with the rythm.

Kodoku ni shisu, yueni ni kodoku was played next and I could not believe my luck! Another song I love, a high-energy one. And this time, it made up for the way too soft version I had heard in mode of Withering to death. in Kyoto Rohm Theatre in 2017. This time, what had to be screamed was screamed, there was no rest for Kyo's throat, he was all the way into it, without stepping over board and cutting though.

I remember that in one song, Kyo stroke his mic into the crate and simultaneously, Toshiya had to adjust his left ear piece. Coincidence? Hopefully his ears are fine since that time he had COVID, but it did seem like the bang affected him.

Next was Oboro and we were still clapping the whole band but we quickly shut up when Kyo began heavily breathing, almost sobbing with his mic on his chest. He gets so emotional throughout this song all the time, his voice cracks up even further when mentioning the tears/namida.

And then, and then, and then .......... !

13! They played thir-the hell-teen!

I don't think Kyo was still using the stand by that point. He actually sang quite softly, more than the recorded song already is (one interviewer had said it sounded like Kyo made a conscious effort to sound young, which Kyo denied). Nevertheless, it still held all the emotions of this recent song that he is fond of.

Ain't afraid to die was nice. Hm, did Kyo bring back the stand for that song? I just remember that there are green beam lights in the beginning before the band joins. I think it was also in that song that the backdrop video showed a lot of "depression"s typed. He sang it very sincerely too, not as emotional as Oboro but he definitely felt it. The dark makeup on his lips, it really served to exaggerate how wide his mouth could open, highlighting his own instrument.

It may have been at the end of this song that Toshiya hugged his bass, but more like crossing his arms in front of his chest. He has held his bass more intimately and this time wasn't exactly like that. By this point, Toshiya had taken his prince jacket off and was wearing a long-sleevd black shirt, maybe with a turtle neck?

Drain Away felt like the band's one "old" gift tonight. I just felt the energy that they were projecting it for the audience rather than necessarily playing it for themselves too.

Merciless Cult next! Holy hell, they were ruthless tonight. Kyo asked us to do more and he got up front demanding us to sing but like... we couldn't hah? So I clapped. He even removed his ear pieces either here or in the encore but... Please hear my clapping?

Saku was heavy, heavy, heavy. I can't remember anything specific other than so much energy.

In The IIID Empire, Toshiya threw his mic stand in the second part but he must have gotten a cable stuck in his bass because it took him too long to turn to us and his expression seemed a bit tense hah.

The first part ended and I could not believe it. First of all, I was busy trying to look at the other energetic members for the finale of The IIID Empire and when I looked back at the centre of the stage, I could not see Kyo. I thought he had dropped to the floor but he had done it before the final beat, so it would have been odd. But no, he never got up, so he had in fact left extremely swiftly before the song even ended.

We started 'clapping the encore' immediately. It took a little while, because eventually we were so impatient that our clapping was not slow like for: "en-co-ru", it was full-on fast clapping just like when the band members appear on stage. For them to get the message hah. We did that twice but, eventually, G.D.S. started playing! Everybody got super hyped. All the band members wore the tour T-shirts except Kyo, who took his alice auaa Androgynos outfit out from his closet again! He still had his main set makeup.

C seemed to hold a very special meaning. That or another song, but there were lyrics about being able to scream that Kyo directly reflected on us, who had to stay silent.

Next was Kodou, to everyone's enjoyment of course. Kyo only sang that first heart-shattering scream, but the song was so strong nevertheless.

For some reason, on three occasions in Kodou Toshiya flipped his bass upward as though to create a special effect by rotating it back to its original position, slamming it, but I could not hear anything or see what he was doing with the cords in front of his face.

KR Cube elicited some cheers in the crowd despite the order to be quiet in the venue. In the beginning, when Kyo does that "ooeh" sound, he crouches backward with a hand on his inner thigh. He got really teasy and energetic in that song. He even seemed to nod at people like: "Yeah yeah, you know what dance move, do it but I won't", but he was definitely dancing throughout it while doing grimaces.

Hageshi sato was great to hear again, but it sucks because you're stuck multi-managing the band almost all coming up to the stage and responding to the song itself because Kyo would not have it otherwise hah.

The last song came way too fast. Kyo stared at us and stomped his foot widely once, twice, maybe even threw times. The audience responded by stomping too, but he was clearly not satisfied. Eventually, he hit his chest with his mic very strongly. It was only when he really did seem pissed still, as his deafening silence throughout that minute implied, that people actually stopped stomping and you could hear the huge contrast in volume of clapping now. Like what the fuck were people expecting? What were you doing before? Then he announced: "Last song!"

Child Prey had the backing vocalists actually really stoic, it seemed. It was kind of a blur, because Kyo also left way, way promptly. Nonetheless, I think he saw my energy throughout the show, but I can't control the rest of the audience or maybe even just his personal mood that day.

For the goodbyes, listen to this: Toshiya stood up on Kyo's crate after throwing his bottle cap+straw planted in it into the crowd, then he drank a gulp of water and poured he rest of it on his head. There was a lot left! He must have realized that his shirt was uncomfortable wet, or he wanted to anyway... But he took off his shirt! Damn he is back to being really ripped. In fact, the short sleeves of the Shinichi Sakamoto shirt he wore were clearly made to show how muscled Toshiya's arms still were. Damn. And no body fat, I can tell you that hah. Oh and he also threw his T-shirt wet from water and sweat into the crowd. Screw COVID apparently hahah.

As Toshiya was leaving, Kaoru pointed backward with an expression like: "Wow" It wasn't clear if he was referring to his fellow band member's muscled chest or the back screen which showed: "Dir en grey 25th Anniversary", or both hah.

Die actually left before Kaoru after throwing a knotted towel very far in the back of the audience. Then, Kaoru teased us and threw so many picks, going back to his stand to rip a few more from it again. He looked really grateful.

We stayed for a very long time clapping ferociously to demand a second encore, but alas.

And now, as you can see in the picture above, I also sport a bruise in my palm from clapping very energetically. You can't claim that I don't put my all into it hahah. Especially not after three years yo.

Can't wait to see what differences tomorrow will have!

#Dir en grey #live report #the return!#from depression to #25th anniversary #京 #Kyo

84 notes · View notes