D’espairsRay Live at San Francisco, CA, @ Slim’s, August 4, 2010 Live Report Part 2
The second and final part of the August 4th San Francisco D'espa live report. For part 1, please click here.
After the intermission: HUMAN-CLAD MONSTER*: Oh, man. I now have so many memories of this song. After the band returned to their spots and we greeted them loudly again, the familiar guitar riff greeted us. The crowd screamed in excitement, and the heavy intro breakdown had almost all of us, including the band members themselves, headbanging away. This was the song I headbanged in the most, I believe. :D You just... Get into it, so don’t be shy about headbanging at all! X3
But when Hizumi started to sing the first line of the song, the beginning guitar riff suddenly repeated and looped itself!! Everyone looked confused, even Mr. I-Never-Change-My-Facial-Expression Zero as the intro repeated itself again, and the whole band stopped playing their instruments. The members gathered around Tsukasa’s drumset, talking amongst themselves no doubt about his Mac laptop that controlled most of the background music. Taguchi-san emerged from the darkness to join in on their conversation while the audience murmured to each other in confusion, wondering what had just happened.
A staff member came out and spoke with the band members for a brief moment before grabbing Hizumi’s mic and saying, “Uh, sorry guys, their computer crashed. They rocked it too hard and it couldn't take it anymore.” Those words were responded with a “AWWW- WHOOOOOOOOO!!” The staff member sheepishly grinned before returning backstage, and after a few more seconds of discussion, the band decided to try to play the song again.
Round 2, gogo!!: The intro started up again, and everyone cheered in the audience. We headbanged to the heavy intro breakdown again, but... What was this?!? Not again!! The intro looped itself again! DDD: Another “AWWWW-!!” from the audience as the members huddled together again.
While Tsukasa tried to fix things with Taguchi-san and the other staff members, Hizumi apologized for the mistake again, but he was quickly forgiven with cheers and screams. He tried to talk to us while the two in the back were fiddling with the Mac, saying stuff such as, “How are you guys doing?!? We are... Happy to be in San Furanshisuco* again.” (*Read this all in a Japanese accent.) We answered in screams, and Hizumi smiled back in satisfaction. Karyu, who was apparently doing nothing, absentmindedly started up a random guitar riff for us to not get bored while the problem was being fixed. We clapped and yelled to the time of the beat, while Hizumi and Zero encouraged us to be louder.
Zero decided that now would be a good time to spit picks at us, and unfortunately, I couldn’t catch any of them. 8( One flew by right next to me, though! XD Congrats to all those who caught picks~ He also spat water at us, which was MUCH, MUCH needed, and felt so cool and refreshing :D Hizumi also shook water out from a water bottle to the crowd below him from his center spot, grinning from ear to ear as he drenched them in water and listening to their screams of delight.
Anyway, it was all great fun, and after a few minutes, another staff member emerged from the darkness and tried to hand Hizumi a camcorder. It was funny how he tried to get Hizumi’s attention, as Hizumi was too busy encouraging us to scream more. They had to tap at Hizumi’s shoulder to get his attention before he WHIRLED around in surprise to see the staff member right behind him. The look on his face was priceless XDDD Hizumi took it and started to record us while grinning widely, and if you see a Korean girl in a red T-shirt with glasses on sticking her tongue out at the camera while sometimes flashing a peace sign and looking like a complete idiot in a future tour DVD, that’s me, lmfao. XD;;;
While he was recording us, Zero sidled up to him and stayed by his side, watching in amusement as Hizumi recorded us crazy fans. Hizumi laughed at us while looking at Zero, as if he were saying, “Look at these freaks, they’re freakin’ hilarious, lmfao!!” His face literally looked like this: XDDDDDD Zero gave him a smile in return. All while Karyu was still playing his guitar.
After a few more minutes of this amusement, the computer was finally fixed and we were ready to rock out again!! \m/
Round 3, gogogo!!: The almost dreaded intro started up again, but this time, no loop!! It seems that the 3rd time is really the charm ;DDD We were able to headbang to the breakdown for a 3rd time, and the song sailed smoothly ahead without any more problems. VERY fun live, but now it’s even more of a special song to me after all what happened with it at the beginning XDDD
ANGELDUST: I was very, VERY pleased to hear this song live. After all, it’s my 3rd favorite song of theirs! <3 But... With the OVER MAXIMUM VOLUME speakers blasting everything, I could BARELY hear it at all. DDDX Even the familiar electronic blooping intro was nearly drowned out by the other sounds!! Hizumi sounded great and his voice beautiful from what little I could hear from him, but I could not hear Karyu’s backing vocals at all... 8’( I even strained my ears harder to catch a tiny bit of what Karyu was singing, but alas, no luck. TT____TT This song easily gets you into the “moment” though, and will have you pumping your fist up in the air in no time. Much more powerful live than on CD.
SIXty∞NINe: Definitely a classic D’espa song that every fan wants to hear and see live. You know how it looks so fun on DVDs? It IS fun. Almost everyone recognized the intro of the song and got excited for it; you could practically FEEL the excitement crackling in the air. It was GREAT fun to shout with Hizumi in the middle of the song, along with Zero of course :’DDD I jumped SUPER high whenever he screamed, of course screaming along with him XD Hopefully he saw me? :3 All of the members were going crazy on stage, just like their fans. Zero did his classic dance during this song, twirling and spinning about and being cocky as usual~ He also jerked his bass forward towards him whenever we shouted with Hizumi, so that was rather amusing to see~ XDDD I think that he could be a good dancer, donchathink? ;DDD
Born: This song was also a pleasant surprise, as it was the oldest song on their setlist!! *Nosebleed* 8’DDD Everyone got excited and riled up again, headbanging away with the band during the intro. I think that it was during this song, a fan on the left side of me fell down while everyone else was headbanging, and the people around her, including me, stopped headbanging and tried to help her up/looked at her in concern to check if she was okay. Luckily, after she was helped back up, she stood with a HUGE grin on her face, as if nothing had happened at all, ready for some more action! That is so rock. \m/
For some reason, I heard Hizumi’s vocals a bit more through the blasting music, and he sounded EXACTLY like the studio version of the song, with every growl and note in the right place. It was one of the songs that lasted more of an impression on me, as I certainly felt something while listening to it :DDD I hope that they play this song during future lives, because it is simply FANTASTIC live!!!
Infection: This was the song that left the strongest impression on me and the one that it seemed EVERYONE in the audience knew the lyrics to. I would have to say that this song made the fans the most excited that night, due to hearing everyone sing its lyrics around me... Please note that you too should memorize this song’s lyrics and not feel like an idiot like I did that night, not knowing the lyrics at all because I am not one to usually pay attention much to lyrics, and just standing there like an idiot with a sheepish grin on my face, not knowing what to sing.
It was all good though, since it seemed that Hizumi got into this song the most. And I mean REALLY got into it. He closed his eyes, scrunching his eyebrows together as he sang out with his entire soul, swaying back and forth in time to the music while clutching the mic with both hands tightly. I don’t know if it was because the audience sung the loudest here, but Hizumi responded and gave back by providing us an astounding vocal performance. The mood and atmosphere of the whole livehouse built up during this song, and it should be now be mandatory for other D’espa fans to hear it live. I used to have not much of an opinion on this song, but now it is one my favorites, as it leaves a powerful impression on you live.
abyss: Ah, what a surprisingly beautiful song live! Before this song was played, Hizumi announced, “This song was inspired by the deep sea... Abyss....” And was answered by cheers, of course, where do you think you are, this is AMERICA, Hizumi!! XDDD ANYWAYS, I remember the stage lighting the most from this song. When the “quiet” parts were played, with Tsukasa quietly hitting his snare drum in the background, Karyu plucking at a few select chords, Zero playing a somber bassline, and Hizumi murmuring softly to the audience, the band would be bathed in a deep blue light, as if they were submerged in the sea. When the “happy” parts were played with the volume suddenly jumping back to its OVER MAXIMUM levels, the band would be lit up in a bright, almost pale whitish-yellow light, as if they were shining in sunlight. It was a nice effect that highlighted the song’s image that indeed took inspiration from the deep blue sea. Hizumi sounded beautiful and spot-on, and the audience listened in silent appreciation of the marvelous ballad that was unfolding before them. When the last “echoing” note ended, the band members remained frozen in their spots, not moving until the next... Crazy song.
DEVILS’ PARADE: Hahah, my favorite song off Monsters! >8D You thought the song sounded wild in your headphones/speakers? Wait ‘till you hear it LIVE. As if thawed by some mysterious force, the band went into full gear, going ape crazy on stage in front of their screaming and flailing fans. It killed abyss’s previous mellow mood within milliseconds XDDD This song will make you jump up and down with no signs of stopping at all, and is just FUN FUN FUN to sing along to, especially the “NaNaReMiLaMiNa” and “Why not take a chance?!?!!” parts 8DDD This song EASILY slides in with other great upbeat live songs such as SIXty∞NINe and DEATH POINT and such. I hope it remains a live staple, because who wouldn’t want to relive an insane parade?!? 8DDD
MIRROR: Oh, man. My most FAVORITE, #1 song of ALL TIME from D’espa. This was the song that made me fall in love with them, with just one listen. And I got to hear it live. This song is just pure LOVE live, with its breakneck killer speed making sure your feet will STAY off the ground and your arms NEVER at your side. They will all stay in the air. <333 Almost everyone in the audience knew this song’s lyrics too, as we sang “Why don’t you break the mirror? Just what you NEED now!!” with Hizumi 8’DDD We had enough force and energy to break a million mirrors that night, which was how pumped we were :D
Karyu sauntered over to our side somewhere towards the middle, switching with Zero for a moment, so it was awesome being able to see him play his guitar in front of us, with those delicious, dark, heavy riffs blasting in our ears <3 The band didn’t play their “new” intro that isn’t on the studio version and is usually played at their Japanese lives, but paused the song towards the end for a second after each time Hizumi screamed, “BREAK THE MIRROR!!!” Hizumi’s screams and vocals sounded exceptionally great during this song, and I am so glad and happy that I was able to see my top 3 favorite songs played live that night. It seems that either D’espa is really psychic, or can make wishes come true <333
Garnet: “This is our last song... Garnet,” Hizumi announced before a severely disappointed audience. Our disappointment quickly turned into happiness and horniness though when Hizumi stripped off his thin vest right before us, revealing one heck of a BEAUTIFUL chest and stomach. I now understand why fans say that it is a marvelous sight to behold in real life. *____* But, what a fitting final song for the live. I never expected to hear this song live that night, but it definitely wow’d me. The classic opening floor tom drums were greeted by loud cheers and screams, which resonated throughout the entire livehouse. It was great fun to jump up high and scream “DIE!!” with Hizumi, with Zero quickly echoing him on his mic. :D Hizumi led the crowd most of the time during this song, signaling for us when to clap along to the beat or when to sing with him at the end. I would say that this would be the 2nd most powerful song live after Infection, 3rd being Born. It seemed that their older songs left more of an impression on me rather than their newer ones... But it was a definite grand finale for the night.
After the song ended, the members bowed deeply while the audience went crazy with a frenzy of cheers and screams. Then, the pit became a battlefield. It was that time... The throwing of picks and drumsticks.
Zero proceeded to spray his spit all over us in the front before launching what little bass picks he had left over at us. Hizumi and Karyu were doing what they did last time, dumping water on the fans/chucking picks at them. When Tsukasa emerged from his drumset and stood up, loud screams greeted him. He slowly approached the front of the stage on our side first, carrying none other than three precious, valuable drum sticks in his hand.
I was too busy watching Hizumi pouring water over the fans in front of him in delight to notice my friend tapping at my shoulder. I turned around in slow motion, just in time to see Tsukasa raising his arm and throwing a drum stick towards my direction... Which flew straight over my head. I turned around to see two fans battling to the death over the fallen drum stick.
Although I did want to get my hands on a piece of thrown material, I certainly did not want to get involved in a life-or-death match between those two! D8 So whoever finally got that drum stick, congrats to you for making it out alive. \m/ I didn’t see where Tsukasa threw the other two drum sticks because I was too busy watching the scuffle that was behind me. He also apparently threw a drum cover too, because I saw someone carrying it with them after the live... o.O;;
After all the stuff was thrown, all the band members waved goodbye to us as we waved back, screaming at them to come back already. XDDD After the last of the members left the stage, the roadies immediately emerged from the back to clean up stuff. About why there was no encore that night... Let me talk about the audience, now.
There was a REALLY small audience for that night’s show. I mean, only about a third of the whole livehouse was filled!! I knew that there was a small amount of fans after seeing the line not wind around the block earlier, but I didn’t know that THAT little fans had come to the live! O__O Maybe because it was a weekday…? Who knows DX There seemed to be many fans who didn’t even know who D’espa was, and had just come for the heck of it!! I guess those kinds of fans just go to any sort of J-rock event nearby D8
Only a third of the whole audience seemed to be trying their best to express their enthusiasm for D’espa, who were all pretty much in the front, while in the back, everyone was pretty much dead. My friend who was a little in the back, told me that it looked like I was one of the most energetic people in the crowd, because I was jumping the highest out of all the fans XDDD; Only people in the very front put efforts into headbanging away, while people in the back… Either simply stood there and watched the band or did this sort of nodding of their head which was DEFINITELY not headbanging at all. o__O;;
There was this one girl I wanna mention that was two rows in front of me, who was the most HARDCORE headbanger I saw at the live. Her blond hair was flying about EVERYWHERE, so kudos to her for showing her enthusiasm to the band. \m/ I also want to apologize to everyone around me, because I must’ve stepped on a million feet during the live and probably blocked some people’s view of the band whenever I jumped super high ^^;; So I apologize to those I bothered~ m(_ _)m
It was a good thing that Hizumi mostly led the crowd, because... We were a lost crowd that night. The audience didn’t know what to do at times. If I could read minds, the whole crowd must have been thinking, “Do I scream here, or do I stay silent?”
Due to not so many “hardcore” D’espa fans not being at the live, after the last song was played and the members left the stage, the audience was at a loss of what to do. A weak shouting of “An-ko-re!” in Japanese pronunciation was started, but it quickly died down. Then, another shouting of “En-core! En-core!” in English pronunciation was started, but that too quickly was put to death. People who didn’t know what to yell simply screamed at the top of their lungs in vain hopes to get D’espa back on stage. I was confused too with my friend, and I decided to shout “D’es-pairs-Ray!!” with my friend and hope that others would follow us. They didn’t. D:
It was a pitiful effort for an encore cheer... I can now see a bit more why D’espa didn’t return to the stage after the show, probably because they heard silence backstage! If I were one of the members, I would probably say, “This is not enough.” The band worked hard to put on a good show, and all they got in return were frenzied chaotic screams that were all over the place? I certainly wouldn’t return to the stage after that...
But there could have been many other factors leading to why there was no encore. Perhaps the band was afraid of more technical difficulties, or had ran out of time due to the meet-and-greet event that took place right after? It’ll most likely remain a mystery forever to those who had attended the concert, and we can only but wonder what had exactly happened that night... Who knows, is all I can really say.
But it was a fantastic show they put on, and it seems that there were many fans who were disappointed about the horrible acoustics of the livehouse/the many technical difficulties that happened/no encore and said that it was a hellish show. I, for one, highly disagree with them. Although my love for the band can distort my opinion on them sometimes, I think that they did a great job struggling through those small mistakes and trying their best to entertain us. Did all of those problems make you have absolutely NO fun at all that night? If you did really have 0% fun, then I guess you can say that it was a hellish show indeed. But I don’t see why the negatives have to outweigh the positives. No matter what hindered the show from going on that night, it was still a very excellent show. I applaud and recognize D’espa’s efforts to put on a good show for us, and it was beyond good. It was a live that I will always remember with fondness, even the mistakes, for that made the band and the audience even more connected with each other and created more memories together. I believe that D’espa will definitely return to San Francisco in the future, because they are one of the very few J-rock bands that genuinely care for their oversea fans. Just one thing to say to all those who still disagree with me... Haters gonna hate. :/
After all that frenzy had happened, an announcement came and said that if you had purchased a poster or a T-shirt, then you were eligible to line up around the bar for a meet-and-greet event! 8’DDD Most people immediately rushed to the bar with their merchandise in their hands, while the ones who didn’t buy anything earlier quickly rushed to the merchandise booth. It was around 10:30-ish at this time, I believe. I got in line towards the back due to not being able to spot the bar quickly enough, dumb ‘n’ blind me, but this nice girl in front of me let me cut her to let me talk to the awesome group of fans I was next to during the live! There is still good in this world ;___; We chatted about random things and I proudly showed them the 100% accurate setlist that I wrote down in my notepad, but wasn’t so proud of my REALLY sloppy handwriting due to trying to write down the titles of the songs so quickly. :D;;;
I was almost quaking in my boots about meeting my most favorite J-rock band ever, except that I wasn’t wearing any boots! XD I was definitely excited though, and a bit nervous of what to say to them... The time had come to test out my extremely crappy Japanese against them. If they understood a single word that I was saying, then I would allow myself a small victory. If they didn’t and thought that I was speaking some strange alien language, then I would have to work 500% harder on my Japanese skills. >A<;;
I had brought a small present just in case the opportunity to give gifts to the band arose... Even though I had only brought one present for my favorite member, gangsta-hick-farmerboy-enka master-drunk countryside bum Tsukachi Tsukasa, I’m glad that I was able to bring a present at all, because I had certainly not expected a meet-and-greet event to happen after missing the autograph session in Japantown earlier :D;; I felt guilty too though, because I didn’t bring presents for all the members DDD: I wanted to give those ramen maniacs the best spicy Korean kimchi beef-flavored ramen in the world, ~*Samyung Ramen*~!!! But alas, I had no more room to put 4 packs of it in my bag TT.TT
The present I brought for Tsukasa was none other than... TOTORO MERCHANDISE!! XDDD Any Tsukasa Mania should know that he has an undying love for Totoro and Studio Ghibli. So I decided to give him the stuff I wasn’t using that was originally sent from my aunt in Korea, even though the products originally came from Japan XD;; Oh, imports. Inside the Totoro-decorated plastic bag I gave him was a small fluffy gray Totoro coin pouch and a small beautiful Totoro design towel-thing! The design on the little towel is beautiful, since it almost looks like the many Totoros on the towel were hand-painted on instead of just machine-printed on. I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the presents since I don’t know where my digital camera currently is, sorry ;O;, but I found an image of the exact coin pouch I gave him! XDDD Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a picture of the towel I gave him though, but the design of it was somewhat like this here... Not exactly though, since there were many different Totoros on the towel. Sorry that the image is so small, btw D8 They’re all in a better home now, the home of a much bigger Totoro mania than I will ever be! :3 I also wanted to include a heartfelt handwritten letter to him in the bag thanking D’espa for coming to America, but had no time to write one TT.TT Next time, I swear!! *Fire burning in eyes while fists are clenched*
The staff member at the front of the line told us to unfold our posters/T-shirts so that the band could easily sign them. I had them sign my poster, and had to turn it upside-down so that they could sign it without any problems occurring XD My friend had them sign her T-shirt, they signed on the back around the tour dates :3
Finally, I got to meet the members face-to-face! :D They were sitting behind a table with their makeup still on, in the exact order of their poster lineup, which was Zero-Tsukasa-Hizumi-Karyu. XD So I got to meet Zero first... The man who I wanted to get revenge on for his constant Ameblog spam that I had to translate......
Zero had changed into a clean white T-shirt which might have been the one they were selling at the merchandise booth, I wasn’t looking too carefully, I apologize D:, and he looked very cute and friendly up close :3 “Hi :)” he said with a smile when I approached him, and I couldn’t help but smile back at that smiley bassist. XD I said “Hi Zero 8D” back and placed the poster in front of him. While he was signing it with a silver marker, I decided that it was now or never!! “Zero-san,” I said to his bowed head. He looked up, with a face like “o__o ?” “Kyou wa nani iro desu ka? (What color is it today?)” He maintained that same face until I pointed downwards at his lower body, his eyes following my finger. He immediately got the message. He raised his head with a cool, calm, collected smile, and quickly answered, “Kuro. (Black.)” As if my question wasn’t anything at all!! As if he could blow it off so easily, that bastard!! >OOO My attempted revenge on him failed to embarrass him... I should've sang happy birthday to him in person, but without any present to give him, ah well... I'll get my revenge on him next time. Just you wait, Zero!! >OOOOOO
Anyway, I replied, “Ahhh, kuro, kakkoii desu ne (Ohh, black, that’s cool) :D” Still smiling at me, he stuck out his hand for me to shake, and I don’t remember if his hand was warm/cold/if he had a tight/loose grip or anything. In fact, I forgot how EVERY member shook my hand, so I’m sorry if you wanted more details on that D8 After shaking it, I said “Arigatou ^^” to him and he gave me a small nod in return, as I slid the poster down to Tsukasa. This all happened in a few seconds, of course. I kinda regret my reply, what kind of a response was THAT?!? But I was relieved that he could understand my horrible Japanese, even though it was just one sentence XD So thus, I learned that Zero was wearing black underwear that night. Rock on, Zero. \m/
Next was Tsukasa... My heart was thumping in my chest as I wondered if I could pull this off and give him his present successfully. It seemed that he was still in his stage costume, for he didn’t look that different at all. His eyes were definitely sparkling at every fan he met, though :D He said a cheery “Hallo!” in that thick Yamagata countryside accent of his, and I was thinking, “I’m hearing his nasally accent right now, in REAL LIFE!! OMG-“ Oh, the fangirly thoughts of mine. XD;;; I said “Hi Tsukasa 8D” back at him, and while he was signing the poster, I uttered, “Umm, kore wa sukoshi desu ga... (Umm, this is a small present for you...)” Tsukasa quickly looked up as I thrust the very crumpled plastic bag at him, and his face immediately lit up. “Oh, Totoro!!” he exclaimed as he saw the smiling Totoro face on the bag, and my face must’ve lit up too as I said “Hai 8DDD”, because I didn’t have to explain to him what the present was XD He took the bag from me and said, “Arigatou :)” and put it away... Somewhere. I forgot. XD;; I merely grinned in return, as I was too stunned in happiness for him recognizing and accepting my present. He smiled, then stuck his hand out for me to shake, which I did graciously. I almost forgot about handshakes after giving him his present, because I was about to rush off to Hizumi’s side in a moment XD;;;
I stepped in front of Hizumi, still in a bit of a daze after seeing dazzling Tsukasa, and he also uttered a “Hallo” to me, minus the nasally countryside accent XD He had put a black T-shirt on, but it wasn’t the same one being sold at the merchandise booth, I think. I joked to my friend earlier in line that the reason D’espa was taking so long to come out was because Hizumi needed to find a shirt to put on, as we imagined the staff yelling at him, “HIZUMIIIII, PUT A SHIRT ON OR ELSE!! NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE >OOO” Hizumi: I’m coming, I’m coming~ ;___; *Tries to find a shirt to put on* Oh, what fans can think of XD; I was, slightly disappointed though, that he didn’t sign stuff while still being shirtless D| I also got to see his chin stubble up close, and... I thought he looked rather funny-looking, ridiculous even, with it, sorry Hizumi Mania |D;; DUN SHOOT ME DDD8 He had very big eyes that shone in the light, as if he could see everything that was going on around him :D He had a bit long and very silky-looking dark brown hair, too, that I expressed to my friend in line that I wanted to stroke badly, as it looked so SOFFFFFFFTTTTT AND SHINYYYYYYYY- ;__;
Anyway, I said the usual, “Hi Hizumi 8D” back to him, as that was now my customary greeting as he signed my poster. I didn’t say anything to him except “Arigatou” after he signed it because I was still in my Tsukasa-induced daze, so after I shook his hand and moved in front of Karyu, a wave of guilt immediately hit me. I’m so sorry, Hizumi, for not saying anything thoughtful to you, and will definitely try to say more next time TT___TT Just don’t make Tsukasa sit next to you again!! XDDD;
Next was Karyu!! He also said “Hallo 8D” to me with those googly, SCARY white contacts he was still wearing. He also didn’t seem to have changed out of his clothes, as he was still wearing a tanktop and everything. His wavy braided hair looked very intricate up close o.O I replied, “Hi Karyu 8D” to him and simply stood dumbly in front of him as he signed, wondering what the hell should I say to him. After he finished and lifted his head up, he said a small “Hai :D” and stuck out his hand at me. I shook it, then finally knew what to say when I looked into those creepy contacts of his. “...Meh wa kirei ne! (Your eyes are pretty!) :D” He looked a bit surprised, then replied, “Ah, arigatou! :DDD”, while pointing at his own eyes as he said thanks. I then picked up my poster and echoed him like a parrot, saying arigatou too as I began to walk away. I didn’t notice that there was a Japanese staff member with short red hair sitting next to Karyu at the end of the table, until she said “Thank you for coming :)” That took me a bit by surprise, when did that woman get there?!? I merely smiled and nodded back at her while Karyu was grinning at us the entire time. Oh, Karyu.
That was the end of the meet-and-greet, and it ended for me in probably... Oh, maybe around 2-3 minutes. I remember all of the members’ hands being EXTREMELY pale, even paler than mine, and I barely get an hour’s worth of sunlight everyday D8 I hope they go to the beach or something on vacation soon, because they should be at least tanner than ghostly me!! ><;;
Like I said, I don’t have my camera with me at the moment, but I’m sure you’ve all seen what the signed poster looks like anyways XD The picture is exactly what’s on their official homepage right now, and other people have already posted pictures of their posters in their live reports. One thing to say, though. All of the members’ signatures make sense, looking like their names, except for Karyu’s... It looks like this swirly thing I can’t distinguish!! oAO; I don’t know what it’s supposed to read as, but it certainly doesn’t look like “Karyu” to me =__=;; Well, it’s not so surprising that the member who has the most obscure blog entries to translate with almost impossible-to-read language when he’s in a foul mood has the weirdest signature... -___-; He and Tsukasa laid down the ink the heaviest with thick strokes, while Zero and Hizumi signed with light, thin strokes on my poster XDDD
I hope that they do a meet-and-greet in every city on their tour, along with also doing them in Europe!! Please also ask Zero what color his underwear is if you meet him, because I want to know if he’s wearing black boxers everyday or not XDDD Hopefully he’s not wearing the same one everyday... o___O;;; *Cough*
After waiting for my friend to get her shirt signed by Karyu, we both left the livehouse quickly, as it was near 11 and we had to get home soon. We bumped into the AWESOME group of friends we had met earlier, as they were going to take a picture in front of D’espa’s tour bus XD They wanted to include us in the picture, which delighted me and my friend 8D So we got someone to take our picture, and I’m the only one wearing red while everyone else was wearing black... Oh well, I am a rebel at heart >8D I am EXTREMELY un-photogenic and we were all looking kinda tired and still sorta sweaty after the live, so if that picture gets uploaded on the Internet someday, you can probably pick me out within seconds XD;;; We waved goodbye to them and then got into my friend’s dad’s car. During the way home, we talked about our day and what various things happened at the live and compared member signatures on our merchandise.
Well, that’s pretty much the end of my live report! I wonder if you survived all that? No? XD;;; Well, I’m sorry I have to say this but... THERE’S MORE!! >DDD Read on, if you can, about my detailed first impressions of the members on stage. At this rate, I can probably beat J.K. Rowling at writing another Harry Potter novel!! Nahhh, just kidding, that woman is INSANE. O____O;
THE MEMBERS:
All of the members were taller than I had expected, but also skinnier than I expected!! I don’t know if America has influenced my thinking of what is a normal body type or not or if all Japanese men are skinny like that, but in my opinion, only Zero seemed to have a healthy, average looking body!! Zero is definitely not chubby, by the way, which is the common misconception/myth about him. ;P Tsukasa was very thin, just like in pictures, Karyu was even skinnier, but tall just like in pictures. But Hizumi... I always thought Hizumi had a rather bulky, muscular body, but I was wrong... He had a rather skinny frame/waist too, but was definitely bulkier than both Tsukasa and Karyu put together. Seeing those beanpoles made me want to deliver packages of food to them in the future/shove piles of food down their throats, to fatten those poor guys up. Please give them plenty of food when you see them, because I don’t want them to turn into skeletons in the future! 8(
Zero: Since we were on his side and were in front of him, I will talk about him first and have the most to say about him. He was dressed in a dark tanktop with dark pants on. SPECIFIC, I KNOW. I don’t really pay attention to clothing, so I’m sorry about not providing more details. I never really saw any charm in Zero’s looks that have entranced and attracted so many fans, until yesterday. Before I saw him live, I thought he had NO special physical features. Absolutely none. Don’t kill me just yet, Zero fans!! DDD8 I have seen the light! The light that was... Zero’s killer smile!
On second thought, that’s not a smile he wears during lives. It’s, to simply put it, a REALLY COCKY smirk. Who knew that this man who barely squeaks a word out during interviews could smirk so evilly like that?!? Have you ever seen that wicked smirk in pictures/live DVDs? Well, it’s EXACTLY like what you’ve seen, except I wanted to wipe it off during the live. >__>; He has this almost... Condescending look in his eyes as he watches his fans, as if he is silently thinking to himself, “I’m better than you all, adore me more.”
He NEVER takes his eyes off the fans during a live... His eyes are glued to the crowd, and that cocky smirk is glued on his lips. But if you look carefully at his expression, you can tell that he is genuinely smiling in approval of the loud, cheering fans. He is basking in their glory, and enjoying every single moment on stage. How can he stop smiling on stage? He’s simply doing what he loves. You can tell that he’s pleased, and that he wants to hear more cheers... He repeatedly goads the fans on, encouraging them to scream louder and louder, by either raising a hand to his ear or throwing his arms up in front of us to signal, “Pump up the volume!!” That is his stage personality, and a charming one it is indeed.
He also comes to the front of the stage very often, enjoying everyone’s hands covering his arms, legs, and bass. What an attention whore. Anyway, he didn’t seem to even care when people groped his ass, obviously enjoying his perverted glorious moments before backing away and smirking at his screaming, adoring fans.
There was this one fan who took it a bit too far and started messing with the cables on his bass... I almost thought they were going to unplug it! DDD8 Luckily, Zero noticed what the fan was doing and quickly pulled back before they could do any real damage to his beloved Tricksy.
I was able to touch his bass by the way. But only his bass. His bass was very smooth... I can tell that he polishes it a lot. It’s very shiny! :B But if only I was just one row closer, I could’ve groped him too!! *Fangirl whine* DX
It seems that Zero is not that popular in San Francisco, because our side was noticeably less crowded and smaller than Hizumi and Karyu’s... Oh well, more Zero for us that day! :DDD The plus side on being on Zero’s side is that when he spits on the crowd, ahhh, it’s so refreshing when you’re all hot and sweaty! He’s the only member that sprays water often, too! I got plenty of Zero germs splattered on my glasses, which I had to wipe two or three times.
A highlight of his spitting sprees:
Zero: *Spraying spit everywhere* “PFFFFFT- PFFFFFFFFFT-“
*Screaming fans below him*
Zero: *Looks at fan directly in front of him*
Fan: ZEROOOOOOOOOO~
Zero: *Stares at them* “...Pft.” *Small spray of spit instead of the usual drawn-out sprinkling”
Fans behind fan that was sprayed: LOL
Tsukasa: Ah, Tsukachi. My favorite, most beloved, country boy member. He was dressed in his Death Point costume, vest and all, I believe. When he first emerged from the darkness to take his place on the drums, there was this somewhat... Elegant-like air/aura about him as he walked over to his drum set. I don’t know what it was, but I felt that when he passed by us. DEFINITELY no countryside-hick-farmer-like impression from him. :P The aura was still there when I stood in front of him at the meet-and-greet.
I almost wish that you didn’t choose drums as your main instrument, Tsukachi. For the eternal curse for drummers is to lurk in the back in darkness, quietly drumming for your other band members that are hogging the front of the stage up and getting 99% of the attention.
Actually no. Tsukachi did not quietly drum for his band. No, he PUNISHED those drums, and never have I seen such a person beat the hell out of the drums as Tsukasa did, minus Shinya of Dir en grey!! With every bass drum throb and every snare hit, they PIERCED and RANG in my ears. You wanna know why your ears are ringing like crazy after a D’espa live? Tsukasa’s the one that is mostly responsible for that.
Now, Mr. Attention Whore Zero did mostly steal my attention from the other members, dancing around and spitting and such, but I did occasionally steal glances at my favorite drummer!! His face is just concentrated on providing the right beat for his bands, keeping up a steady tempo. You can see his eyebrows scrunched together and his eyes being somewhat closed in concentration most of the time. Keep an eye out for him during heavier songs, because: Fun trivia: He headbangs with the rest of the band. It is fun to see a man violently headbang with his hair flying about while swinging their arms down and smashing a symbol. All while sitting down behind the drum set. Please keep an eye out for him. He needs more love. :’(
Karyu: He and Zero switched spots only twice during the live, so I have less to say about him than Zero. I only stole a few glances at him when he wasn’t over at Zero’s side, but he seems more energetic than Zero, jerking about and wildly headbanging and such, while Zero kept on contently watching his fans, sometimes making no movement at all with that evil smirk plastered on his face... Anyway, Karyu was dressed exactly in his Death Point costume, woven braids and white contacts and tanktop and all, but let me tell you, those white contacts will be the main feature you will remember from him. Those contacts are SCARY... They almost seem to pierce through your soul whenever he looks at you. D: But the definition of scary I’m going for here is something so freaky that you’re scared of it, yet at the same time, it fascinates you. :]
Whenever he came to our side of the stage, he would be a TOTAL tease, unlike Zero. He would slowly inch up towards the fans, letting a couple of people grab at him, then quickly draw back, a totally amused expression on his face. Rinse and repeat a few more times before he would bound over to his side again. I think I got to touch the head of his guitar or his hand, because I remember I touched something when he came over to our side XD He totally gets a kick out of doing that, while Zero prefers to plant himself at the front for a while and enjoy the fans’ love for him. He also reminded me of a crocodile whenever he sauntered to the front, because his mouth kept on slowly opening and closing as he approached us... Or was he laughing at us, or to himself?
One thing I also paid attention to was his guitars. I noticed that he used his Micawber model (the white guitar with black tribal designs on it that he uses recently) for their newer songs, while switching to the plain white guitar (Micawber Baritone model) for Mirror/older songs. I was delighted to see him utilize those switches, because in my opinion, the older songs sound much better with the plain white guitar. The plain white guitar has a thick, heavier, fuller sound, while Micawber has this extremely sharp, almost hollow tone that doesn’t really fit for their heavier older songs... Even though it’s a no-brainer that the BARITONE model should obviously sound like that, I didn’t really see him use that model in the recent Japanese live footages while because he usually uses his regular Micawber model a lot, so that was a little extra treat for me! :D
As for his guitar solos, due to either bad acoustics of the livehouse/a horrible sound checker/putting the background music volume at maximum, I couldn’t hear him soloing at ALL whenever the moment had come. The solos were COMPLETELY drowned out by other sounds... The only thing I could pretty much hear from him was his guitar's harmonic pinches/high-pitched squeals, which was like, nothing at all. >A<;;; That made me hugely disappointed, because I would point at him for my friend next to me to signal when a solo was coming. My friend was disappointed too, since she loves hearing guitar solos. Two sadfaces for the night. :’(
If you want to see a member actually doing more stuff on stage and being a total tease over coming up to the front more often to let their fans grope them/evilly smirking at the fans all the time, then pick Karyu’s side over Zero’s. He will be sure to never bore you and keep your eyes glued to him. ;]
Hizumi: Total commander of the stage. He was dressed in his Death Point outfit, with a thin vest draped over a bare chest and red pants on. His pants weren't a hideously bright obnoxious shade of red like his LOVE IS DEAD costume, thankfully. I at first didn’t understand why people always wrote in their live reports that shirtless Hizumi gave them nosebleeds. Until I saw him in front of my eyes. Let me tell you, shirtless Hizumi is a very beautiful sight in real life indeed. Your eyes will be LOCKED to his stomach when he throws off what little clothing he has, for it is a very beautiful one. *Fangirly sigh* You try to resist it, but it simply pulls you in!
It was a relief that Hizumi knows how to control a crowd, because the fans were certainly very lost that night… But he led us all the way. :D
He also had the stubble/small goatee thing going on, just like in that recent Zy magazine photoshoot. I noticed this dark spot on his chin during the live, but kept on telling myself that it wasn’t facial hair... It was confirmed that it was chin fuzz indeed when my friend asked me later on, “Did you see his goatee? XD” after the live and when I saw him face-to-face at the meet-and-greet. Hopefully, he won’t shave it when the band comes to your city. I personally don’t think that he can rock the chin fuzz that much, but that’s for you to judge when you go see him in the future XDDD
He occasionally came over to Zero/Karyu’s side to let the fans touch him, whether he extended a gloved hand out towards us or pointed the mic at us to let us sing. I got to touch his hand, and I must say, he has very rough fingers!! O.O He must be a very hard worker.
He also has a very cute voice when he speaks... It’s deep, yet his accent makes you want to say “Awww” and grin from ear to ear whenever you hear it. His MC was the exact same one from this video, and was answered by loud cheers and yells as well. His English was about 80% understandable, but I have faith that he’ll improve in the future! XD You will love hearing his accented English in real life. :3
I couldn’t really tell how his voice was or if he had fully recovered from his throat condition, due to him being drowned out by the other instruments. I could barely hear him throughout the whole live, but from what little I could hear, he sounded spot-on accurate like the studio versions of the songs. His screams are loud and clear and PIERCE your ears, and his voice never seemed to waver at all. He was more audible though during their slower songs, unsurprisingly. I would say that he is definitely well on the road to recovery! :D
But the feature that made the most impression on me was his eyes... His eyes seemed to burn and shine whenever he looked at the crowd. His eyes seemed to be drinking in all the fan’s faces and cheers, and twinkled vividly under the bright lights above the stage. This all sounds flowery and poem-like and just sappy, but I want others to notice his expression when he sings... It’s unforgettable. You can tell that he wouldn’t give anything away to be on that moment, to be on the stage, alongside his fellow bandmates and his fans... I have never seen eyes that have shined like that in my entire life. If I ever see this band live again, I wish to see those shining eyes again.
Taguchi-san: Ahahah, yes, this person gets their own little section too. XDDD You know, that one staff dude that is always with D’espa? That bald guy with a graying beard? Oh come ON, he’s ALWAYS with D’espa. ALWAYS. He appears in the member’s blogs a few times, always doing some weird facial expression/pose and also appears in their live DVDs. He’s like their father or something. ...still don’t remember him? ......GTFO. You’re not a true D’espa fan. Just kidding XD
Anyway, we first saw him when he came out from the back on stage before the show started, and he was greeted by several loud cheers from people thinking that he was a band member. XDDD He went over to the member’s instruments and checked if they had any problems with their sound, starting with Tsukasa’s drums, then going over to Zero’s bass, and finally ending with Karyu’s guitar. He looked sorta funny when he was playing Zero’s bass... Could that be Zero in the future, aged 20 years later?!?? Ahhh, I’m just joking, don’t hit me D8 He then returned backstage, satisfied that all seemed well. I took some pictures of him on my cellphone, lmfao XDDD
During the live, he always stood behind Karyu in the darkness with a guitar in his hands for the next song... He looked grumpy and impatient while Karyu was going wild in front of him, but he looked so funny, just standing there and holding that guitar, as if saying in his mind, “Hurry up so we can get outta this joint and go home already!!” Keep an eye out for him behind Karyu, because I’m sure that you’ll find him to be extremely funny-looking too XDDD
OKAY, THIS IS THE REAL END OF MY LIVE REPORT. This whole live report was a grand total of 20 pages on Microsoft Word, so congratulations, you’ve just read a 20-page live report on D’espairsRay!! Give yourself a pat on the back or some ice cream or something for finishing this monster! (No pun intended.) XD It took me 2 days and 3 nights to type this whole shebang up, so I hope that everyone who read this thought it was at least entertaining to read! I’m sorry if you want to combust in flames right now though. ^^;; If I ever attend a D’espa live again in the future, I’ll try my best to write another report and beat this one’s length, although it’ll be very hard!! ;DDD Since it was my very first D'espa live, you know I had to write a whole fangirly essay on it ~____~;; Okay, I’m seriously done now. Please don’t kill me. I have a talent bad habit for rambling on and on and on forever. o______o;;;
After the intermission: HUMAN-CLAD MONSTER*: Oh, man. I now have so many memories of this song. After the band returned to their spots and we greeted them loudly again, the familiar guitar riff greeted us. The crowd screamed in excitement, and the heavy intro breakdown had almost all of us, including the band members themselves, headbanging away. This was the song I headbanged in the most, I believe. :D You just... Get into it, so don’t be shy about headbanging at all! X3
But when Hizumi started to sing the first line of the song, the beginning guitar riff suddenly repeated and looped itself!! Everyone looked confused, even Mr. I-Never-Change-My-Facial-Expression Zero as the intro repeated itself again, and the whole band stopped playing their instruments. The members gathered around Tsukasa’s drumset, talking amongst themselves no doubt about his Mac laptop that controlled most of the background music. Taguchi-san emerged from the darkness to join in on their conversation while the audience murmured to each other in confusion, wondering what had just happened.
A staff member came out and spoke with the band members for a brief moment before grabbing Hizumi’s mic and saying, “Uh, sorry guys, their computer crashed. They rocked it too hard and it couldn't take it anymore.” Those words were responded with a “AWWW- WHOOOOOOOOO!!” The staff member sheepishly grinned before returning backstage, and after a few more seconds of discussion, the band decided to try to play the song again.
Round 2, gogo!!: The intro started up again, and everyone cheered in the audience. We headbanged to the heavy intro breakdown again, but... What was this?!? Not again!! The intro looped itself again! DDD: Another “AWWWW-!!” from the audience as the members huddled together again.
While Tsukasa tried to fix things with Taguchi-san and the other staff members, Hizumi apologized for the mistake again, but he was quickly forgiven with cheers and screams. He tried to talk to us while the two in the back were fiddling with the Mac, saying stuff such as, “How are you guys doing?!? We are... Happy to be in San Furanshisuco* again.” (*Read this all in a Japanese accent.) We answered in screams, and Hizumi smiled back in satisfaction. Karyu, who was apparently doing nothing, absentmindedly started up a random guitar riff for us to not get bored while the problem was being fixed. We clapped and yelled to the time of the beat, while Hizumi and Zero encouraged us to be louder.
Zero decided that now would be a good time to spit picks at us, and unfortunately, I couldn’t catch any of them. 8( One flew by right next to me, though! XD Congrats to all those who caught picks~ He also spat water at us, which was MUCH, MUCH needed, and felt so cool and refreshing :D Hizumi also shook water out from a water bottle to the crowd below him from his center spot, grinning from ear to ear as he drenched them in water and listening to their screams of delight.
Anyway, it was all great fun, and after a few minutes, another staff member emerged from the darkness and tried to hand Hizumi a camcorder. It was funny how he tried to get Hizumi’s attention, as Hizumi was too busy encouraging us to scream more. They had to tap at Hizumi’s shoulder to get his attention before he WHIRLED around in surprise to see the staff member right behind him. The look on his face was priceless XDDD Hizumi took it and started to record us while grinning widely, and if you see a Korean girl in a red T-shirt with glasses on sticking her tongue out at the camera while sometimes flashing a peace sign and looking like a complete idiot in a future tour DVD, that’s me, lmfao. XD;;;
While he was recording us, Zero sidled up to him and stayed by his side, watching in amusement as Hizumi recorded us crazy fans. Hizumi laughed at us while looking at Zero, as if he were saying, “Look at these freaks, they’re freakin’ hilarious, lmfao!!” His face literally looked like this: XDDDDDD Zero gave him a smile in return. All while Karyu was still playing his guitar.
After a few more minutes of this amusement, the computer was finally fixed and we were ready to rock out again!! \m/
Round 3, gogogo!!: The almost dreaded intro started up again, but this time, no loop!! It seems that the 3rd time is really the charm ;DDD We were able to headbang to the breakdown for a 3rd time, and the song sailed smoothly ahead without any more problems. VERY fun live, but now it’s even more of a special song to me after all what happened with it at the beginning XDDD
ANGELDUST: I was very, VERY pleased to hear this song live. After all, it’s my 3rd favorite song of theirs! <3 But... With the OVER MAXIMUM VOLUME speakers blasting everything, I could BARELY hear it at all. DDDX Even the familiar electronic blooping intro was nearly drowned out by the other sounds!! Hizumi sounded great and his voice beautiful from what little I could hear from him, but I could not hear Karyu’s backing vocals at all... 8’( I even strained my ears harder to catch a tiny bit of what Karyu was singing, but alas, no luck. TT____TT This song easily gets you into the “moment” though, and will have you pumping your fist up in the air in no time. Much more powerful live than on CD.
SIXty∞NINe: Definitely a classic D’espa song that every fan wants to hear and see live. You know how it looks so fun on DVDs? It IS fun. Almost everyone recognized the intro of the song and got excited for it; you could practically FEEL the excitement crackling in the air. It was GREAT fun to shout with Hizumi in the middle of the song, along with Zero of course :’DDD I jumped SUPER high whenever he screamed, of course screaming along with him XD Hopefully he saw me? :3 All of the members were going crazy on stage, just like their fans. Zero did his classic dance during this song, twirling and spinning about and being cocky as usual~ He also jerked his bass forward towards him whenever we shouted with Hizumi, so that was rather amusing to see~ XDDD I think that he could be a good dancer, donchathink? ;DDD
Born: This song was also a pleasant surprise, as it was the oldest song on their setlist!! *Nosebleed* 8’DDD Everyone got excited and riled up again, headbanging away with the band during the intro. I think that it was during this song, a fan on the left side of me fell down while everyone else was headbanging, and the people around her, including me, stopped headbanging and tried to help her up/looked at her in concern to check if she was okay. Luckily, after she was helped back up, she stood with a HUGE grin on her face, as if nothing had happened at all, ready for some more action! That is so rock. \m/
For some reason, I heard Hizumi’s vocals a bit more through the blasting music, and he sounded EXACTLY like the studio version of the song, with every growl and note in the right place. It was one of the songs that lasted more of an impression on me, as I certainly felt something while listening to it :DDD I hope that they play this song during future lives, because it is simply FANTASTIC live!!!
Infection: This was the song that left the strongest impression on me and the one that it seemed EVERYONE in the audience knew the lyrics to. I would have to say that this song made the fans the most excited that night, due to hearing everyone sing its lyrics around me... Please note that you too should memorize this song’s lyrics and not feel like an idiot like I did that night, not knowing the lyrics at all because I am not one to usually pay attention much to lyrics, and just standing there like an idiot with a sheepish grin on my face, not knowing what to sing.
It was all good though, since it seemed that Hizumi got into this song the most. And I mean REALLY got into it. He closed his eyes, scrunching his eyebrows together as he sang out with his entire soul, swaying back and forth in time to the music while clutching the mic with both hands tightly. I don’t know if it was because the audience sung the loudest here, but Hizumi responded and gave back by providing us an astounding vocal performance. The mood and atmosphere of the whole livehouse built up during this song, and it should be now be mandatory for other D’espa fans to hear it live. I used to have not much of an opinion on this song, but now it is one my favorites, as it leaves a powerful impression on you live.
abyss: Ah, what a surprisingly beautiful song live! Before this song was played, Hizumi announced, “This song was inspired by the deep sea... Abyss....” And was answered by cheers, of course, where do you think you are, this is AMERICA, Hizumi!! XDDD ANYWAYS, I remember the stage lighting the most from this song. When the “quiet” parts were played, with Tsukasa quietly hitting his snare drum in the background, Karyu plucking at a few select chords, Zero playing a somber bassline, and Hizumi murmuring softly to the audience, the band would be bathed in a deep blue light, as if they were submerged in the sea. When the “happy” parts were played with the volume suddenly jumping back to its OVER MAXIMUM levels, the band would be lit up in a bright, almost pale whitish-yellow light, as if they were shining in sunlight. It was a nice effect that highlighted the song’s image that indeed took inspiration from the deep blue sea. Hizumi sounded beautiful and spot-on, and the audience listened in silent appreciation of the marvelous ballad that was unfolding before them. When the last “echoing” note ended, the band members remained frozen in their spots, not moving until the next... Crazy song.
DEVILS’ PARADE: Hahah, my favorite song off Monsters! >8D You thought the song sounded wild in your headphones/speakers? Wait ‘till you hear it LIVE. As if thawed by some mysterious force, the band went into full gear, going ape crazy on stage in front of their screaming and flailing fans. It killed abyss’s previous mellow mood within milliseconds XDDD This song will make you jump up and down with no signs of stopping at all, and is just FUN FUN FUN to sing along to, especially the “NaNaReMiLaMiNa” and “Why not take a chance?!?!!” parts 8DDD This song EASILY slides in with other great upbeat live songs such as SIXty∞NINe and DEATH POINT and such. I hope it remains a live staple, because who wouldn’t want to relive an insane parade?!? 8DDD
MIRROR: Oh, man. My most FAVORITE, #1 song of ALL TIME from D’espa. This was the song that made me fall in love with them, with just one listen. And I got to hear it live. This song is just pure LOVE live, with its breakneck killer speed making sure your feet will STAY off the ground and your arms NEVER at your side. They will all stay in the air. <333 Almost everyone in the audience knew this song’s lyrics too, as we sang “Why don’t you break the mirror? Just what you NEED now!!” with Hizumi 8’DDD We had enough force and energy to break a million mirrors that night, which was how pumped we were :D
Karyu sauntered over to our side somewhere towards the middle, switching with Zero for a moment, so it was awesome being able to see him play his guitar in front of us, with those delicious, dark, heavy riffs blasting in our ears <3 The band didn’t play their “new” intro that isn’t on the studio version and is usually played at their Japanese lives, but paused the song towards the end for a second after each time Hizumi screamed, “BREAK THE MIRROR!!!” Hizumi’s screams and vocals sounded exceptionally great during this song, and I am so glad and happy that I was able to see my top 3 favorite songs played live that night. It seems that either D’espa is really psychic, or can make wishes come true <333
Garnet: “This is our last song... Garnet,” Hizumi announced before a severely disappointed audience. Our disappointment quickly turned into happiness and horniness though when Hizumi stripped off his thin vest right before us, revealing one heck of a BEAUTIFUL chest and stomach. I now understand why fans say that it is a marvelous sight to behold in real life. *____* But, what a fitting final song for the live. I never expected to hear this song live that night, but it definitely wow’d me. The classic opening floor tom drums were greeted by loud cheers and screams, which resonated throughout the entire livehouse. It was great fun to jump up high and scream “DIE!!” with Hizumi, with Zero quickly echoing him on his mic. :D Hizumi led the crowd most of the time during this song, signaling for us when to clap along to the beat or when to sing with him at the end. I would say that this would be the 2nd most powerful song live after Infection, 3rd being Born. It seemed that their older songs left more of an impression on me rather than their newer ones... But it was a definite grand finale for the night.
After the song ended, the members bowed deeply while the audience went crazy with a frenzy of cheers and screams. Then, the pit became a battlefield. It was that time... The throwing of picks and drumsticks.
Zero proceeded to spray his spit all over us in the front before launching what little bass picks he had left over at us. Hizumi and Karyu were doing what they did last time, dumping water on the fans/chucking picks at them. When Tsukasa emerged from his drumset and stood up, loud screams greeted him. He slowly approached the front of the stage on our side first, carrying none other than three precious, valuable drum sticks in his hand.
I was too busy watching Hizumi pouring water over the fans in front of him in delight to notice my friend tapping at my shoulder. I turned around in slow motion, just in time to see Tsukasa raising his arm and throwing a drum stick towards my direction... Which flew straight over my head. I turned around to see two fans battling to the death over the fallen drum stick.
Although I did want to get my hands on a piece of thrown material, I certainly did not want to get involved in a life-or-death match between those two! D8 So whoever finally got that drum stick, congrats to you for making it out alive. \m/ I didn’t see where Tsukasa threw the other two drum sticks because I was too busy watching the scuffle that was behind me. He also apparently threw a drum cover too, because I saw someone carrying it with them after the live... o.O;;
After all the stuff was thrown, all the band members waved goodbye to us as we waved back, screaming at them to come back already. XDDD After the last of the members left the stage, the roadies immediately emerged from the back to clean up stuff. About why there was no encore that night... Let me talk about the audience, now.
There was a REALLY small audience for that night’s show. I mean, only about a third of the whole livehouse was filled!! I knew that there was a small amount of fans after seeing the line not wind around the block earlier, but I didn’t know that THAT little fans had come to the live! O__O Maybe because it was a weekday…? Who knows DX There seemed to be many fans who didn’t even know who D’espa was, and had just come for the heck of it!! I guess those kinds of fans just go to any sort of J-rock event nearby D8
Only a third of the whole audience seemed to be trying their best to express their enthusiasm for D’espa, who were all pretty much in the front, while in the back, everyone was pretty much dead. My friend who was a little in the back, told me that it looked like I was one of the most energetic people in the crowd, because I was jumping the highest out of all the fans XDDD; Only people in the very front put efforts into headbanging away, while people in the back… Either simply stood there and watched the band or did this sort of nodding of their head which was DEFINITELY not headbanging at all. o__O;;
There was this one girl I wanna mention that was two rows in front of me, who was the most HARDCORE headbanger I saw at the live. Her blond hair was flying about EVERYWHERE, so kudos to her for showing her enthusiasm to the band. \m/ I also want to apologize to everyone around me, because I must’ve stepped on a million feet during the live and probably blocked some people’s view of the band whenever I jumped super high ^^;; So I apologize to those I bothered~ m(_ _)m
It was a good thing that Hizumi mostly led the crowd, because... We were a lost crowd that night. The audience didn’t know what to do at times. If I could read minds, the whole crowd must have been thinking, “Do I scream here, or do I stay silent?”
Due to not so many “hardcore” D’espa fans not being at the live, after the last song was played and the members left the stage, the audience was at a loss of what to do. A weak shouting of “An-ko-re!” in Japanese pronunciation was started, but it quickly died down. Then, another shouting of “En-core! En-core!” in English pronunciation was started, but that too quickly was put to death. People who didn’t know what to yell simply screamed at the top of their lungs in vain hopes to get D’espa back on stage. I was confused too with my friend, and I decided to shout “D’es-pairs-Ray!!” with my friend and hope that others would follow us. They didn’t. D:
It was a pitiful effort for an encore cheer... I can now see a bit more why D’espa didn’t return to the stage after the show, probably because they heard silence backstage! If I were one of the members, I would probably say, “This is not enough.” The band worked hard to put on a good show, and all they got in return were frenzied chaotic screams that were all over the place? I certainly wouldn’t return to the stage after that...
But there could have been many other factors leading to why there was no encore. Perhaps the band was afraid of more technical difficulties, or had ran out of time due to the meet-and-greet event that took place right after? It’ll most likely remain a mystery forever to those who had attended the concert, and we can only but wonder what had exactly happened that night... Who knows, is all I can really say.
But it was a fantastic show they put on, and it seems that there were many fans who were disappointed about the horrible acoustics of the livehouse/the many technical difficulties that happened/no encore and said that it was a hellish show. I, for one, highly disagree with them. Although my love for the band can distort my opinion on them sometimes, I think that they did a great job struggling through those small mistakes and trying their best to entertain us. Did all of those problems make you have absolutely NO fun at all that night? If you did really have 0% fun, then I guess you can say that it was a hellish show indeed. But I don’t see why the negatives have to outweigh the positives. No matter what hindered the show from going on that night, it was still a very excellent show. I applaud and recognize D’espa’s efforts to put on a good show for us, and it was beyond good. It was a live that I will always remember with fondness, even the mistakes, for that made the band and the audience even more connected with each other and created more memories together. I believe that D’espa will definitely return to San Francisco in the future, because they are one of the very few J-rock bands that genuinely care for their oversea fans. Just one thing to say to all those who still disagree with me... Haters gonna hate. :/
After all that frenzy had happened, an announcement came and said that if you had purchased a poster or a T-shirt, then you were eligible to line up around the bar for a meet-and-greet event! 8’DDD Most people immediately rushed to the bar with their merchandise in their hands, while the ones who didn’t buy anything earlier quickly rushed to the merchandise booth. It was around 10:30-ish at this time, I believe. I got in line towards the back due to not being able to spot the bar quickly enough, dumb ‘n’ blind me, but this nice girl in front of me let me cut her to let me talk to the awesome group of fans I was next to during the live! There is still good in this world ;___; We chatted about random things and I proudly showed them the 100% accurate setlist that I wrote down in my notepad, but wasn’t so proud of my REALLY sloppy handwriting due to trying to write down the titles of the songs so quickly. :D;;;
I was almost quaking in my boots about meeting my most favorite J-rock band ever, except that I wasn’t wearing any boots! XD I was definitely excited though, and a bit nervous of what to say to them... The time had come to test out my extremely crappy Japanese against them. If they understood a single word that I was saying, then I would allow myself a small victory. If they didn’t and thought that I was speaking some strange alien language, then I would have to work 500% harder on my Japanese skills. >A<;;
I had brought a small present just in case the opportunity to give gifts to the band arose... Even though I had only brought one present for my favorite member, gangsta-hick-farmerboy-enka master-drunk countryside bum Tsukachi Tsukasa, I’m glad that I was able to bring a present at all, because I had certainly not expected a meet-and-greet event to happen after missing the autograph session in Japantown earlier :D;; I felt guilty too though, because I didn’t bring presents for all the members DDD: I wanted to give those ramen maniacs the best spicy Korean kimchi beef-flavored ramen in the world, ~*Samyung Ramen*~!!! But alas, I had no more room to put 4 packs of it in my bag TT.TT
The present I brought for Tsukasa was none other than... TOTORO MERCHANDISE!! XDDD Any Tsukasa Mania should know that he has an undying love for Totoro and Studio Ghibli. So I decided to give him the stuff I wasn’t using that was originally sent from my aunt in Korea, even though the products originally came from Japan XD;; Oh, imports. Inside the Totoro-decorated plastic bag I gave him was a small fluffy gray Totoro coin pouch and a small beautiful Totoro design towel-thing! The design on the little towel is beautiful, since it almost looks like the many Totoros on the towel were hand-painted on instead of just machine-printed on. I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the presents since I don’t know where my digital camera currently is, sorry ;O;, but I found an image of the exact coin pouch I gave him! XDDD Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a picture of the towel I gave him though, but the design of it was somewhat like this here... Not exactly though, since there were many different Totoros on the towel. Sorry that the image is so small, btw D8 They’re all in a better home now, the home of a much bigger Totoro mania than I will ever be! :3 I also wanted to include a heartfelt handwritten letter to him in the bag thanking D’espa for coming to America, but had no time to write one TT.TT Next time, I swear!! *Fire burning in eyes while fists are clenched*
The staff member at the front of the line told us to unfold our posters/T-shirts so that the band could easily sign them. I had them sign my poster, and had to turn it upside-down so that they could sign it without any problems occurring XD My friend had them sign her T-shirt, they signed on the back around the tour dates :3
Finally, I got to meet the members face-to-face! :D They were sitting behind a table with their makeup still on, in the exact order of their poster lineup, which was Zero-Tsukasa-Hizumi-Karyu. XD So I got to meet Zero first... The man who I wanted to get revenge on for his constant Ameblog spam that I had to translate......
Zero had changed into a clean white T-shirt which might have been the one they were selling at the merchandise booth, I wasn’t looking too carefully, I apologize D:, and he looked very cute and friendly up close :3 “Hi :)” he said with a smile when I approached him, and I couldn’t help but smile back at that smiley bassist. XD I said “Hi Zero 8D” back and placed the poster in front of him. While he was signing it with a silver marker, I decided that it was now or never!! “Zero-san,” I said to his bowed head. He looked up, with a face like “o__o ?” “Kyou wa nani iro desu ka? (What color is it today?)” He maintained that same face until I pointed downwards at his lower body, his eyes following my finger. He immediately got the message. He raised his head with a cool, calm, collected smile, and quickly answered, “Kuro. (Black.)” As if my question wasn’t anything at all!! As if he could blow it off so easily, that bastard!! >OOO My attempted revenge on him failed to embarrass him... I should've sang happy birthday to him in person, but without any present to give him, ah well... I'll get my revenge on him next time. Just you wait, Zero!! >OOOOOO
Anyway, I replied, “Ahhh, kuro, kakkoii desu ne (Ohh, black, that’s cool) :D” Still smiling at me, he stuck out his hand for me to shake, and I don’t remember if his hand was warm/cold/if he had a tight/loose grip or anything. In fact, I forgot how EVERY member shook my hand, so I’m sorry if you wanted more details on that D8 After shaking it, I said “Arigatou ^^” to him and he gave me a small nod in return, as I slid the poster down to Tsukasa. This all happened in a few seconds, of course. I kinda regret my reply, what kind of a response was THAT?!? But I was relieved that he could understand my horrible Japanese, even though it was just one sentence XD So thus, I learned that Zero was wearing black underwear that night. Rock on, Zero. \m/
Next was Tsukasa... My heart was thumping in my chest as I wondered if I could pull this off and give him his present successfully. It seemed that he was still in his stage costume, for he didn’t look that different at all. His eyes were definitely sparkling at every fan he met, though :D He said a cheery “Hallo!” in that thick Yamagata countryside accent of his, and I was thinking, “I’m hearing his nasally accent right now, in REAL LIFE!! OMG-“ Oh, the fangirly thoughts of mine. XD;;; I said “Hi Tsukasa 8D” back at him, and while he was signing the poster, I uttered, “Umm, kore wa sukoshi desu ga... (Umm, this is a small present for you...)” Tsukasa quickly looked up as I thrust the very crumpled plastic bag at him, and his face immediately lit up. “Oh, Totoro!!” he exclaimed as he saw the smiling Totoro face on the bag, and my face must’ve lit up too as I said “Hai 8DDD”, because I didn’t have to explain to him what the present was XD He took the bag from me and said, “Arigatou :)” and put it away... Somewhere. I forgot. XD;; I merely grinned in return, as I was too stunned in happiness for him recognizing and accepting my present. He smiled, then stuck his hand out for me to shake, which I did graciously. I almost forgot about handshakes after giving him his present, because I was about to rush off to Hizumi’s side in a moment XD;;;
I stepped in front of Hizumi, still in a bit of a daze after seeing dazzling Tsukasa, and he also uttered a “Hallo” to me, minus the nasally countryside accent XD He had put a black T-shirt on, but it wasn’t the same one being sold at the merchandise booth, I think. I joked to my friend earlier in line that the reason D’espa was taking so long to come out was because Hizumi needed to find a shirt to put on, as we imagined the staff yelling at him, “HIZUMIIIII, PUT A SHIRT ON OR ELSE!! NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE >OOO” Hizumi: I’m coming, I’m coming~ ;___; *Tries to find a shirt to put on* Oh, what fans can think of XD; I was, slightly disappointed though, that he didn’t sign stuff while still being shirtless D| I also got to see his chin stubble up close, and... I thought he looked rather funny-looking, ridiculous even, with it, sorry Hizumi Mania |D;; DUN SHOOT ME DDD8 He had very big eyes that shone in the light, as if he could see everything that was going on around him :D He had a bit long and very silky-looking dark brown hair, too, that I expressed to my friend in line that I wanted to stroke badly, as it looked so SOFFFFFFFTTTTT AND SHINYYYYYYYY- ;__;
Anyway, I said the usual, “Hi Hizumi 8D” back to him, as that was now my customary greeting as he signed my poster. I didn’t say anything to him except “Arigatou” after he signed it because I was still in my Tsukasa-induced daze, so after I shook his hand and moved in front of Karyu, a wave of guilt immediately hit me. I’m so sorry, Hizumi, for not saying anything thoughtful to you, and will definitely try to say more next time TT___TT Just don’t make Tsukasa sit next to you again!! XDDD;
Next was Karyu!! He also said “Hallo 8D” to me with those googly, SCARY white contacts he was still wearing. He also didn’t seem to have changed out of his clothes, as he was still wearing a tanktop and everything. His wavy braided hair looked very intricate up close o.O I replied, “Hi Karyu 8D” to him and simply stood dumbly in front of him as he signed, wondering what the hell should I say to him. After he finished and lifted his head up, he said a small “Hai :D” and stuck out his hand at me. I shook it, then finally knew what to say when I looked into those creepy contacts of his. “...Meh wa kirei ne! (Your eyes are pretty!) :D” He looked a bit surprised, then replied, “Ah, arigatou! :DDD”, while pointing at his own eyes as he said thanks. I then picked up my poster and echoed him like a parrot, saying arigatou too as I began to walk away. I didn’t notice that there was a Japanese staff member with short red hair sitting next to Karyu at the end of the table, until she said “Thank you for coming :)” That took me a bit by surprise, when did that woman get there?!? I merely smiled and nodded back at her while Karyu was grinning at us the entire time. Oh, Karyu.
That was the end of the meet-and-greet, and it ended for me in probably... Oh, maybe around 2-3 minutes. I remember all of the members’ hands being EXTREMELY pale, even paler than mine, and I barely get an hour’s worth of sunlight everyday D8 I hope they go to the beach or something on vacation soon, because they should be at least tanner than ghostly me!! ><;;
Like I said, I don’t have my camera with me at the moment, but I’m sure you’ve all seen what the signed poster looks like anyways XD The picture is exactly what’s on their official homepage right now, and other people have already posted pictures of their posters in their live reports. One thing to say, though. All of the members’ signatures make sense, looking like their names, except for Karyu’s... It looks like this swirly thing I can’t distinguish!! oAO; I don’t know what it’s supposed to read as, but it certainly doesn’t look like “Karyu” to me =__=;; Well, it’s not so surprising that the member who has the most obscure blog entries to translate with almost impossible-to-read language when he’s in a foul mood has the weirdest signature... -___-; He and Tsukasa laid down the ink the heaviest with thick strokes, while Zero and Hizumi signed with light, thin strokes on my poster XDDD
I hope that they do a meet-and-greet in every city on their tour, along with also doing them in Europe!! Please also ask Zero what color his underwear is if you meet him, because I want to know if he’s wearing black boxers everyday or not XDDD Hopefully he’s not wearing the same one everyday... o___O;;; *Cough*
After waiting for my friend to get her shirt signed by Karyu, we both left the livehouse quickly, as it was near 11 and we had to get home soon. We bumped into the AWESOME group of friends we had met earlier, as they were going to take a picture in front of D’espa’s tour bus XD They wanted to include us in the picture, which delighted me and my friend 8D So we got someone to take our picture, and I’m the only one wearing red while everyone else was wearing black... Oh well, I am a rebel at heart >8D I am EXTREMELY un-photogenic and we were all looking kinda tired and still sorta sweaty after the live, so if that picture gets uploaded on the Internet someday, you can probably pick me out within seconds XD;;; We waved goodbye to them and then got into my friend’s dad’s car. During the way home, we talked about our day and what various things happened at the live and compared member signatures on our merchandise.
Well, that’s pretty much the end of my live report! I wonder if you survived all that? No? XD;;; Well, I’m sorry I have to say this but... THERE’S MORE!! >DDD Read on, if you can, about my detailed first impressions of the members on stage. At this rate, I can probably beat J.K. Rowling at writing another Harry Potter novel!! Nahhh, just kidding, that woman is INSANE. O____O;
THE MEMBERS:
All of the members were taller than I had expected, but also skinnier than I expected!! I don’t know if America has influenced my thinking of what is a normal body type or not or if all Japanese men are skinny like that, but in my opinion, only Zero seemed to have a healthy, average looking body!! Zero is definitely not chubby, by the way, which is the common misconception/myth about him. ;P Tsukasa was very thin, just like in pictures, Karyu was even skinnier, but tall just like in pictures. But Hizumi... I always thought Hizumi had a rather bulky, muscular body, but I was wrong... He had a rather skinny frame/waist too, but was definitely bulkier than both Tsukasa and Karyu put together. Seeing those beanpoles made me want to deliver packages of food to them in the future/shove piles of food down their throats, to fatten those poor guys up. Please give them plenty of food when you see them, because I don’t want them to turn into skeletons in the future! 8(
Zero: Since we were on his side and were in front of him, I will talk about him first and have the most to say about him. He was dressed in a dark tanktop with dark pants on. SPECIFIC, I KNOW. I don’t really pay attention to clothing, so I’m sorry about not providing more details. I never really saw any charm in Zero’s looks that have entranced and attracted so many fans, until yesterday. Before I saw him live, I thought he had NO special physical features. Absolutely none. Don’t kill me just yet, Zero fans!! DDD8 I have seen the light! The light that was... Zero’s killer smile!
On second thought, that’s not a smile he wears during lives. It’s, to simply put it, a REALLY COCKY smirk. Who knew that this man who barely squeaks a word out during interviews could smirk so evilly like that?!? Have you ever seen that wicked smirk in pictures/live DVDs? Well, it’s EXACTLY like what you’ve seen, except I wanted to wipe it off during the live. >__>; He has this almost... Condescending look in his eyes as he watches his fans, as if he is silently thinking to himself, “I’m better than you all, adore me more.”
He NEVER takes his eyes off the fans during a live... His eyes are glued to the crowd, and that cocky smirk is glued on his lips. But if you look carefully at his expression, you can tell that he is genuinely smiling in approval of the loud, cheering fans. He is basking in their glory, and enjoying every single moment on stage. How can he stop smiling on stage? He’s simply doing what he loves. You can tell that he’s pleased, and that he wants to hear more cheers... He repeatedly goads the fans on, encouraging them to scream louder and louder, by either raising a hand to his ear or throwing his arms up in front of us to signal, “Pump up the volume!!” That is his stage personality, and a charming one it is indeed.
He also comes to the front of the stage very often, enjoying everyone’s hands covering his arms, legs, and bass. What an attention whore. Anyway, he didn’t seem to even care when people groped his ass, obviously enjoying his perverted glorious moments before backing away and smirking at his screaming, adoring fans.
There was this one fan who took it a bit too far and started messing with the cables on his bass... I almost thought they were going to unplug it! DDD8 Luckily, Zero noticed what the fan was doing and quickly pulled back before they could do any real damage to his beloved Tricksy.
I was able to touch his bass by the way. But only his bass. His bass was very smooth... I can tell that he polishes it a lot. It’s very shiny! :B But if only I was just one row closer, I could’ve groped him too!! *Fangirl whine* DX
It seems that Zero is not that popular in San Francisco, because our side was noticeably less crowded and smaller than Hizumi and Karyu’s... Oh well, more Zero for us that day! :DDD The plus side on being on Zero’s side is that when he spits on the crowd, ahhh, it’s so refreshing when you’re all hot and sweaty! He’s the only member that sprays water often, too! I got plenty of Zero germs splattered on my glasses, which I had to wipe two or three times.
A highlight of his spitting sprees:
Zero: *Spraying spit everywhere* “PFFFFFT- PFFFFFFFFFT-“
*Screaming fans below him*
Zero: *Looks at fan directly in front of him*
Fan: ZEROOOOOOOOOO~
Zero: *Stares at them* “...Pft.” *Small spray of spit instead of the usual drawn-out sprinkling”
Fans behind fan that was sprayed: LOL
Tsukasa: Ah, Tsukachi. My favorite, most beloved, country boy member. He was dressed in his Death Point costume, vest and all, I believe. When he first emerged from the darkness to take his place on the drums, there was this somewhat... Elegant-like air/aura about him as he walked over to his drum set. I don’t know what it was, but I felt that when he passed by us. DEFINITELY no countryside-hick-farmer-like impression from him. :P The aura was still there when I stood in front of him at the meet-and-greet.
I almost wish that you didn’t choose drums as your main instrument, Tsukachi. For the eternal curse for drummers is to lurk in the back in darkness, quietly drumming for your other band members that are hogging the front of the stage up and getting 99% of the attention.
Actually no. Tsukachi did not quietly drum for his band. No, he PUNISHED those drums, and never have I seen such a person beat the hell out of the drums as Tsukasa did, minus Shinya of Dir en grey!! With every bass drum throb and every snare hit, they PIERCED and RANG in my ears. You wanna know why your ears are ringing like crazy after a D’espa live? Tsukasa’s the one that is mostly responsible for that.
Now, Mr. Attention Whore Zero did mostly steal my attention from the other members, dancing around and spitting and such, but I did occasionally steal glances at my favorite drummer!! His face is just concentrated on providing the right beat for his bands, keeping up a steady tempo. You can see his eyebrows scrunched together and his eyes being somewhat closed in concentration most of the time. Keep an eye out for him during heavier songs, because: Fun trivia: He headbangs with the rest of the band. It is fun to see a man violently headbang with his hair flying about while swinging their arms down and smashing a symbol. All while sitting down behind the drum set. Please keep an eye out for him. He needs more love. :’(
Karyu: He and Zero switched spots only twice during the live, so I have less to say about him than Zero. I only stole a few glances at him when he wasn’t over at Zero’s side, but he seems more energetic than Zero, jerking about and wildly headbanging and such, while Zero kept on contently watching his fans, sometimes making no movement at all with that evil smirk plastered on his face... Anyway, Karyu was dressed exactly in his Death Point costume, woven braids and white contacts and tanktop and all, but let me tell you, those white contacts will be the main feature you will remember from him. Those contacts are SCARY... They almost seem to pierce through your soul whenever he looks at you. D: But the definition of scary I’m going for here is something so freaky that you’re scared of it, yet at the same time, it fascinates you. :]
Whenever he came to our side of the stage, he would be a TOTAL tease, unlike Zero. He would slowly inch up towards the fans, letting a couple of people grab at him, then quickly draw back, a totally amused expression on his face. Rinse and repeat a few more times before he would bound over to his side again. I think I got to touch the head of his guitar or his hand, because I remember I touched something when he came over to our side XD He totally gets a kick out of doing that, while Zero prefers to plant himself at the front for a while and enjoy the fans’ love for him. He also reminded me of a crocodile whenever he sauntered to the front, because his mouth kept on slowly opening and closing as he approached us... Or was he laughing at us, or to himself?
One thing I also paid attention to was his guitars. I noticed that he used his Micawber model (the white guitar with black tribal designs on it that he uses recently) for their newer songs, while switching to the plain white guitar (Micawber Baritone model) for Mirror/older songs. I was delighted to see him utilize those switches, because in my opinion, the older songs sound much better with the plain white guitar. The plain white guitar has a thick, heavier, fuller sound, while Micawber has this extremely sharp, almost hollow tone that doesn’t really fit for their heavier older songs... Even though it’s a no-brainer that the BARITONE model should obviously sound like that, I didn’t really see him use that model in the recent Japanese live footages while because he usually uses his regular Micawber model a lot, so that was a little extra treat for me! :D
As for his guitar solos, due to either bad acoustics of the livehouse/a horrible sound checker/putting the background music volume at maximum, I couldn’t hear him soloing at ALL whenever the moment had come. The solos were COMPLETELY drowned out by other sounds... The only thing I could pretty much hear from him was his guitar's harmonic pinches/high-pitched squeals, which was like, nothing at all. >A<;;; That made me hugely disappointed, because I would point at him for my friend next to me to signal when a solo was coming. My friend was disappointed too, since she loves hearing guitar solos. Two sadfaces for the night. :’(
If you want to see a member actually doing more stuff on stage and being a total tease over coming up to the front more often to let their fans grope them/evilly smirking at the fans all the time, then pick Karyu’s side over Zero’s. He will be sure to never bore you and keep your eyes glued to him. ;]
Hizumi: Total commander of the stage. He was dressed in his Death Point outfit, with a thin vest draped over a bare chest and red pants on. His pants weren't a hideously bright obnoxious shade of red like his LOVE IS DEAD costume, thankfully. I at first didn’t understand why people always wrote in their live reports that shirtless Hizumi gave them nosebleeds. Until I saw him in front of my eyes. Let me tell you, shirtless Hizumi is a very beautiful sight in real life indeed. Your eyes will be LOCKED to his stomach when he throws off what little clothing he has, for it is a very beautiful one. *Fangirly sigh* You try to resist it, but it simply pulls you in!
It was a relief that Hizumi knows how to control a crowd, because the fans were certainly very lost that night… But he led us all the way. :D
He also had the stubble/small goatee thing going on, just like in that recent Zy magazine photoshoot. I noticed this dark spot on his chin during the live, but kept on telling myself that it wasn’t facial hair... It was confirmed that it was chin fuzz indeed when my friend asked me later on, “Did you see his goatee? XD” after the live and when I saw him face-to-face at the meet-and-greet. Hopefully, he won’t shave it when the band comes to your city. I personally don’t think that he can rock the chin fuzz that much, but that’s for you to judge when you go see him in the future XDDD
He occasionally came over to Zero/Karyu’s side to let the fans touch him, whether he extended a gloved hand out towards us or pointed the mic at us to let us sing. I got to touch his hand, and I must say, he has very rough fingers!! O.O He must be a very hard worker.
He also has a very cute voice when he speaks... It’s deep, yet his accent makes you want to say “Awww” and grin from ear to ear whenever you hear it. His MC was the exact same one from this video, and was answered by loud cheers and yells as well. His English was about 80% understandable, but I have faith that he’ll improve in the future! XD You will love hearing his accented English in real life. :3
I couldn’t really tell how his voice was or if he had fully recovered from his throat condition, due to him being drowned out by the other instruments. I could barely hear him throughout the whole live, but from what little I could hear, he sounded spot-on accurate like the studio versions of the songs. His screams are loud and clear and PIERCE your ears, and his voice never seemed to waver at all. He was more audible though during their slower songs, unsurprisingly. I would say that he is definitely well on the road to recovery! :D
But the feature that made the most impression on me was his eyes... His eyes seemed to burn and shine whenever he looked at the crowd. His eyes seemed to be drinking in all the fan’s faces and cheers, and twinkled vividly under the bright lights above the stage. This all sounds flowery and poem-like and just sappy, but I want others to notice his expression when he sings... It’s unforgettable. You can tell that he wouldn’t give anything away to be on that moment, to be on the stage, alongside his fellow bandmates and his fans... I have never seen eyes that have shined like that in my entire life. If I ever see this band live again, I wish to see those shining eyes again.
Taguchi-san: Ahahah, yes, this person gets their own little section too. XDDD You know, that one staff dude that is always with D’espa? That bald guy with a graying beard? Oh come ON, he’s ALWAYS with D’espa. ALWAYS. He appears in the member’s blogs a few times, always doing some weird facial expression/pose and also appears in their live DVDs. He’s like their father or something. ...still don’t remember him? ......GTFO. You’re not a true D’espa fan. Just kidding XD
Anyway, we first saw him when he came out from the back on stage before the show started, and he was greeted by several loud cheers from people thinking that he was a band member. XDDD He went over to the member’s instruments and checked if they had any problems with their sound, starting with Tsukasa’s drums, then going over to Zero’s bass, and finally ending with Karyu’s guitar. He looked sorta funny when he was playing Zero’s bass... Could that be Zero in the future, aged 20 years later?!?? Ahhh, I’m just joking, don’t hit me D8 He then returned backstage, satisfied that all seemed well. I took some pictures of him on my cellphone, lmfao XDDD
During the live, he always stood behind Karyu in the darkness with a guitar in his hands for the next song... He looked grumpy and impatient while Karyu was going wild in front of him, but he looked so funny, just standing there and holding that guitar, as if saying in his mind, “Hurry up so we can get outta this joint and go home already!!” Keep an eye out for him behind Karyu, because I’m sure that you’ll find him to be extremely funny-looking too XDDD
OKAY, THIS IS THE REAL END OF MY LIVE REPORT. This whole live report was a grand total of 20 pages on Microsoft Word, so congratulations, you’ve just read a 20-page live report on D’espairsRay!! Give yourself a pat on the back or some ice cream or something for finishing this monster! (No pun intended.) XD It took me 2 days and 3 nights to type this whole shebang up, so I hope that everyone who read this thought it was at least entertaining to read! I’m sorry if you want to combust in flames right now though. ^^;; If I ever attend a D’espa live again in the future, I’ll try my best to write another report and beat this one’s length, although it’ll be very hard!! ;DDD Since it was my very first D'espa live, you know I had to write a whole fangirly essay on it ~____~;; Okay, I’m seriously done now. Please don’t kill me. I have a talent bad habit for rambling on and on and on forever. o______o;;;