D'espairs Ray live report. .
D'espairs Ray San Jose live report+ Backstage
Pre concert-
Well, there was a huge crowd of people in the entrance of the montgomery. Man, I was afraid of over dressing, so I didn't wear anything complicated. . .and then I ended up being underdressed. . They were selling merchandise for Trashlight Vision and Despairs Ray on two tables. John got all of the backstage pass members to remind them that they were going to be pulled later on. As soon as we entered the theater (with Henry, Haido, Shou, Miya, Mai, Aki, Asami sama, Vachu, Amanda and Kiriyama (So sorry if I forgot your name) I noticed the hugest problem that contributed in kind of making the night a disappointment. There was an 8 foot orchestra pit that separated them from the audience. There were also movie theater type seats that made everything difficult too. That was like the signal. . no stage diving and less audience participation. I met the other backstage pass winners, Miyuki and james.. .Oli came later We talked for a while, I also realised that kidoairaku and her group of friends were sitting right next to us. Hah, I had dead center front row seats.
Trashlight Vision-
At around 2 ish the band trashlight vision went on. They were pretty good. The audience at first had sat down through the first few songs. They were a heavy band. . .the audience sitting isn't the most positive thing in the world. That ended as soon as the vocalist yelled, "Hey, nobody fucking told you guys that you had to sit down" and boom, everyone was off of their seats. It ended at around 3.
Backstage. . .
John came and got the 4 of us to take us backstage. Something to remember folks. . When they tell you to becareful because it's dark and you can't see where you're going, listen to them. Moving on we went backstage into this room below ground level. I was going to fucking vomit. My hands and knees were shaking like crazy. Then all of a sudden I hear John saying. . "don't be nervous." Miyuki and I kind of looked at eachother and went. . HAH. . Too late there. But anyways, there were 4 chairs and we met the infamous Harry of Jpophouse. He told us what was going to happen. That was basically we were allowed 2 photographs of the band, one with the group and one with our favorite member. He also told us that Tsukasa had to leave earlier to do a sound check on his drums. . (black fucking pearl man. . .*sigh*) While we were sitting down, Harry asked us if we were ready. . I was like "NO" in my mind. .but haha. So there was this hallway that lead to their drssing rooms and out comes. . .a dude with a camera. .haha. Then I think it was Tsukasa, then Karyu then Zero. the 3 of them stood out there while we were all kind of confused. Someone kept calling Hizumi and he finally came out. There was a good laugh (which broke the tenision, because it was dead freaking silent) until I made eye contact and then he looked away) First impression.
Karyu: OMG. . .I didn't realize he was that tall. . .I knew he was tall, but in person. . wow.
Zero: Shorter than I expected, also a lot more womanly than I expected.
Hizumi: Less intimidating that I thought he would look in person, but wow.
Tsukasa: Also shorter than I expected. But he just looked. . cool. And a tad menacing. .which added to the "i'm cool" effect."
So we introduced ourselves. Everyone was kind of surprised that I was a local. James was from LA and drove like 5 hours to get here, Miyuki is from fucking Seattle, Washington, and Oli was from Santa Cruz. We then took our pictures with the band. I was first and was as nervous as hell. After everyone took them, Tsukasa signed the kodak photographs and left (I'm sorry Aware, I didn't get to give him your bunny in person) Then we took individual pictures with our favorite member. I of course chose Hizumi, James chose Hizumi and Miyuki and Oli chose Karyu. HEH, most memorable fangirly enhanced moment. After the picture, I walked away without looking back because I was extremely shy. But Hizumi grabbed me and turned me around then shook my hand. I know it's not that significant, but if you've been a die hard fan of his and that happens, you'd know what I mean. Next came the part where we asked questions. It was silent. . .then I spoke up and asked them how they liked America in comparison with Europe. They gave me a weird answer along the lines of "It reminds us of Japan ." I was thinking, "WHAT?" But then I thought about how Mai and I back in the 8th grade went to PGA, and while we were passing downtown San Jose, Mai said, "Wow, this reminds me so much of Japan" James asked something about the producer of one of their demo tapes and how they got him to do it. I asked another question and got another really weird answer. "What inspired you to become a musician?" "it came naturally" The problem then I think was the translator. Curse my Japanese inability. Another one James asked had been "how does the new album sound?" and the response, "Heavier than before" niiice. I'm a little ticked off at the fact that it was so rushed. I mean, we asked 3 questions then they told us to hurry up because they had to leave. OMG. . Oli asked for a kiss from Karyu. . .then she's the only person I know with that kind of guts to actually went up to him and freaking kissed him on the cheek. We all stood there. .everyone in the room stood there shocked, then you hear a japanese male "OOOOO" (probably Zero) and we had a good laugh. Then I gave them Aware's Vunnies. I couldn't really see their reaction. After, each of the members shook our hand and that was it. We walked back down and I was VERY CLOSE TO FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS. If anyone there heard a loud female "OH FUCK" that was me. . But when the 4 of us walked out, the audience started cheering. That was pretty cool. We sat down and everyone wanted to touch us, it was so weird. Then it had sunk in. . I met D'espairs Ray and then I lost it. . and all I remember saying was "OMGOMGOMG. "
The concert-
Well Tsukasa pretty much roused the audience during his little "sound check" haha. FINALLY the curtains started to slowly open. I was a little disappointed that they didn't use that voice, like "D'esapirs. . .blah blah blah." Marty from jpophouse had told us they were going to do so. Only the first row was allowed to leave their seats, which I think caused a lot of problems. And boom, Hizumi is standing there with great lighting looking menacing it was fucking awesome. Zero is to his right with the same emotionless stare as always, and Karyu with the lighting in the background was also fucking cool. The first song they played was Born. Immediatly the first row was pressed up against the wall that kept the audience from falling down that 8 foot orchestra pit. And of course, I began my immediate headbashing. Hah, I had the best seat right in front of Hizumi, dead freaking center front row. Ok because of my bad memory I can't remember the set list. Hopefully it will be posted later on. I know they played (out of order) Born, Marry of the Blood, Garnet, Fuyuu Shita Risou, Facism, Garnet, Tatoeba Kimi Ga Shindara, Maverick, Oboro no tsuki. . BUT THE NEW SONGS ROCK. . one of them I fell in love with, I am definitely getting Coll:Set. Here's where that god damned Orchestra pit ruined it. There was no stage diving nor infamous Karyu backflips into the audience. Hizumi, Karyu, and Zero all went as close the edge as possible. It also made it harder to connect to the audience. WHICH FUCKING SUCKED. Moving on. They walked in front of the speakers (which were placed accordingly so the band knew that that was the edge of the stage and wouldn't fall. I vaguely remember Hizumi trying to talk to us in english "ARE YOU HAVING FUN???" But kinda gave up and spoke to us in Japanese. I remember hearing "motto motto" and stuff. But you know what the biggest disapointment? The end. Well there was a long pause. . and that's when I just sank behind the wall and rested my head. I swear it would not stay up. I was headbashing so much that after a while my chin could reach my chest and my head felt disconnected from my neck. . ) And Henry pointed out to me one of Tsukasa's Drumsticks that landed right next to me. So of course I took it and nobody really noticed, but anyways I got back up, and here were the shouts "AN KO RU" "AN KO RU" (or Gan-Ba-Ray?)more chanting. . nothing. And the lights went back on. My heart sank. I wouldn't leave until the ushers told everyone to leave. At that point I was thinking. . .WHAT THE FUCK? I mean, there was no farewell, no encore. . and I know Desray normally plays at least 2. They didn't play Reddish, nor Quarter Void. They just. . left. Man this has been really bugging me. Possible reasons were that, we were in the first row, center, So you couldn't tell how the back audience was doing, They were also movie theater type seats, and no one was allowed to leave their seats. Which meant no flooding to the. . semi front of the stage. What also pisses me off, was if they just left like that, I mean no farewell, or encores, I'm thinking something must have gone wrong. It sucks that we were they're first American live and failed them as an audience. And it's not our fault either. Never hold a rock concert in a venue like the Montgomery theater. I know that Hizumi's microphone went off during a few songs, but was it really a technical problem? They got through the last song completely fine. See, and I think that's what left me depressed. No inspirational goodbyes, no nothing. They just walked off stage and that was it.
Post concert: (Go ahead and read this, there are Desray encounters)
OMG. I couldn't lift my head. So I walked straight outside with Shou and plopped down on a bench. I later went back into the entrance of the theater to see Aki, Asami Sama, vachu, mai, mommy and the rest of everybody. We talked. . lucky them, they were going to the San Francisco show today. *SIGH* I hate being a minor when things like these happen. I really wanted to go to see if they'd give a less dissapointing performance AT A BETTER VENUE. I really hope they weren't frustrated. We ended up walking to Mcdonalds and were lateer met up with Aware, Vachu, Aki and Asami who went to Ben and Jerry's. I told them all my backstage story. And we planned on going back the convention center just to play a few games. We were loitering around the restroom/parking lot area when I finally couldn't stand the fact that D'esray just left the stage without saying anything. So Shou and I ran to catch some of the Jpophouse members, Marty stayed behind to talk to us and said she didn't know what happened either. I didn't want to give the impression that I wanted to talk to them just to weasel information out of them to get to D'espairs Ray. So we went to play games, that para para thingy. And ehe, we saw the jpophouse members again walking towards the (hotel name not given because I don't want people flocking over there to stalk them) elevators. So we run to catch up to them, and up pops this tall skinny guy with orange long hair and goes over, I look a little harder and my heart stops, It was Karyu. So immediatly I grabbed Shou and started walking in the opposite direction. I'm not the type of person to go up to a celebrity and invade their privacy. So we go back and tell people about it, and continue playing video games when I spot Karyu again walking with some lady with a hat and braided hair. Karyu and I made eye contact and I look away. I don't say anything about it (I was surrounded by my friends). Then they come walking behind us again. . like a few feet away. . I realize the lady in the hat with the braided hair is Zero! So I tap shou on the shoulder and say "Dude, turn around, slowly. ." She does and everyone else notices. . then everyone starts getting excited and I said something along the lines of stay calm and pretend not to notice. They walk pass and sit right outside on the balcony. . .with their chairs facing us. So *guilty* I admit I glanced a few times back at them. But ehe, we had to leave at around seven. And it makes me wonder what Karyu and Zero were talking about. Mai and I are like the next generation of Karyu and Zero, and we kept thinking, "Damn, I'm wondering what they're saying about the live a few hours ago."
Pre concert-
Well, there was a huge crowd of people in the entrance of the montgomery. Man, I was afraid of over dressing, so I didn't wear anything complicated. . .and then I ended up being underdressed. . They were selling merchandise for Trashlight Vision and Despairs Ray on two tables. John got all of the backstage pass members to remind them that they were going to be pulled later on. As soon as we entered the theater (with Henry, Haido, Shou, Miya, Mai, Aki, Asami sama, Vachu, Amanda and Kiriyama (So sorry if I forgot your name) I noticed the hugest problem that contributed in kind of making the night a disappointment. There was an 8 foot orchestra pit that separated them from the audience. There were also movie theater type seats that made everything difficult too. That was like the signal. . no stage diving and less audience participation. I met the other backstage pass winners, Miyuki and james.. .Oli came later We talked for a while, I also realised that kidoairaku and her group of friends were sitting right next to us. Hah, I had dead center front row seats.
Trashlight Vision-
At around 2 ish the band trashlight vision went on. They were pretty good. The audience at first had sat down through the first few songs. They were a heavy band. . .the audience sitting isn't the most positive thing in the world. That ended as soon as the vocalist yelled, "Hey, nobody fucking told you guys that you had to sit down" and boom, everyone was off of their seats. It ended at around 3.
Backstage. . .
John came and got the 4 of us to take us backstage. Something to remember folks. . When they tell you to becareful because it's dark and you can't see where you're going, listen to them. Moving on we went backstage into this room below ground level. I was going to fucking vomit. My hands and knees were shaking like crazy. Then all of a sudden I hear John saying. . "don't be nervous." Miyuki and I kind of looked at eachother and went. . HAH. . Too late there. But anyways, there were 4 chairs and we met the infamous Harry of Jpophouse. He told us what was going to happen. That was basically we were allowed 2 photographs of the band, one with the group and one with our favorite member. He also told us that Tsukasa had to leave earlier to do a sound check on his drums. . (black fucking pearl man. . .*sigh*) While we were sitting down, Harry asked us if we were ready. . I was like "NO" in my mind. .but haha. So there was this hallway that lead to their drssing rooms and out comes. . .a dude with a camera. .haha. Then I think it was Tsukasa, then Karyu then Zero. the 3 of them stood out there while we were all kind of confused. Someone kept calling Hizumi and he finally came out. There was a good laugh (which broke the tenision, because it was dead freaking silent) until I made eye contact and then he looked away) First impression.
Karyu: OMG. . .I didn't realize he was that tall. . .I knew he was tall, but in person. . wow.
Zero: Shorter than I expected, also a lot more womanly than I expected.
Hizumi: Less intimidating that I thought he would look in person, but wow.
Tsukasa: Also shorter than I expected. But he just looked. . cool. And a tad menacing. .which added to the "i'm cool" effect."
So we introduced ourselves. Everyone was kind of surprised that I was a local. James was from LA and drove like 5 hours to get here, Miyuki is from fucking Seattle, Washington, and Oli was from Santa Cruz. We then took our pictures with the band. I was first and was as nervous as hell. After everyone took them, Tsukasa signed the kodak photographs and left (I'm sorry Aware, I didn't get to give him your bunny in person) Then we took individual pictures with our favorite member. I of course chose Hizumi, James chose Hizumi and Miyuki and Oli chose Karyu. HEH, most memorable fangirly enhanced moment. After the picture, I walked away without looking back because I was extremely shy. But Hizumi grabbed me and turned me around then shook my hand. I know it's not that significant, but if you've been a die hard fan of his and that happens, you'd know what I mean. Next came the part where we asked questions. It was silent. . .then I spoke up and asked them how they liked America in comparison with Europe. They gave me a weird answer along the lines of "It reminds us of Japan ." I was thinking, "WHAT?" But then I thought about how Mai and I back in the 8th grade went to PGA, and while we were passing downtown San Jose, Mai said, "Wow, this reminds me so much of Japan" James asked something about the producer of one of their demo tapes and how they got him to do it. I asked another question and got another really weird answer. "What inspired you to become a musician?" "it came naturally" The problem then I think was the translator. Curse my Japanese inability. Another one James asked had been "how does the new album sound?" and the response, "Heavier than before" niiice. I'm a little ticked off at the fact that it was so rushed. I mean, we asked 3 questions then they told us to hurry up because they had to leave. OMG. . Oli asked for a kiss from Karyu. . .then she's the only person I know with that kind of guts to actually went up to him and freaking kissed him on the cheek. We all stood there. .everyone in the room stood there shocked, then you hear a japanese male "OOOOO" (probably Zero) and we had a good laugh. Then I gave them Aware's Vunnies. I couldn't really see their reaction. After, each of the members shook our hand and that was it. We walked back down and I was VERY CLOSE TO FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS. If anyone there heard a loud female "OH FUCK" that was me. . But when the 4 of us walked out, the audience started cheering. That was pretty cool. We sat down and everyone wanted to touch us, it was so weird. Then it had sunk in. . I met D'espairs Ray and then I lost it. . and all I remember saying was "OMGOMGOMG. "
The concert-
Well Tsukasa pretty much roused the audience during his little "sound check" haha. FINALLY the curtains started to slowly open. I was a little disappointed that they didn't use that voice, like "D'esapirs. . .blah blah blah." Marty from jpophouse had told us they were going to do so. Only the first row was allowed to leave their seats, which I think caused a lot of problems. And boom, Hizumi is standing there with great lighting looking menacing it was fucking awesome. Zero is to his right with the same emotionless stare as always, and Karyu with the lighting in the background was also fucking cool. The first song they played was Born. Immediatly the first row was pressed up against the wall that kept the audience from falling down that 8 foot orchestra pit. And of course, I began my immediate headbashing. Hah, I had the best seat right in front of Hizumi, dead freaking center front row. Ok because of my bad memory I can't remember the set list. Hopefully it will be posted later on. I know they played (out of order) Born, Marry of the Blood, Garnet, Fuyuu Shita Risou, Facism, Garnet, Tatoeba Kimi Ga Shindara, Maverick, Oboro no tsuki. . BUT THE NEW SONGS ROCK. . one of them I fell in love with, I am definitely getting Coll:Set. Here's where that god damned Orchestra pit ruined it. There was no stage diving nor infamous Karyu backflips into the audience. Hizumi, Karyu, and Zero all went as close the edge as possible. It also made it harder to connect to the audience. WHICH FUCKING SUCKED. Moving on. They walked in front of the speakers (which were placed accordingly so the band knew that that was the edge of the stage and wouldn't fall. I vaguely remember Hizumi trying to talk to us in english "ARE YOU HAVING FUN???" But kinda gave up and spoke to us in Japanese. I remember hearing "motto motto" and stuff. But you know what the biggest disapointment? The end. Well there was a long pause. . and that's when I just sank behind the wall and rested my head. I swear it would not stay up. I was headbashing so much that after a while my chin could reach my chest and my head felt disconnected from my neck. . ) And Henry pointed out to me one of Tsukasa's Drumsticks that landed right next to me. So of course I took it and nobody really noticed, but anyways I got back up, and here were the shouts "AN KO RU" "AN KO RU" (or Gan-Ba-Ray?)more chanting. . nothing. And the lights went back on. My heart sank. I wouldn't leave until the ushers told everyone to leave. At that point I was thinking. . .WHAT THE FUCK? I mean, there was no farewell, no encore. . and I know Desray normally plays at least 2. They didn't play Reddish, nor Quarter Void. They just. . left. Man this has been really bugging me. Possible reasons were that, we were in the first row, center, So you couldn't tell how the back audience was doing, They were also movie theater type seats, and no one was allowed to leave their seats. Which meant no flooding to the. . semi front of the stage. What also pisses me off, was if they just left like that, I mean no farewell, or encores, I'm thinking something must have gone wrong. It sucks that we were they're first American live and failed them as an audience. And it's not our fault either. Never hold a rock concert in a venue like the Montgomery theater. I know that Hizumi's microphone went off during a few songs, but was it really a technical problem? They got through the last song completely fine. See, and I think that's what left me depressed. No inspirational goodbyes, no nothing. They just walked off stage and that was it.
Post concert: (Go ahead and read this, there are Desray encounters)
OMG. I couldn't lift my head. So I walked straight outside with Shou and plopped down on a bench. I later went back into the entrance of the theater to see Aki, Asami Sama, vachu, mai, mommy and the rest of everybody. We talked. . lucky them, they were going to the San Francisco show today. *SIGH* I hate being a minor when things like these happen. I really wanted to go to see if they'd give a less dissapointing performance AT A BETTER VENUE. I really hope they weren't frustrated. We ended up walking to Mcdonalds and were lateer met up with Aware, Vachu, Aki and Asami who went to Ben and Jerry's. I told them all my backstage story. And we planned on going back the convention center just to play a few games. We were loitering around the restroom/parking lot area when I finally couldn't stand the fact that D'esray just left the stage without saying anything. So Shou and I ran to catch some of the Jpophouse members, Marty stayed behind to talk to us and said she didn't know what happened either. I didn't want to give the impression that I wanted to talk to them just to weasel information out of them to get to D'espairs Ray. So we went to play games, that para para thingy. And ehe, we saw the jpophouse members again walking towards the (hotel name not given because I don't want people flocking over there to stalk them) elevators. So we run to catch up to them, and up pops this tall skinny guy with orange long hair and goes over, I look a little harder and my heart stops, It was Karyu. So immediatly I grabbed Shou and started walking in the opposite direction. I'm not the type of person to go up to a celebrity and invade their privacy. So we go back and tell people about it, and continue playing video games when I spot Karyu again walking with some lady with a hat and braided hair. Karyu and I made eye contact and I look away. I don't say anything about it (I was surrounded by my friends). Then they come walking behind us again. . like a few feet away. . I realize the lady in the hat with the braided hair is Zero! So I tap shou on the shoulder and say "Dude, turn around, slowly. ." She does and everyone else notices. . then everyone starts getting excited and I said something along the lines of stay calm and pretend not to notice. They walk pass and sit right outside on the balcony. . .with their chairs facing us. So *guilty* I admit I glanced a few times back at them. But ehe, we had to leave at around seven. And it makes me wonder what Karyu and Zero were talking about. Mai and I are like the next generation of Karyu and Zero, and we kept thinking, "Damn, I'm wondering what they're saying about the live a few hours ago."