(no subject)
Concert Review. . .entire review coming later.
Family Values Tour
So hrrm, here is my semi brief review. What I notice is, a band's interaction with the audience REALLY improves the performance.
Droid-
These guys were decent. Heavy stuff.. . not too original. But fun to headbang to.
Walls of Jericho-
Ok, this band rocked. It was probably my favorite performance of the night (yes, more than dir en grey) I was so surprised to see a female metal vocalist do so well. And it was ironic because she was um. . . "cute" onstage (and had a male like screaming metal voice!) . But her audience involvement was awesome. It was probably the best I've seen the crowd react (um the time I was there. . .Skipping out on stuff after Dir en grey) I will look further into this band.
Bullets and Octane-
Only reason I've heard of these guys before was that Dir en grey thing with Die and teaching them how to shotgun. But they were pretty good. The best part for me was probably the Drummer. I love it when you can see someone so enthusiastically play their instrument. The vocalist was very charismatic.
Deadsy-
Ok i thought they sucked. The music was lacked the important element of being remotely "catchy" It reminded me of one of those cyber goth things with endless screaming and heavy dark guitar riffs. Very bland and boring.
Bury Your Dead-
Ok I'll say that this band rocked because the bassist was awesome. Hahaha. . .well more like he was really nice. Um, by this time I didn't get any sleep last night, I didn't eat anything but a piece of manju for about. . .16 hours. I didn't DRINK anything for that long. . and I've been waiting inline in the freaking sun for hours. I was seriously about to pass out. (and I think i was dehydrated) So he looked at us and made a "drinking water motion" and I desperately nodded "FUCK YES, NOOOW PLEASE" and instead of throwing the open water bottle into the crowd, he gently tossed 2 closed ones to us. I seriously would have passed out if he didn't do that.
BUT ANYWAYS. Yaah this band had a good audience reaction because they knew how to perform.
10 Years-
The music was ok. . .enough to pass. I liked the vocalists voice. (and once again, he interacted very well with the audience) But nothing really stood out. (except maybe his hair dreads)
and of course, Dir en grey
as soon as 10 years left the stage I was nervous. I'm not a huge Dir en grey fan, but honestly, this was my first time seeing the hugest (former vk) rock band in Japan. The band that starts 70% of fans off with jrock. The band that has thousands of fangirls and elitists alike. The band that if you know about visual kei. . .you HAVE to at least heard of Dir en grey. And I kind of expected something like stuff at the Rock Am Ring 2005. The Japanese roadies came on and everyone started screaming. And of course, out comes Harry Lo. . . He was near the front of the stage and I was SERIOUSLY DEBATING weather I should have thrown my empty water bottle at him or not. I was like. . .ok is it worth looking like a complete ass for this tiny 5 minute frame of satisfaction? And I went as far as picking up the water bottle and though "naaaah". It was kind of a cool moment when they raised the banner saying "dir en grey" with the atomic bomb in the background. Of course the first 3 rows are cheering DIR EN GREY DIR EN GREY. And I look at the people behind me (non deg fans) going wtf. . .It was more like "ugh, we heard about you stupid dir en grey fans already" kind of wtf. After a long set up (and um what was it 10 minutes of hitting the same fucking tom over and over) the band came out.
They started with GDS. . but all kind of entered all at once. But it was a good way to get us "in the mood" I don't know the setlist at all. (I'm not a big enough fan to recognize the songs very well) but I know they played Cleaver Sleazoid, Saku, Dead Tree, Ryoujoku no ame and other songs. Haha. All I can say was, I was dissapointed. People put this band so high on a pedestal that you expect more. I know that they're probably better in Japan. . but even for that there's no excuse. (and I will explain more about that later) I was sitting on Kaoru's side of the stage, so I didn't get to see Die much ( in second row) Kyo did his normal "fish hookk" "chest scratching" and "belly rubbing" stuff. I headbanged my ass off and screamed and what not. . because I love concerts. Kaoru interacted with the audience through mild gestures telling them to make more noise or something. But every now and then I'd take a look back and um, the entire audience, save for the first 3 pit rows of Dir en grey fans gave them entirely blank stares. Funny tidbit, some idiot didn't screw in Kyo's "midget stool" correctly, so when he jumped on top of it, it toppled and fell off. He uh, played it off quite nicely by screaming his ass off on the floor and proceeded to sit in front of Shinya's double bass Pearl for 2 minutes or so. (I was thinking he actually got hurt for a while) BUT was dissapoints me about Dir en grey lives, is that aside from Kyo, all of the members just stand still, aside from the occasional headbashing. In Japan this is fine. . but when you're the underdog of the tour, you need to use your energy to communicate with the audience and win them over as much as possible. You need to perform with enthusiasm. (or more than what Dir en grey displayed). So apparently Kyo was pissed off and as soon as the finished the last song, just left the stage. AND NONE OF THE INFAMOUS BUCKET. DAMN. IT WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE TOO.
After the live everyone was talking about how "Omg it was because fans were screaming while Kyo is singing" or "omg they were pissed off because people were taking pictures" But I honestly thought it was because when you have only the first 3 rows of an entire stadium headbanging and the REST of the crowd is giving you blank stares, it's kind of nerve racking. . .just a little. I'm going to get stoned for saying this, but this is me giving you my honest opinion. Dir en grey forgot what it was like to be the underdog. Even Deadsy. . which received basically NO response from the audience, played it through, talked in between songs and gave a farewell. When you just leave the stage pissed off like that, it's like "well fuck. . ." Think about it from an outsider's opinion. You're a Korn fan and this new foreign band has joined a tour that you've been going to for years. (emphasis on NEW and FOREIGN) you're going to be extra judgemental, more likely to criticize and much more of a skeptic. When you see this band not really doing anything (besides kyo) kind of playing their songs in one place (the other indie bands at fvt were running around giving a performance) it's hard to get into it. Or you can place yourself in the opposite, You're at a Dir en grey Budokan live and this American emo band comes out. You're basically waiting for them to get the fuck over with their performance so you can see Dir en grey.
As for them leaving the stage because of the two above rumors. If they did, I'm sorry but that's fucking stupid of them.
1. "Omg it was because fans were screaming while Kyo is singing"
Why the hell would they expect American fans to shut up. This is a METAL TOUR. If they get pissy over something trivial like that they really shouldn't be here. I know it's rude but it's not Japan. If they choose to attact an American audience, they need to deal with American customs. (and kyo's mike volume should have been higher)
2. The Camera one
Well it's not like ANYONE SAID ANYTHING about "no taking pictures" when we got there. Don't expect a majority of the people there to know beforehand "Oh kyo HATES pictures" Fuck, if you're a casual listener, you don't know shit like that, and it shouldn't be expected either. So that would be the fault of their management for not saying anything to the venue.
Family Values Tour
So hrrm, here is my semi brief review. What I notice is, a band's interaction with the audience REALLY improves the performance.
Droid-
These guys were decent. Heavy stuff.. . not too original. But fun to headbang to.
Walls of Jericho-
Ok, this band rocked. It was probably my favorite performance of the night (yes, more than dir en grey) I was so surprised to see a female metal vocalist do so well. And it was ironic because she was um. . . "cute" onstage (and had a male like screaming metal voice!) . But her audience involvement was awesome. It was probably the best I've seen the crowd react (um the time I was there. . .Skipping out on stuff after Dir en grey) I will look further into this band.
Bullets and Octane-
Only reason I've heard of these guys before was that Dir en grey thing with Die and teaching them how to shotgun. But they were pretty good. The best part for me was probably the Drummer. I love it when you can see someone so enthusiastically play their instrument. The vocalist was very charismatic.
Deadsy-
Ok i thought they sucked. The music was lacked the important element of being remotely "catchy" It reminded me of one of those cyber goth things with endless screaming and heavy dark guitar riffs. Very bland and boring.
Bury Your Dead-
Ok I'll say that this band rocked because the bassist was awesome. Hahaha. . .well more like he was really nice. Um, by this time I didn't get any sleep last night, I didn't eat anything but a piece of manju for about. . .16 hours. I didn't DRINK anything for that long. . and I've been waiting inline in the freaking sun for hours. I was seriously about to pass out. (and I think i was dehydrated) So he looked at us and made a "drinking water motion" and I desperately nodded "FUCK YES, NOOOW PLEASE" and instead of throwing the open water bottle into the crowd, he gently tossed 2 closed ones to us. I seriously would have passed out if he didn't do that.
BUT ANYWAYS. Yaah this band had a good audience reaction because they knew how to perform.
10 Years-
The music was ok. . .enough to pass. I liked the vocalists voice. (and once again, he interacted very well with the audience) But nothing really stood out. (except maybe his hair dreads)
and of course, Dir en grey
as soon as 10 years left the stage I was nervous. I'm not a huge Dir en grey fan, but honestly, this was my first time seeing the hugest (former vk) rock band in Japan. The band that starts 70% of fans off with jrock. The band that has thousands of fangirls and elitists alike. The band that if you know about visual kei. . .you HAVE to at least heard of Dir en grey. And I kind of expected something like stuff at the Rock Am Ring 2005. The Japanese roadies came on and everyone started screaming. And of course, out comes Harry Lo. . . He was near the front of the stage and I was SERIOUSLY DEBATING weather I should have thrown my empty water bottle at him or not. I was like. . .ok is it worth looking like a complete ass for this tiny 5 minute frame of satisfaction? And I went as far as picking up the water bottle and though "naaaah". It was kind of a cool moment when they raised the banner saying "dir en grey" with the atomic bomb in the background. Of course the first 3 rows are cheering DIR EN GREY DIR EN GREY. And I look at the people behind me (non deg fans) going wtf. . .It was more like "ugh, we heard about you stupid dir en grey fans already" kind of wtf. After a long set up (and um what was it 10 minutes of hitting the same fucking tom over and over) the band came out.
They started with GDS. . but all kind of entered all at once. But it was a good way to get us "in the mood" I don't know the setlist at all. (I'm not a big enough fan to recognize the songs very well) but I know they played Cleaver Sleazoid, Saku, Dead Tree, Ryoujoku no ame and other songs. Haha. All I can say was, I was dissapointed. People put this band so high on a pedestal that you expect more. I know that they're probably better in Japan. . but even for that there's no excuse. (and I will explain more about that later) I was sitting on Kaoru's side of the stage, so I didn't get to see Die much ( in second row) Kyo did his normal "fish hookk" "chest scratching" and "belly rubbing" stuff. I headbanged my ass off and screamed and what not. . because I love concerts. Kaoru interacted with the audience through mild gestures telling them to make more noise or something. But every now and then I'd take a look back and um, the entire audience, save for the first 3 pit rows of Dir en grey fans gave them entirely blank stares. Funny tidbit, some idiot didn't screw in Kyo's "midget stool" correctly, so when he jumped on top of it, it toppled and fell off. He uh, played it off quite nicely by screaming his ass off on the floor and proceeded to sit in front of Shinya's double bass Pearl for 2 minutes or so. (I was thinking he actually got hurt for a while) BUT was dissapoints me about Dir en grey lives, is that aside from Kyo, all of the members just stand still, aside from the occasional headbashing. In Japan this is fine. . but when you're the underdog of the tour, you need to use your energy to communicate with the audience and win them over as much as possible. You need to perform with enthusiasm. (or more than what Dir en grey displayed). So apparently Kyo was pissed off and as soon as the finished the last song, just left the stage. AND NONE OF THE INFAMOUS BUCKET. DAMN. IT WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE TOO.
After the live everyone was talking about how "Omg it was because fans were screaming while Kyo is singing" or "omg they were pissed off because people were taking pictures" But I honestly thought it was because when you have only the first 3 rows of an entire stadium headbanging and the REST of the crowd is giving you blank stares, it's kind of nerve racking. . .just a little. I'm going to get stoned for saying this, but this is me giving you my honest opinion. Dir en grey forgot what it was like to be the underdog. Even Deadsy. . which received basically NO response from the audience, played it through, talked in between songs and gave a farewell. When you just leave the stage pissed off like that, it's like "well fuck. . ." Think about it from an outsider's opinion. You're a Korn fan and this new foreign band has joined a tour that you've been going to for years. (emphasis on NEW and FOREIGN) you're going to be extra judgemental, more likely to criticize and much more of a skeptic. When you see this band not really doing anything (besides kyo) kind of playing their songs in one place (the other indie bands at fvt were running around giving a performance) it's hard to get into it. Or you can place yourself in the opposite, You're at a Dir en grey Budokan live and this American emo band comes out. You're basically waiting for them to get the fuck over with their performance so you can see Dir en grey.
As for them leaving the stage because of the two above rumors. If they did, I'm sorry but that's fucking stupid of them.
1. "Omg it was because fans were screaming while Kyo is singing"
Why the hell would they expect American fans to shut up. This is a METAL TOUR. If they get pissy over something trivial like that they really shouldn't be here. I know it's rude but it's not Japan. If they choose to attact an American audience, they need to deal with American customs. (and kyo's mike volume should have been higher)
2. The Camera one
Well it's not like ANYONE SAID ANYTHING about "no taking pictures" when we got there. Don't expect a majority of the people there to know beforehand "Oh kyo HATES pictures" Fuck, if you're a casual listener, you don't know shit like that, and it shouldn't be expected either. So that would be the fault of their management for not saying anything to the venue.