Cereal Killer 13

Also, there are a ton of people, regardless of their political affiliation, who wear colored hair. Dyed hair is arguable more popular and accepted than it ever was, and so are piercings and makeup on men. 
The current social climate is arguably the best for Visual Kei, because alternative fashion is becoming more normalized as people just stop giving a fuck. I mean, Scene fashion is seeing a revival in 2020, and in recent years, Gothic Rock and Post Punk made a mini comeback. People are finally starting to no longer giving a fuck what you look like, or what you wear. 

Visual Kei was, and pretty much always will be a counterculture movement with a cult following. Things come and go in popularity. That's been the case with Nu Metal, Eurodance, etc.
 
Part of it is the fact that Harajuku culture is dead and J-Fashion is so toned down, and a proper J-Fashion revival is possible, but no matter what, Visual Kei isn't going to be the mainstream phenomenon it barely even was at one point. Its always gonna be a niche movement with niche music tastes. Japanese people and Americans always have, and always will be mainstream taste-wise. Thats the nature of things. No use getting mad about it, because there really is nothing you can really do about it. Just enjoy Visual Kei while it's still a thing. 

Couldn't possibly be worse than the band that opened the one time I saw them like 10 years ago. A few songs into their set, the guitars stopped working, and they couldn't fix it, so they just kept going. The singer said "Imagine this song with guitar!" 🤣

Mexico got an extra song.
 
But they were Saku and STU haha
 
Also kyo posted on his instagram that we should stop being wannabe weebs and listen more to their songs so that we can sing correctly next time.
 
 

This just popped out when I opened my Youtube page, and this is really really great!
Hehe, no mic accident this time, and the final part just makes me feel a lot of VINUSHKA vibes,
and I love it so much! Feel so grateful to the uploader for uploading this! 

At a metal show, yes. You may not enjoy metal shows; but that's the kind of crowd you'll draw when you're an "extreme" metal band with breakdowns.
 
And you can't blame the crowd for that. You should blame the band for that because this is the style of music they've chosen to create and perform. They've chosen to play drop-tuned 7 string guitars. They've chosen to have breakdowns in their songs.  They've chosen the setlist as it's currently constructed. They've chosen to emphasize heavy songs over ballads -- which were damn near non-existent in this tour. They've made these choices knowing exactly what kind of crowd they would draw.

And how often will a band encourage the crowd to make noise or sing along? I mean a live show by nature isn’t a quiet experience unless it’s a symphony or some shit. 

And other people pay to scream as loud as they can. So, yeah. That's kinda stupid, but what can you do.
Your freedom ends where their freedom starts, and in reverse.

Vkei bands rarely come to the states because it is significantly more expensive, and a logistical nightmare, than anywhere else to tour and most of these bands couldn’t draw a crowd of 100 people, so it’s not worth it. 
 
Dir en grey, and the GazettE have smart management because they’re two of the only vkei bands that could reliably come to the states and do well. This is why both bands on their tours of the states hit specific markets because I imagine they’re aware that people will travel a long distance to see them and then spend over $200 on merchandise. 
 
I bought a hoodie, shirt, and a tote bag to carry my merch. And that was small time compared to what other fans were buying. 
 
as long as this frenzy exists: as long as Dir en grey can reliably sell out shows in big markets, like they have pretty much done on this tour, while also selling a shit load of merchandise, they will come back sooner rather than later. 
 
And they’re one of the only vkei bands that can pull it off. There are non-VK bands like Boris who have big followings in the States; but the frenzy to buy merch is almost nonexistent compared to Dir en grey shows.

vk bands mostly, aside from acme and kaya

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/dir-en-grey/2019/house-of-blues-cleveland-oh-2b9a48c6.html

we need a show at an undisclosed location in the woods 14 people maximum. to purchase tickets you'll have to know kyo's real name and have spent at least 200 euros on the shipping of their cds that you bought exclusively from japan discoveries. 

Mediena, Virge and NAZARE are definitely my top 3. Other bands that I really like that come to my mind atm are SuG, ARCHEMI., Gossip, DEZERT, DIMLIM, DEXCORE, Schwarz Stein and Schwartz:Mist.
As for kpop/khiphop: BTS, M.I.B, Block B, Epik High, Drunken Tiger, MC Sniper, Outsider
As for western metal: 3TEETH, Powerwolf, Sabaton, Virgin Black, Amon Amarth
 
I might be forgetting something but I think those are all the most important ones ^^

man what the fuck lol

I do feel its too much. Specially since they started selling it at 50. The last time they came to the US i saw them at San Francisco and the hoodie was like 35 bucks.

I'm going to reinforce the stitching on the tote bag I was able to get in LA. I think all the goods are ugly but I was determined to spend $ and support. I really intended to buy CDs though... I was so ready $$$$ 

This is a crock of shit. My show is tomorrow and at this point I'm light weight thinking fuck merch. I have tickets to buy this week for the Crystal Lake show next year. As much as I like the hoodie I don't like feeling like I'm being scammed. 

Chicago got The Deeper Vileness.
 
Amazing show as expected. Kyo broke the mic during the last part of World of Mercy so it was mostly instrumental and there may or may not have been some blood during this song.
 
They played the full World of Mercy MV but cropped in the shape of a triangle so you could barely see shit.
 
Toshiya had some problems during the beginning of Aka but it was quickly fixed.

Prices went up again tonight here in chicago. Hoodie is 70 now

thought this was cute but fuck those merch prices

70 for hoodie? that's reaching sukekiyo levels of price 

Merch prices went up for tonight's show. Shirts are now 40 and hoodie is 65. Bag is 20

Looks good, thank god the hoodie isn't a zip-up, I hate those

No

Really cool hoodie.
 
algo got some "wordart" vibe from the white shirt hah