Nyasagi

2009 was just a hype period, Also many did learn about visual kei, what it means etc, so why would you still search it 10 years later?
I still think visual kei is big. MH is still running. And the reason why bands can't play in Europe / america is because they are too expensive or the bands which are coming aren't the bands people REALLY want to see. So no wonder why it will flop. of course back in the days it didn't really matter which band you would bring, but if you look up at those names, no real big band EVER came over back then. okay big names where despairs ray and dir en grey. And yes back then everybody loved them and I guess somehow also less expensive than bringing some bands now because Japanese people know that they are loved too overseas.
 
VKEI isn't dead not even in Japan. Maybe the real boom is out, but who knows what will happen in a few years a boom always CAN return.
 

I'm surprised that 2009 was the peak. It was already around that time I was complainin' how there's no good shows to attend lol. With that said, those shows that we did have sold very well and a few bands could even venture to have gigs in the second largest city of the country as well. 
I reckon the pop culture peak of visual kei in Finland was in 2007-2008 when the odd few bands made the telly and got gifted some magazine space. Shows were packed, the fashion was wild, no koreans gnawing in on the real estate, events that were associated with visual kei could actually be held at relatively low risk.
 
 
What's up for debate though, is how the new fanbase of the peak years wasn't able to recover from the crucial wave of hiatus', disbandments and stylistic changes that the most popular bands went through around the turn of the 2010's. Everyone should recall how often one heard people lamenting on the state of the scene with ambiguous claims of a lack of X, Y and Z, setting the scene for the gradual petering out either to the clutches of the koreans or just general normalcy. This is the way of the flesh for a fad certainly, and nobody is able to sustain creative output nor popularity for an extended period of time, but that's not all that there is to it. I suppose among great many other things, it's not unjust to consider public merely as fickle if their visual kei habit was dependent on the existence of Dio and Unsraw. Visual kei on the internet had good enough infrastructure to allow these people to discover new and old bands with relative ease, but one should still never underestimate the stupidity and the incapability of the rank and file to utilize such tools perfectly well in their disposal. There are still people who'll waltz into a conversation, feigning willful ignorance, saying "OH THESE BANDS OF TODAY AREN'T LIKE THE GIRUGAMESH OF YORE. SO WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT VISUAL KEI?". This means that relative interest is there; they haven't forgotten about it, so what gives? 
 
A certain contributing factor that I don't think gets brought up enough is the bush league organising and the sheer ineptitude of the promoters. The fad really blew its wad during the two years it was at its peak, and it wasn't sustainable. Absurdly dumb, dead certainly set for failure, shows got booked even as late as 2015: and anyone with a lick of sense ought to know that in the long term a no-show is always better than a small-shit show. When you're flopping the proper course of action is never to keep on flopping until you can flop no more, but to change the approach. Rest assured a lot of money and contacts have been squandered by idiots already one foot out the door. Unsraw's European tour is a classic example, and Merry's a more recent one. If you're not able to project that there's no demand, and that by booking this there'll be no demand in the future, then you're simply not helping.  
 
The networking on the local level wasn't great and at its worst there were even open divisions between the fanbase of privileged rich blogger cunts and those who took the train to shows from their shit provincial towns who could barely afford the mcdonald's and second hand converse ( I confess my dislike of the former, but I'm not merely projecting it. I heard many other people voice it also, completely unprovoked by yours truly. ) When enough shows and events are abjectly booked to fail with a lack of camaraderie to match, the rot is aggravated to spread into the brain, and eventually even the life support in form of a Gazette european tour won't do you no good. Their 2016 show in Helsinki did not sell out. That's equal to the sky falling out in visual kei terms.
 
A curious example of grassroots level organising seemingly done correct: take a look at the pictures of SANA's recent solo tour from from the backarse of eastern europe. Going through all those pictures you'll notice that while the central and western European crowds are only a handful at best, the Russian and Ukrainian shows pull a kind of a crowd that man of SANA's stature has no right of pulling. I'm terribly interested to find out how they've managed to do this. The only reason I can manage to come up with by speculation alone is that the fans of "Japanese stuff" are so organised, if not rabid, that when something is organised, enough effort is done that it'll pull enough solidarity to maintain the scene's health. I swear to God one of those Sana crowds has equal heads to what EAT YOU ALIVE or heidi had here in the past three years. It can't be that there's more fans of this shit there than in here just by sheer chance, luck and coincidence. 

I have always had a feeling that stuff like overdoses are more often reported in terms of the physical issue caused by the overdose.
Not to say I think every brain aneurysm or hemorrhage is a case of kakuseizai or anything, but any combination of smoking/heavy drinking/upper use puts you at a bigger risk than other people in the same age bracket. Plus like Zeus said, throw stress into the mix and it's all the more dangerous.

There is a pretty big example where a member of a very popular band passed away and the family asked for the reason not to be disclosed. The director of his label casually let slip the cause of his death was suicide in an interview online. Fans were very, very troubled to find this out, and a lot of them said they wished they had never seen it. There's definitely a tendency to not disclose suicide but since no one else has mentioned it yet I think it's in part to prevent fans from doing the same (hide copycats being an illustrative example of this happening). It's a real danger in the best of situations, but the themes and image of visual kei attract self-harmers and people who aren't always in a great mental state on top of that.

I found it and this thread is so vague it doesn't explain anything.

Dude, lol... fuck you . I'm past my teens and closer to my 30s, than 20s, I still like visual kei and I don't comment on tastes of people who listen to the music I dislike. I feel sorry for people who think adults have to be serious and do serious things, this is riddiculous. Just because most of the audience are teenage girls, it doesn't mean anyone else has to suddenly drop their interest, just because their age number became higher.

I'm out of here, finally found someone. I hope it will last

Jin forever.

''This Video Proves You've Been Buying Maxi-Singles Wrong Your Whole Life''
 
''A Man Postponed His Band's Album Release To Sell Potato Chips. The Reason Why Will Break Your Heart.''
 
''11 STDs Everyone Who Fucked Lycaon Members In 2010 Will Remember''
 

''This VK Musician Was Forced To Sell His Body To Fangirls For Lunch Money. What Happens Next Will Warm Your Heart.''
 

Deviloof's first English comment video with V STAR PROMOTION

It's a fucking nightmare if you don't trust each each other.
 
 
Don't come on too strong now. Good luck.

Nah, the downloads section is still here.

In my opinion "no-pictures" is a good thing. All the J-rock gigs/event's I've been in different countries (EU, Japan) has been having the same policy. Many times in EU I've been sadly seen the audience still taking pictures/video during the show despite the "no-photo" announcements before the gig and signs in the venue and it really makes me sad. After all, if you take the picture now you might never look back it again...
 
Nowadays it just feels that people are living through their smartphones and everyone is just concentrating to take pictures instead of the live itself. And for the artist... I guess "no-photos" is their asking and they're asking audience/fans to respect this. Band is selling photos that really look good and  are clear. It's part of their merchandise too - that'show they earn their money. If I was the performer on the stage I wouldn't want my pictures taken during the show by audience 'cause of the bad angles, sweating (sometimes that much that the make-up melts away) and the show itself that is going on.
 
And if you're in the VK gig you should be busy headbanging or making furi's XD

I love the "no pictures" policy, but hate people, who try to take them anyway. Like someone else who posted in this thread, I'm a very short person (154cm), so I can barely see anything even without that. Since I don't go to the front, I have to stay in the back and if someone takes out their phone to take photos, it pisses me off. I hardly go to the concerts anymore, but when I used to, it always annoyed me how much people misbehaved there. They don't care about the band's wishes, they care even less about the comfort of anyone around them.
 
During one of the lives I went to, I stood on a chair in the back, to be able to see anything. Soon after that, some kids pushed themselves in, next to me, almost making me fall. One of them took a camera out and I almost knocked it down when I was waving my arms during the concert. Its strap got caught on my finger, so she was very lucky it didn't fall and break. There was simply not enough space to take photos.
 
Professional photographers also tend to get in my view, which I dislike... there should be space between the stage and the audience, where the photographers come and take photos during the first few songs. It really disturbs shorter people when they stand in front of them.

Me taking one single blurry pic to brag on facebook later isn't going to kill anyone.
But I hate dumb cameras/phones in front of me the whole show.

I'm of the opinion that we should respect the bands wishes and not the other way around. I don't really care how much money you spent on a V.I.P ticket or whatever else.  The band doesn't have to tour in your country at all.  I think of the situation the same way I do for movie theater's. Cell phones are a distraction and should be put away until afterwards. Besides it's such a simple request. Why fight the band on it? 

I think it's a great rule to have. There's nothing worse than going to a gig where hundreds of people in front of you have their phone out, recording, taking pictures, some even on facebook. The band came all the way to your country and all you care about is looking at your phone? That's what I always think about people who have it out for the whole hour and a half.  Youre recording all these videos you probably won't watch ever again, let's be honest.  
 
One time when I went to see Miyavi, this douchelord kept filming his girlfriend for most of the gig, she was dancing to the songs and they were making people open space so he could film her. I'm sorry but... that's ridiculous.  When I went to see this other band, this girl was on facebook and instagram the whole time posting about it, instead of enjoying it. Call me a hippie, but events become a lot more enjoyable without a cellphone or whatever , since some people just don't have any knowledge of common courtesy. Whether you accept it or not, when someone has their phone out it's so hard to not keep glancing at the screen because our eyes are naturally attracted to it.  If a band asks for no pictures, it's not gonna kill me as much as I want proof that I saw them ,etc. It's not that hard to just accept it. I don't have a god complex towards bands, but I'm very thankful that they managed to come to my country and perform.
 
Also, another reason I'm against it is because I'm 1.52m in height and it's already a struggle to see the stage in normal conditions, but when there's someone that's nearly 2m high in front of me and they block the only small square of vision I have with an ipad, then I can't see a thing.
Of course, that's my problem. 

It's not just Japanese bands, some western artists have this policy and I LOVE it.
 
When I saw Danzig last year, it was a strict policy of no cell phones or cameras whatsoever. Anyone who took their phone out of their pocket to text, browse, sneak a photo, etc, was thrown out of the gig without a refund. It was stated on the ticket, but after a few morons tried to sneak shots, anyone who didn't get the idea already got it.
 
It gave the gig a COMPLETELY different feel and I enjoyed it. It added so much to the show; when the lights would cut out, when the spotlight would hit one band member, etc, there were no cell phones on all over the gig lighting it up and making you notice stuff going on elsewhere. 
 
I hope all major bands eventually adopt this practice.

When you multiply taking one or two pictures with the amount of people in the audience, it's an instant "sea of cameras."
 
I'd rather spend my time dancing and headbanging than taking a few shitty pictures I will never watch again. 

Yeah, not being allowed to take pics/record is a shitty rule and it should not be enforced. BUT, I really hate the "sea of cellphones" in some concerts... Dude, I want to watch the show, can you please get your fucking cellphone out of my way?

I think I'm one of the few people to actually say this is a good thing. Not specifically for the reason they say it is, but have you ever stood in a pit with people dancing and moshing around while a whole bunch of people are trying to film things and take pictures? You know how many times they look at you like you've murdered someone just because "oh no, my picture got ruined thanks to you". Then when they drop their phones and the screens crack, it's also your fault because you bumped into them. First few rows or balcony places are totally something else but don't take pics when you're in the middle of a moving crowd :/ (it's also annoying when other people who aren't filming are trying to look at what's happening on stage. You just get arms flinging around trying to take the perfect shot of their idols)
 
I'm also not really sure on what's so fun about watching a full gig through your phone/camera's screen while the people are playing right in front of you.

I don't take pictures at gigs do I don't mind it at all. In fact I think it's great.

As others have already mentioned before me, I think the biggest reason is to keep the perfect image and to not have unflattering pictures of the band members online.
 
Every single VK gig overseas that I've attended has had this policy. And I think it's great, because it frees the audience to just enjoy the concert instead of trying to capture the perfect picture of your favorite member (which will just fail miserably anyways). I don't think they enforce the policy to sell their own photosets though, since those are usually the official photos and not photos taken during concerts.

Kiryu sucks, their music is boring. Memento aren't a copy of them, their music sounds much better... and it makes me laugh when people say they're a copy. Did Kiryu invent the traditional Japan theme? LOL.
 
Anyway, it will be a loss, they're one of the best active bands in the scene.

Voted for D, because they have some good songs and they're amazing live. I've never liked Versailles.