Kaye

I have to admit that when I checked it out earlier today I never expected it to be THIS heavy but here we are. I was supposed to see them live last week but their flight got delayed (and some other stuff happened) so they never arrived on time to play their set. I did get to talk to Ryo when I went to get some merch but seeing the apologetic nice guy in front of me - no taller than I am - in comparison with this almost feels like a huge mindfuck.

Last time I saw them live that was basically me with their latest album. I listened to it once, forgot all about it, saw them live and thought the songs weren't half bad because of them performing them as they do with all their other stuff. It has nowhere near the same energy nor feel as their older work, but at least it's manageable when there's good songs across the setlist anyway. (Sadly those will get less and less the more bland things they release) Used to love them and grew older with them (I'm the same age as Taka) but at this point I got to say lil bro's band is far more interesting and I hope they stay that way. OOR fell victim to the blandness of a lot of the American bands they tour with and those on their American label 😕

It looks like steak with fries and ketchup, with a glass of red wine on the side. Doubt this is breakfast and if it is then... you do you, Shinya!

It's mostly been flowy indeed, but right now it was just more the whole package of his poses + the really long hair atm going everywhere. Seen them about 6 times since the Dozing Green Tour in 2007 so I've seen a few hairstyles pass I guess? He's definitely had it shorter than it is now during that time. And I guess styles do a lot as well, since they look somewhat different for every single tour anyway. Which reminds me, it feels like Kaoru is de-aging or something. Must be the cut + blue in his hair.

Not really. It just felt like he was trying too hard to be cool and awesome in comparison to the times I've seen them before! The whole hair-waving thing doesn't help much for me. But yeah, I'm not hating or anything. It made me laugh more than anything.

Aha, yeah, assumed you mentioned that queue! But I didn't see any of that indeed. We queued for the merch for a bit for my friends but that went fairly easy too. I get the feeling of "not wanting to annoy" people but at the same time it's not like we pushed our way through (wouldn't do that since I don't like that myself either). Just used the open bits in-between people before the gig started and then went along with the movement of the crowd as soon as it did start. I was a bit uncertain as well at first since it's the first time I saw Diru in Germany but in London or Paris it hasn't ever really been an issue. Don't remember much of Utrecht years ago but that was a boring crowd back then anyway. As long as you were happy where you were it's all fine, isn't it? Everyone has their own gig habits anyway.

Die's act is borderline cringe tbh. It's just too much. We got in really late too tbh. We knew they were starting at 8 and I think we got there little after half past 7. I don't even know what queue you're talking about! I'm used to going to metalcore gigs and such so we just made our way through the crowd/pit as usual heheh

Ah! We were right behind those seated just before the concert started, and then moved to the left of the kyokyokyo girl so it's very possible I was right next to you at some point. The twins (if we're talking about the same dudes with the same tourshirts on) ended up in the pit near the end as well and ended to my left side. I was right in-between the pit and the people staying put for most of the gig!

I was probably veeeery close to you then. Actually got behind two very tall dudes (they basically looked like twins?) as well but moved around with the moshpit's side from time to time.😛 The Kyokyokyo girl got on my nerves though (and some of the other ones absolutely disregarding everyone near because they wanted to just dance and jump and mosh whether there was space or not). Also, did you mention you had to wait 70min? Website said Diru started playing at 8 though! (though they were late anyway...) Nothing will ever beat the 2007 Dozing Green gig for me but this was one hell of a gig as well. Kyo was great as usual and I finally realized I actually do quite like Toshiya. (Die can drop his whole poser act though, pls)

These idiots (For the vocaloid fans here, the bassist is Kemu and also their main composer)

Als Vlaams ook mag dan heb ik misschien wel enkele interessante films in mn achterhoofd. Denk niet dat ik recent iets echt Nederlands heb gezien.

Watching very little this summer somehow and hardly anything can keep my attention fully as well. Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger and Banana Fish are being really consistent at least. Definite faves of the season. Satsuriku no Tenshi is a fun surprise. Even if I'm mainly watching to hear Zack's VA go batshit as usual (as if he isn't yelling enough as Bakugo in BNHA yet) Will I ever understand the hype for SNK? I doubt it. I just wish someone would eat Eren and Mikasa already so Levi can be the lead he deserves to be.

Very likely I'll be checking Diru again as well. I think I've only missed one tour since 2007? Maybe two? Just got to decide which country to go to this time around.

Speaking from the pov of someone who's interviewed lots of western bands + is European: you don't "break" into the European scene. People just happen to pick up your music or they don't unless you're with some bigass label that pushes it towards mediaplatforms. The recordlabels in Europe that have Japanese bands signed are mainly responsible for distribution of the CDs, as well as getting them venues/promo when they come to Europe for tours. They don't promo them with a big PLAY THESE DUDES PLS. Rockbands in these type of genres get around by touring, not by getting played on a radiostation or anything. As for the US. I've heard it a lot from the bands I've spoken to, but it's more of a thing in the US than it is over here. We simply don't care much about language since we have loads of them in our surroundings. It doesn't NEED to be English. The US is simply more chauvinistic in that way where they want all their media to be English. Look at all the dubbing of anime, for instance. Sure, it happens in some countries here too but overall it's fairly tame in comparison + only for the children's shows. Or whenever they find some interesting European or Asian movie that isn't in English they feel the need to remake it with the idea that "people won't bother with subtitles" or something of the likes (They've done it with some of our local productions and then horribly failed). So there's part explanation in that too. Imo OOR would have done way better if they'd have just stuck to their original thing of mixing English and Japanese. Now they just sound like any other basic overproduced Fueled by Ramen band. Also, whether Diru sings in English or Japanese you wouldn't recognize it anyway so I'd highly doubt that being any indication as to why they charted or not. Additionally, Crossfaith, coldrain, Fact, and many other Japanese bands also have releases in the US and Europe, but since their genre isn't all that widely spread, neither will the sales of their stuff. Doesn't mean they don't have the fans to back the tours of course. I see this all the time since I'm a big post-hardcore/metalcore/whatever fan as well. The forum where I get my western stuff have coldrain/crossfaith/diru and are equally hyped for those than they are for the other releases. Crossfaith's been coming to a huge local festival for 3 or 4 years now and always has a huge crowd. If we're solely talking VK then I'm sure it's not a surprise it never "broke through". I mean, it's VK. Wanted to add that Japanese is also a very difficult language to get used to, so if people hardly ever hear it they'll always perceive it as "weird sounding". Meanwhile we're all used to Spanish, French, English and the likes so it's not as hard to adapt to songs sung in such languages.