WhirlingBlack

9 hours ago, Bear said:

Getting drunk on a thursday despite having to go to work on friday. That's what great weather does to one where I live. Haven't had this nice weather in a long time, and even now it's not all that.

 

Also, I don't get 99% of Blackdoll's posts when he/she posts about music. It's all a big, far WTF, every single time.

Getting drunk due to good weather is almost as good of an excuse as concerts!

Here in Japan I have sun and concerts almost every day so... life is quite the party.

It sounds EXACTLY as on CD. They perform it without any changes.

Right, I guess the hair was only in a status update after the live. 

Haha, you didn't take my word for it?

Dir is still managed through free will, it was hardly a dramatic separation that needed to be negotiated under the table. I'm just saying that Yoshikis involvement was of marginal importance given their already quickly rising fame at that point. The curve was already pointing in the right direction and he just jumped on the chance to put his brand on another band that was a surefire success.

Also, I'm glad you have friends. Keep it up.

Agreed, not be able to even fill Budokan after being around for a whole year is a real disgrace.

Also source on that Dir en greys success is due to Yoshiki money. He just produced their major debut singles. Songs which were already written and done by the time he came into the picture, lol.

I feel like all newcomers overestimate his importance to Dir en grey vastly.

Okay, got the setlist up at setlist.fm

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/dir-en-grey/2017/kochi-prefectural-culture-hall-kchi-japan-73e4561d.html

the encore was:

Taiyou no Ao

[Kr]Cube

Un deux

Utafumi

Rasetsukoku

I'll have to get back to you about the main set tomorrow when I've checked my notes unless someone else posts it first.

Okay, here's as much details as I can remember right now:

They played the entire MACABRE album. They did the original 10 minute version of MACABRE, but the remakes of Hydra and Rasetsukoku.

They also played ain't afraid to die and children, but no Ash, hoping for that later along the tour.

Of the newer material they did Uroko, Un deux and Utafumi.

The band was quite active and put on a good show, walking around and interacting with the crowd. They used a screen similar to the Blitz 5 Days performance during Deity and Macabre.

To be honest, this whole event was a disappointment in comparison to what could've been. Don't get me wrong, Dir performed excellently and based on the reactions of the Pierrot fans so did they, but it was just like watching two shorter than usual oneman sets tacked on top of each other rather than the special clash between the legendary 90s vk bands it was billed as. They barely even acknowledged each other beyond short mcs. Based on what could've been, I did leave feeling disappointed, despite that Dir performed a really good set the second day.

It's quite blatantly obvious at this point that X is merely a cash grab. Yoshiki spends more time licensing and branding sub-par shit than doing any form of music. Selling some re-packaged footage at obscene price points and playing short "dinner shows"  where only elderly businessmen and Yakuza have the economical means to attend seems to be their game these days.

Stop embarrassing the name of X Japan any further and disband, please.

Nightingeil revival is later this month. I call fake news on this.

I'm not PARTICULARLY good at any of them but I enjoy singing them all. I try to do as many all night karaokes as humanly possible every time I'm in Japan and basically attempt anything that doesn't contain a lot of growling. I mostly do Dir en grey since that's what I'm most familiar with lyrics-wise in advance but I always try to go along with anything VK other people choose too. If I have to choose though, then Dir en grey's JEALOUS and unknown...despair...a lost has a special spot in my heart (and karaoke playlist.)

When actual quality acts that still have some relevance comes, it does gather a decent amount of audience. The problem is when you bring flops like Adams and glorified karaoke in the form of satsuki and then wonder why no one shows up. They dilute the interest in the scene and when casuals see and wonder if this is the best vk can bring they'll move on to something else. 

The tour organisers have a large responsibility in that things are the way they are right now.

This is not the first time this has happened. I can't help but wonder if the guy who runs B7Klan is out of his depth trying to do this business. 

Quite frankly I'm surprised bands want to deal with him after all these things, cancelling a tour this close to when it's about to start feels very unprofessional. 

Then again, he might be the last one left so they don't have much choice if they want to play gigs in Europe. 

Even though I wasn't going to attend, it's sad for the fandom at large that this keeps happening.

55 minutes ago, Carmelzors said:

暗闇に咲く花 or ズタズタ are not reasonable choices really since only western Mucc nostalgists endorse this - and it has been quite clear to Mucc as well since they haven't performed them for ages nor they would anymore.

Mucc played both of these songs in 2016. Should probably research for five minutes before presenting your theories as facts! 

Hoping for kranke cover by sukekiyo.

Same months, yes. 

The marrow tour was held roughly around the same time as the original marrow tour in Japan as well. 

Closely, but not exactly.

Unless I'm mistaken it closely matches the tour dates of the original withers and withers tour in 2005, could be that.

Sukekiyo has covered Orgasm by X Japan as well last December.

I just hope that the interesting artists choose material from the first half of the MUCC discography, what the rest do I couldn't care less about.

I'll believe it when I actually hold the album in my hands at the gig in July. 

Hej, om det finns någon här som inte är med än i vår Facebook grupp så tänkte jag passa på att göra reklam för vår klubb. Vi har dragit igång Klubb Lunacy igen som var en nattklubb som spelade Visual Kei och J-rock musik mellan 2004 och 2010 i Stockholm. Datumet för denna revival blir 1 September! Alla som kan, kom dit och hjälp gärna till att sprida eventet till vänner!

https://www.facebook.com/KlubbLunacy/

4 hours ago, Tokage said:

At least one positive thing I can say about these guys is that they finally seem to realize encores are fucking pointless :^)

Heresy! Encores are an integral part of setlist planning. I say this as someone who have spent way too much time writing setlists for bands I like. They can provide a necessary break to not cause an abrupt break in the flow between styles (see Dir en grey doing their Marrow of a bone tour busting out MISSA material during the encore), as a way to build tension and expectation and to just allow the band a chance to breathe so they can have energy to squeeze out a few more tracks instead of perform a measly 15 songs.

5 hours ago, shiroihana said:

That's another thing. I noticed that if an indie band sounds just a little bit similar to a major band, people will reduce all of that indie band's work down to being a cheap ripoff / copy of said major band. It's phenomenal really, there's no logic to it whatsoever.

This is problematic because the same argument are used by delusional fans to claim that a band is completely original when they're clearly not. I take Grieva as an obvious example. I don't mind them, and I think they can be fun and a nice listen on occasion, but when people say that they haven't ripped Dir en grey off in several tracks, they're deluded. You can literally sing the lyrics to DIARY on top of a karaoke version of JEALOUS and it would mostly fit.

As  for "hatred", I think that people just try to assert their opinions about a band and assume that everyone understands that the "in my opinion" is implied. I like several things other people deem terrible, and vice versa people enjoy a lot of things I think is absolutely horrendous. And since the VK fandom is so heavily invested in their bands, when opinions clash it tend to lead to argument and people taking it as a personal insult. I don't think this is going to change any time soon so we just have to do our best to argue WHY we do/don't like something and then let everyone have a constructive debate.