Dir en grey EU Tour 2015

[Wicked Teletubby 528]

sorry, been busy touring. will report ASAP.

 

here's something to see:

[Wicked Teletubby 528]

"GELSENKIRCHEN ROCK IM REVIER, there were 70,000 people. Simultaneously, at the time they were watching METALLICA who was on the main stage in the warm indoors... We, who were on the second stage outdoors, struggled with everything reverberating in the midst of the rain and cold. Even if we were laughed at, and even if we were disgracing ourselves, there were people who waited for us. (Those) within the rain and the cold, I truly thank you.“

Toshiya (cameran post)

 

[Pretsy 1343]

I think I gave my two cents on this issue earlier but I will do this again since I FEEL REALLY ANNOYED ATM:

 

Sure, Rinkaku might be defo one of their best songs "ever" (I actually disagree on that matter but you will see why) - but like most Arche tracks out there, it really seems like the band NEVER considered the way live arrangements would sound if they stacked TONS of vocal and guitar tracks into the studio takes. Did they just, idk, rehearse their songs after studio recordings? Would be advisable for the sake of eliminating elements and factors that won't make it to the live arrangements or are highly dependent on Kyo's stamina btw.

 

If we have to measure superiority of their songs by live performances, their best songs usually tend to become much stronger and perhaps even "more epic" when performed live. This is not the case with e.g. fan favorites "Uroko", "Behind", "Revelation" and not even "Rinkaku" either - these numbers suffer from total lack of oomph when they resort to 5-man arrangement (Kyo meowing alone over two compressed guitars is not helping much lol). On the other hand, less favored tracks like "Cause" and "Tousei" retain their studio energy when performed live for some reason - guess it's the throwback to their earlier songwriting antics?

 

I really feel like missing those days when they could actually give new life to their studio tracks during lives and whatnot (I don't expect anyone to side with my thoughts on their live quality). Just what the hell they were thinking of after having a long post-Uroboros break? Should I put my tinfoil hat on and bring up their late songwriting complexes? Just...do these guys even write and perform songs together anymore?! 

 

/rant/

 

Sorry.

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

True, Tousei is performed pretty on point, too bad its still a pretty boring experience.

 

Personally, as someone who has seen ARCHE live, I can agree that Uroko lacks some of the album energy, I somehow want to say that its partly the audience fault though for not really getting into it, a lot of "great" live tracks like Rasetsukoku derive their energy equally from the band and the audience, so I look forward to seeing it develop, tracks with complex patterns tend to take longer for both band and audience to break into and if I had seen it in Japan I might've had a very different opinion about it.

"Behind a vacant image" only really gets any kind of drive in the last part and I'm confused as to why since it kind of relies heavily on that deep sludgy tone to keep it moving, but for some reason its very treble-happy and lacking low end live.

 

Revelation of mankind works well live, in my opinion, despite the complex vocal patterns. So does Rinkaku although I can agree the vocals part is a very case to case situation, but its been done well at least 7 or 8 out of the 9 times I've seen it so to me its within the error margin.

 

I want to say a contributing reason why tracks like Cause of Fickleness, Chain Repulsion, un Deux, etc. works so well live is that they're rythmically clear. Which is probably another reason why Rasetsukoku became a live classic as well.

[Pretsy 1343]

@WhirlingBlack: agreeing with most of your points BUT:

 

In case it's "partly the audience's fault" that Uroko gets much less oomph compared to say, fan-favorites Rasetsukoku or Hageshisa - we might as well question that why audience is not "really getting into it". Instrumentally it runs somewhere in between elements that old and new fans love in Dir respectively - catchy chorus and clean verses? Check. Banging verses and generally "brutal" (let's assume so) energy? Check. So by that sense the recipe for "Uroko" is about the same as in their earlier fast-tempo fan favorites (Saku, Clever Sleazoid etc.). 

 

So what was the issue again?

 

Yes, vocal department. No matter what kind of review or POV is in question - most fans noted that this Moi Dix Mois-y vocal line is the "strength", "the focal point" of Uroko. Consequently, the fact that Kyo's performance of this feat didn't really live up to fans' expectations (then again, "meowing") makes it less "enjoyable" as a result. Feel free to disagree but late Dir fans are mostly dependent on Kyo's vocal work in a vast number of Uroboros/post-Uroboros songs. E.g. so what was the fan highlight in Reiketsu? Post-uroboros stans say Kyo's vocal buildup. How about Different Sense? DSS fanboys pinpoint final chorus and "last verse". I could go on and on but I won't really bother with walls of text this time.

 

If I were their producer, I would have advised them to make songs with less dependence on a single element/highlight (e.g. read former statements), and favor the "balanced entirety" (as they did in earlier albums - genres, tags aside) - such principle would help them to function as a "real band", not as a "chaotic session band" (a.k.a their current band model AFAIAC).

[relentless 254]

Did only a handful of people show up to their show at that festival?

[Wicked Teletubby 528]

yup. basically the most devoted ones, I guess.

 

[appl- 313]

no no no no just no. no whhyyy (;___ 

[BrenGun 2261]

Haha playing while metallica had to play. Yeah no wonder why almost nobody showed up.

And bad weather too...

Just bad luck and a fuck you to the guy who created the schedule.

But lucky they were nice enough to play in front of a few people. (〃^ー^〃)

[Menzo 6]

why wouldn't they play? a (probably) good payed rehearsel(show) with a few fans

[Ro plz 1290]

Here's my take on this whole Live situation:

 

Maybe its just me but I tend to have this habit where once i listen to an album/single, I think immediately about how it'll be transpired live. By logic, some things that were done on the studio version will not be present when actually performed. And i'm glad that they dont forcefully try 2 add those elements in either(backing guitars and such). It'll suck the life out of the true live experience. Its more along the lines of, if they do xyz live, is it done with energy and is it done well. Based on the various clips of Uroko, Behind, and the other ARCHE songs that we're seeing, the band seems to be nailing that aspect. To me, Uroko is boss. I love how its just the guitars soloing it out with the bass and when its done both Kaoru and Die slide right back into the chugs and chords.  Thats awesome to me. Imo, getting all technical and such for an album is okay but live, its how they want to do it or how they feel is best. So getting all technical in that aspect would ruin it for me so ima just take it as is. 

 

I know the 2011 wacken live is not one of the favorites in the fandom but to me, I loved it. Especially Different Sense and Hageshisa where they struggled the most, why? They plowed through that shit with an intensity, despite the issues. 

 

That matters to me.

[Des 289]

"OK, nice try guys but I'm heading for Metallica. Haters gonna hate"

 

Putting them up against Metallica on the schedule wasn't the brightest idea but then again I bet whoever made the schedule didn't realise who or what Dir en grey was in the first place. Tough luck.

[emmny 4139]

ugh i just watched the uroko live footage and i agree with y'all i that its not a good live track since its so layered on the studio recording and i think it was just a bad video but toshi playing the bass over the solo section didnt make up for much of anything (

my fav part is the yura yura part and its so understated in the live but tbh idgaf when i hear it live i'll probably go bonkers