DIR EN GREY TOUR 2019: THIS WAY TO SELF DESTRUCTION

[Seelentau 884]

2 minutes ago, Demivee said:

The one with TWoM as the starter. Encore was Followers, Gaika, Utafumi.

But it was not exactly the setlist from St. Petersburg. E.g. they played Aka after Zetsuentai. I can not recall every song position, sorry!

 

@EvilHippy yes they did!

Aight, gonna hold off on adding a setlist then lol

How long did the show take? I need to make sure to catch my train afterwards

[EvilHippy 142]

So Berlin will have either Final, Saku or Wake.
None of which interests me that much... But at least I haven't heard Saku live yet 😕

 

[Seelentau 884]

Oh man, I hope we'll get Wake... I love the new version so friggin muuuch

[EvilHippy 142]

Give me hydra

 

[EvilHippy 142]

NEW AGE CULTURE

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Yeah fucking new age culture. Btw shoutout to the purple haired midget retard for ruining the pit for that song with his bullshit. 

[Seelentau 884]

What happened? xD

I had some girl in front of me that threw weird looks to a nearby couple and then they talked shit a little to each other. So weird. xD

Oh and Kyo was miserable today. Both in vocal performance as well as his feelings, probably. He could barely hold a scream, from what I observed.

Also, his mic was quiet af.

2015 was still their best live in my book.

[filth_y 189]

In Dortmund his vocal performance was great imo (good live overall soundwise). However everyone in the band looked really tired / not enjoying the live at all i felt. Die really looked strained the entire time, while in 2018 if remembering him smiling a lot. (Cant blame them with that schedule..)

 

I was positively suprised about the much less amount of cringe I felt from the fans around me compared to previous years. Still, Dortmund had some really annoying drunk guys screaming random words all the time (well, that can happen at any live..). Audience size about same like 2018 / little less than 2015 i felt.

[Demivee 103]

Strange, in my opinion the Berlin performance was so much better than the one in Dortmund. Kyo and Toshiya were on fire today! At the Dortmund show Kyo looked like he wanted to be somewhere else. But today his screams and his acting was awesome IMO. TWoM was intense!

[Seelentau 884]

Hmm, don't know. To me, he seemed out of breath most of the time.

His performance was superb, though. But I heard people laugh, that made me sad. 😕

Ah, just remembered: I took the banging of the stepping crate as a sign of frustration about not properly screaming and/or being exhausted.

But that's my observation. There's only one person who knows what Kyo really felt at that moment.

But I mean, maybe it changed towards the end. He threw plenty of fox kisses in all directions and asked for crowd response twice by raising his hands from the very top of the crate all the way up into the air.

I also rarely looked at the others. Don't know why, the live passed by so fast. Maybe it's because of the TIW songs, but 2018 felt longer.

 

Oh and! Just like 2018 in Cologne and now in Dortmund, we had to wait an extra hour. I really don't understand why they would write a wrong start time on the tickets...

Edited February 2, 2020 by Seelentau

[Kuro 45]

1 hour ago, Demivee said:

TWoM was intense!

This exactly. But I love that song anyway.

 

I've not seen them since 2011 so I can't compare the live to the past years.

I barely didn't see anything but when I entered the hall I expected this to happen, I'm too short. And all that light during shows doesn't help me either.

Nevertheless all that banging and parts of the vocal sounds were maybe even more intense, don't know, if I had them perceived differently, if I had seen them.

Starting an hour late was really strange and I wonder why this happened. I'm used to admission an hour before start and that would have met the stated time of 7.00 pm. Therefore they started at 8.00 pm on spot. xDD

[blacktooth 227]

Waiting an hour for the band to take the stage is pretty standard in my experience. At least the pre-show playlist has more interesting good music.

[EvilHippy 142]

Wroclaw 

Same setlist. Encore-Fukai

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Extended gig report from Berlin since I did one from Warsaw a year and a half back.

 

The scene: Berlin, shaking and dying, sporting a bloodshot visage from the night previous as usual, I had managed to score some decent vegetables from the bazaar at a rather handsome price for Germany, all in an effort to recover before the show, but I'm thinking: will these carry me over? Just how many gin tonics is too many? Either way duty calls and I head out to meet Gaz in a bar nearby, who already a few beers deep inadvertently encouraged me to go for one that was 15% and then it was off to the races. 

 

The bridge to Friedrichschain; running to take a piss somewhere in the corner I step on human shit, I was thinking that the only way that this isn't the worse thing that would happen to me today would be if they played The Final for the encore. I take out 40 euros from the ATM and it charges me 4 euros for the transaction. Fuck it. I'm getting beer, and this is the only way. No one takes card in a conspiracy to bleed me dry. I see Whirlingblack and two of our mutuals coming over; I bum a cigarette; the line is possibly the fastest moving I've ever experienced in my life, especially considering just how long it was; turns out the reason why it was moving fast was the inspection for the ticket was literally the door man taking a cursory look almost in the direction of my phone and going "boom" and letting me in. I got the ticket just the night before and it was nice to see that was for nothing. Could've used someone else's and I'll remember that next time.

 

Lots of merch; I get nothing; I get a beer and some shots instead. In Warsaw I got three, now I got four. I've upgraded. The plan is that the second the lights go out we'll just strafe by the wall and when it gets heavy we'll just muscle our way to the center for the pit. Works every time and did so again. 

 

Okay, so the concert had exactly the same setlist as the previous, which is the full Insulated World album, World of Mercy, Merciless Cult and a rotating encore song. This was my first time seeing them with a set that was dedicated to promoting an album so I was moderately excited about that despite not being hugely into the fucking thing. This model works in a live context fairly well imo, like the mood is consistent and you get to see the thing in a slightly altered light; but most importantly of all that meant that this could just be the first time I won't get to hear The Final and an even better chance to never hear Sustain the Untruth ever again. The whole thing kicks off with Zetsuentai and the one marked difference from the 2018 tour is that the theatricality is even more present than last time. The first performances of Devote My Life and Keibetsu Hajimari went by like a blur in an underwhelming fashion, whereas now they've got synchronised head banging and a lot sharper performance by Kyo, who must've after performing all those songs like a hundred times now figured out how to make them work. The heavier stuff worked very well this time around and I wasn't the only one feeling the physicality since the crowd in Berlin was, for the most part, really good. Loud, energetic and the second I saw the pit was going I joined it and stuck by it til the very end. It wasn't even one of those usual weeb pits where you'll see people politely shoving each other, nope, it was the closest I've felt to a real one in one of these shows since 2010. Occasionally shit would be really tight like during Merciless Cult ( I actually in retrospect wish we would have gotten more old songs based on how good this was ) and Devote my life and although I'm just a bit saddened about no wall of death happening despite the chances definitely being there, it was still obviously really good; maybe even too good perhaps, because I do remember some of the looks from people nearby who weren't much having it. Too bad my philosophy is that leben ist krieg and if you're not in shape to hold your own, go to the back and sit on your phone there. By the end I remember one dude air punching himself a karate pit and at some point that enraged some other short purple haired dude; and of all the times to do this bullshit it was during the biggest surprise of the night which was NEW AGE CULTURE. I think eventually security stepped in on that dude flexing in front of his stupid girlfriend I guess.

 

So yeah as far as the band goes, I honestly don't remember any moment when a complaint would've registered. The sound in the venue was good and that made it already just a bit better than the usual, and looking at the clips on youtube I'd say yeah, it's the usual for 2020 Deg. They're really good live rn imo, way better than before the mode of tours. One thing that has to be said tho is that Kyo did sound just a liiiiiitle more constrained that what I remember from last year. Followers is a rough fucking song to pull off, and World of Mercy has some difficult parts as well. I guess it just comes with the territory, doing all these tours like this; my opinion on the matter is that if you're actually minding shit other than your phone recording, you don't really care that much. 

 

The shows ends after the Followers, NEW AGE CULTURE and Utafumi encore that got such a loud reaction by the end that I was almost hoping for them to come back for a second encore. This was not to be however, so after picking up Die's pick from the ground by accident and waiting half a century for my jacket we scatter off into whirlingblack's hotel that was just around the corner, and what better way to cap off the gig other than washing away all the memories and a few others with a rather absurd and expensive haul for the already overpriced kiosk downstairs; and by the time I got back to my hostel all that red wine, sparkling wine, beers and a few others went back to where they came and where I should've went myself: the toilets of Berlin.

 

 

[nullmoon 784]

1 hour ago, Disposable said:

Extended gig report from Berlin since I did one from Warsaw a year and a half back.

Please do this for every live forevermore XD 

[meat 135]

London tonight.

 

I'll be at the Camden Head before and after the gig having a few drinks with friends. PM me if you'd like join us

[nullmoon 784]

If anyone needed the info, London had Kodou in the encore. The crowd went nuts for both this and Merciless Cult. Although the tracks from TIW were definitely more preferable live than on the album, the WTD tracks had so much more punch in comparison. The World of Mercy was incredible live. 

 

The band played incredible well with only a few screw ups during solos etc. Kyo was a beast; he seemed to replace a lot of the higher screams with the kind of whistley scream he used at the end of Reiketsu Nariseba which was super cool. As was his repetition of 'London' before the last song which drove everyone wild XD 

 

Best of all was the complete absence of some lame opening act 👍 Also, big thanks to the couple who barged in front of me mid-set and didn't even bop to the music. You suck. 

 

I can't wait to see the band again though! I last saw them when they spent two days in London for the Arche tour so they were definitely worth the wait. I had a great time with the wonderful @TheZigzagoon so we'll have to meet up for the next one! 😊

[meat 135]

That was quite the pit. Everybody were grinning and still managed to sing along. Thank you for making this oldie feel like she's still got it lol

[tallulah 17]

it was such such such a wonderful time, I've barely slept because I've stayed electrified 

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

4 hours ago, nullmoon said:

If anyone needed the info, London had Kodou in the encore. The crowd went nuts for both this and Merciless Cult. Although the tracks from TIW were definitely more preferable live than on the album, the WTD tracks had so much more punch in comparison

NEW AGE CULTURE and Merciless Cult were handily the highlights of the set and while I still think it was cool to see the album in its entirety, it doesn't make me crave for a set of old songs any less. They're so good live now that I'd go crazy for a TMOAB live even

[nullmoon 784]

1 hour ago, Disposable said:

NEW AGE CULTURE and Merciless Cult were handily the highlights of the set and while I still think it was cool to see the album in its entirety, it doesn't make me crave for a set of old songs any less. They're so good live now that I'd go crazy for a TMOAB live even

Agreed. Hopefully the next tour is a good mix of material

[TheZigzagoon 670]

So I saw them at London last night and I went there not knowing what to expect as I had only listened to TIW and a handful of songs spanning anywhere from their early eras to more recent, and I must say it was the best live I’ve ever been to!

 

Highlights for me we’re opening up with Zetsuentai and also the power behind Kyo’s vocals during Ranunculus, he doesn’t perform it using clean vocals like it is in the studio version, instead he opted to sing it with powerful harsh vocals that really give the song some oomph and gives it an edge over the studio version! Values of Madness was also surprisingly well pulled off, I find the studio version to feel...somewhat empty? But live that song hits hard! I feel bad as I wasn’t able to appreciate the older material like Merciless Cult and Kodou as I hadn’t heard them prior, however I still enjoyed them nevertheless and found them to be great, energy filled songs! 10/10 would see them again and now I need to buy their whole discography! 

 

And a big shoutout to @nullmoon I had such a good laugh and some great conversation! And he also filled me in on the songs that I didn’t know of! 😂

[nullmoon 784]

54 minutes ago, TheZigzagoon said:

And a big shoutout to @nullmoon I had such a good laugh and some great conversation! And he also filled me in on the songs that I didn’t know of! 

You are so welcome! It was great to meet you and such a blast to see you enjoy the gig so much 😊

[MissConduct 12]

Just now, TheZigzagoon said:

 

Highlights for me we’re opening up with Zetsuentai and also the power behind Kyo’s vocals during Ranunculus, he doesn’t perform it using clean vocals like it is in the studio version, instead he opted to sing it with powerful harsh vocals that really give the song some oomph and gives it an edge over the studio version! Values of Madness was also surprisingly well pulled off, I find the studio version to feel...somewhat empty? But live that song hits hard! I feel bad as I wasn’t able to appreciate the older material like Merciless Cult and Kodou as I hadn’t heard them prior, however I still enjoyed them nevertheless and found them to be great, energy filled songs! 10/10 would see them again and now I need to buy their whole discography! 

 

I loved what Kyo did with Ranunculus. It really did that song well. 
Zetsuentai I loved already anyway. 

 

 

Was it just me, or wath DIE not in his best mood? I was at Dortmund and Paris and didn't see his typical smile once, except at the very end of the Paris show?