Dir en grey Tour19 This Way to Self Destruction @ Gramercy Theater

I never got the time to write about the concert experience and this was the last concert I went to before the pandemic hit the United States. I consider myself lucky to have been able to attend Dir en grey's performance in 2019 because from what I heard, all the tickets were being scalped no matter what state you were in. I had been lucky to have obtained the pre-sale code because on the day the tickets were released to the general public, there were none left. It had been sold out during the pre-sale. A serious case of ticket scalping if you ask me. Now looking back in the year 2022, this was the last concert attended before COVID-19 and will be my last one for a very long time.

Final Thoughts on Dir en grey @ Gramercy Theater

Two days later I am now recollecting the NYC show and sifting through my memories. The post-concert blues hasn’t hit me (yet perhaps) but I’m still really sore from the pit experience. I’ve read other people’s experiences at the lives and enjoyed their perspectives on it. In my previous post, I wrote about all the pent-up anger I had from getting battered in the pit. Understandably it was my first time and I did take a gamble after all. It was still something to learn from as first hand experience. Now that I’m hearing that the NYC pit wasn’t as violent as other places makes me feel a bit more relieved.

Pits are really not for everyone, but don’t let it discourage you. Standing in the back or taking a seat are great options as well. As these two days past, I’m actually started to forget about the pain, but remembering more about the smiles and the music, because that’s what really counts. Granted I didn’t have my ideal experience, but if you can still get something positive out of it, it was worth it. So yeah, I’m feeling really happy now.

Dir en grey @ Gramercy Theater NYC

I missed these guys twice when they were in New York because I wasn't available on those given days. Now I can finally see them up close. It is a special event to me because their music was what helped me get through school and everything stressful in life. I think the best way to repay them is to go see them. This was my first Dir en grey concert, but I've never left the concert so angry before. It wasn't the performance and band that I didn't like, it was the fans that ruined it for me.

November 2015 Music Pick

 
This month has some heavy tastes and I threw in a wild card just for fun.

July 2015 Monthly Pick

Ahh, what can I bring to the table this month. Let's see, we already had fireworks for Gackt's birthday. I'm looking forward to Kamijo's Revival Best album in a week. Yoshiki announced X Day and confirmed an album and documentary release. I guess I can recommend a playlist of songs compiled by my computer. They do say musical tastes can reveal something about a person.

Album Impressions: Arche by Dir en grey

After a good month of thoroughly listening to Arche, I was very pleased with Dir en grey reaching new heights with their music. It's definitely lighter sounding than their previous albums and more upbeat, but still holds the usual complexity and grim atmosphere. There is still a lot of hardcore sounding elements in their songs, Dir en grey certainly hasn't abandoned for a softer image.

2014 J-Rock and Metal Hit Favorites

Would it be fair to say that we had some smashing songs for 2014? I may not have been as dedicated as before in visual kei, but I think there were some good works out. My biggest favorite was Dir en grey's announcement of their album Arche. So many of us fans were looking forward to it. I also went backwards on the timeline and discovered some really old music from back in the 90s, but that will be on another list in another post in the future if I ever make one. I present to you my personal favorites of 2014. A couple of these songs have official PVs or officially released material so feel free to sample them through the links.

April Music Picks (Metal Packed Madness)

Even though I should probably be working hard on my branding project and illustration final project right now, I think I'll take some time to share some music recommendations. If you know me, my music is mostly Japanese metal. I came across some new bands to listen to and some old bands to rediscover. This year and the end of last year, I was pleased to rediscover Dir en grey in my music library. Even though I have been listening to them for four to five years, I didn't see the entire beauty in their music years before. Their music is so complex that it takes some time to intake the composition and the experience from listening to it. Some bands like Dir en grey are hard to describe in one word. They have a trademark style, but it's hard to pinpoint it since it's fluid. Half-assed music are all the same because we see the artist(s) pumping out the same thing with no soul in it. You don't remember a single song from a crappy musician because it becomes background noise in the end. There was nothing memorable to stick in head and you eventually get bored of it never wanting to listen to it ever again. It is also important for a piece of music to grab your attention at first. It's okay to discover more when you listen to a song, but there's gotta be something that grabs you first. I think the following music picks have their own quirks to grab their audience. Some of them are from last year, but I think they are still relevant.

Dum Spiro Spero Budokan 12 Hour Special

Last night I stayed up to watch a timeshifted program on Nico; the Dum Spiro Spero Budokan 12 Hour Special http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv171251359?fb_action_ids=812457488768556&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582.  Because Dir en grey were performing at Budokan on March 8-9, Nico decided to use this time to broadcast recent interviews and old concerts. I was disappointed because I was hoping to see some new stuff, but I guess all the new stuff will be on their new DVD which I have absolutely no money to buy. They slipped in some PVs towards the last 2 hours of the broadcast which I can easily find on Youtube. Since there was 12 hours of material to watch, I skipped through a lot of stuff and there seriously was a lot of stuff to skip.

1. Any promotions of any sort. You can find them on the direngreyweb channel on Youtube.
2. Boo x Dir en grey interviews. Sorry, but I do not speak the language and it would be pointless for me to sit through an interview that I do not understand. Translations however are available on various sites. I recommend the Dir en grey translation site, Orchestrated Chaos.
3. PVs of any sort.
4. The 20 minute intermissions.

These things add up and in the end I had less than 12 hours to deal with. What I did watch was back stage recordings of a 2006 concert overseas, I'm not too sure where, some parts of the German concert, the Paris concert, House of Blues concert, some footage from the November 2013 US tour, and most of the 2010 Nippon Budokan Uroboros concert. People uploaded material from these appearances, but Nico streamed it quite nicely with no pauses so I found it worth watching. The band as a whole put on quite a performance. Uroboros is my favorite album by them. Kyo's vocals are very impressive. For the fans that attended their performances, I'm sure they were very clear how impressive it sounded.

Dir en grey Macros For Everyday Use

There's plenty of macros, memes, whatever floating on the Internet about every subject possible.  I just happen to have a lot Dir en grey/Kyo related macros on my computer I like to share.  They come from a variety of sources from Batsu forums to livejournal to photobucket.  I can't even credit them anymore because they get reblogged on tumblr and get shared everywhere.

Behold an image heavy post.  I picked out these macros that can be used in just about any conversation.  A couple of them are a bit more specific to certain fandoms..  Here we go.  3...2...1...Go!

Cuz it's all dark and shiz.

For the annoying friend.

Influential Jrockers

There are lots of people to look up to.  I look up to a variety of people from different professions, but for me specifically, musicians have the most impact.  I have been a hardcore fan of Japanese rock and metal for quite some time.  My family knows that very well and they don't really comprehend my interest in jrockers.  First of all, they don't even like rock music or any forms of extreme music.  Secondly, my tastes in art are very different from my family so I'm considered a weird individual.  Even though our opinions may clash, I still respect them.  Here's a select list of Japanese rock and metal musicians that I find very influential to me and reasons why I respect them.