IRC-Galleria

Tue 23 Aug – DIR EN GREY: TOUR2011 PARADOX OF RETALIATION



The area were already pretty crowded when we showed up bit late with my gf.
The line consisted of surprisingly casual-suited people, giving me the aspect that Diru's fanbase had grown with the band from the vk era. (Of course there were some hc fans to make an expection to this)
The line moved slowly to the entrance and people were still gathering to the queue.

Inside was the merchandise desk where were three different tour shirts and one zip hoodie on sale. (No DSS related stuff at all, meh)
I struggled with the choosing, couldn't make my mind which t-shirt I'd take (and of course, the coolest t-shirt was girlie-sized only) and finally decided to buy the zip hoodie AND t-shirt. W.I.N.

It had been a while since last being at Nosturi, and couldn't remember how annoying
the concert hall's structure is: as you enter the hall, the stage is right next to you on the left. So no chance getting in to the 1st row if you haven't come waiting hours before. And the place were c r o w d e d.

After getting some water against dehydration, I went in to the mass.

As Kyokotsu no nari's dissonating piano intro started exactly 20.30 o'clock, I finally realized this is it.

Hageshisa to, kono mune no naka de karamitsuita shakunetsu no yami opened the set with Shinya's drum fill and the crowd went wild. The humidity went up and it was like swimming in the crowd. So I dived to the 6th or 5th row.

After the song ended, the hall filled up with screams which didn't end while Obscure's first beats came in. I were even a bit confused as the music got mixed up with the screams. The new arrangement's trash parts worked wonderfully.

Lotus had it place as the last of the opening trio. For me it could have come later in the set, cause it has many same elements as Hageshisa... Audience sang with Kyo through the whole song.

Then came Red Soil and Agitated Screams of Maggots. Red Soil made the audience go mad and on Agitated, I shouted the shit out of my lungs - as did the rest. Still wasn't able to lose my voice.

As Different Sense blasted in, the sweat got my right earplugg off. After trying to replace it by keeping a finger in my ear, I took the other earplugg off too and decided to suffer - hoping it will be worth it. Kaoru made justice to the solo. It kicked some ass and I got in to the 3rd row.

Decayed Crow felt kinda long and is maybe the weakest song on the new album for me. It lacks uniqueness and is very incoherent by its structure.

"Yokusou ni DREAMBOX" Aruiwa seijuku no rinen to tsumetai ame followed and made the show back to interesting. It was the first song on DSS that I fell in love with.
Either Kyo couldn't sing the low parts as low as they're meant to be, or the mic's EQ weren't ok, but it didn't matter. The song's controlled chaos got to the audience and some girls were even singing with Kyo in the song's most chaotic parts. O_o I wondered how in the hell they had managed to catch up with the words, I couldn't keep up though I have the lyrics.

-karasu- surprised me, and was a very nostalgic piece to hear from DEG's earlier career. Then they took it back to the oldies, some re-constructed oldies I mean.
TSUMI TO BATSU (or Tsumi to kisei) and Hydra -666- took turns and Hydra -666- hit me hard. It really works as a "live" song. In between were the sets second INWARD SCREAM part, which gave me continuous chills.

AMON started. It has some familiarity with Tsumi to kisei, yet it took over and went to its own way through the high guitar parts and fastening tempo.

Reiketsu Nariseba and -ZAN- was next. Two very trashy songs before the band went to backstage.

Zakuro started encore and it felt like the whole consert hall got inner peace. Everyone moved left to right in a wave and listened how the song danced forward.

-Saku- broke the peacefullness and made the hall shout every DICK MEN out from cover.
Kyo started his crowd boosting by yelling 'last song' in finnish, which was hilarious. We did scream with him and then Toshiya smashed Rasetsukoku on move.

---

Setlist were good, but it would been awesome if they had played The IIID Empire, Juuyoku, Vinushka, Ugly or Ain't Afraid to Die.
Kyo did one solo in some part of the set before the Inward Scream before Hydra -666-, just can't remember clearly where.



Aftermath:

1st wavemoshing experience ever, litres of sweat, 3days long tinnitus ( curse you, squealing beauties!), love seen live, ultimate pain

(Sat 31 Mar – Church of Misery, woodrue, Pigeon Hunt)



It's quite refreshing to head off somewhere else than Helsinki at once. A train trip to Jyväskylä to get stoned with music. Sounds like a plan.

I haven't listened to Church of Misery very long, but once I grew aware of them I had to order couple of their albums and sit down and move my body to the music. After that I wanted to see them live. And I got a chance to do so only in three months.

Usually, the gigs where I go has unisex audience, but stoner - or doom genres doesn't seem to have the same kind of fanbase in Finland. The audience were mainly consisted of male participants.

There were two support bands on the gig, Pigeon Hunt and Woodrue. I didn't catch up the order which they played in (and neither of the bands did introduce themselves nor do speaks between the songs) but the first band was more like hardcore punk. The band was good but you couldn't hear more than low frequencies and drums to the licensed area - which was okay with me. I was just waiting for the main act.
The second band had more same kind of music as CoM, and they played brilliantly. Also the mixing was better, I think, cause now you were able to hear all the instruments clearly. (maybe it had something to do with those tasty Brandy long drinks which Lutakko had on sale)

When Church Of Misery started playing, I moved from licensed area to the second row, to the front of their bad ass bassist. (Just imagine yourself playing the bass on the heigth of your heels!!) I was kinda confused that Kensuke Suto wasn't playing the guitar, even though I had read some comments that they have an american guitarist nowadays. Still, the blonde-haired man on guitar rocked.
I was drunk of music. Just headbanging and moving my limbs crazily within the noise. Two of my favourite songs from them are I, Motherfucker which they played in the encore set, and Shotgun Boogie. The latter half cause of its cool name(meh), and half cause of it has a great song structure.
The band were really enthusiastic and enjoyed how the crowd reacted to them. I screamed 'tsugoi' til the Hideki Fukasawa (voc) seemed to notice my attempts and grinned a bit. He sounded even better than on records, making those raw screams sound even more awesome.

Result: Magnificient evening spent with two friends in doom. +++

Seisomapaikka kentällä + jatkot -lippu Prodigyn keikalle. Meh!

Siinä on tiettyä hienoutta ilmassa kun oot tullut vain viettään iltaa baariin, vieläpä lähtenyt liikkeelle yksinään, mutta jo bussissa mukaan tarttuu läheinen tuttu ja baarissa hetken istuttuasi sut kutsutaan bäkkärille ja saat illan esiintyvältä (itselle vielä tuntemattomalta) bändiltä onnittelut ja juomalippuja.

Sitten kun haet juomat tiskiltä ja potkaset bäkkärin oven auki eikä kukaan koita estää.

That's fuckin' Rock'n Roll.

Through wastelands it went
with a few passengers inside

Endless rails leading thoughts to future
last cart shaking to calm the beating off

Tiny smile was holding hands with a tall one
"Hopefully mother is fine."