Dir En Grey - Astra Kulturhaus
Regarding the European tours I was once again late to the party, several days had gone past since the tour was announced before I noticed there was
something afoot.
And something afoot there was! Dir en grey decided to bring 2 "Mode" concerts, where all songs of one album are played (plus some things of others),
to the European continent. The albums? None other than Withering To Death, the album that meant their breakthough in Europe, and Uroboros, in my
humble opinion their finest as it sports their magnum opus Vinushka.
All the events with my father and my job have changed the way in which I listen to music for the worse - I have much less time to play or fancy epic
rock noir. Before Dad first landed in the hospital I played Vinushka literally every single day for more than ten years. I had to see
Vinushka live! But also Withering - the album through which I discovered Diru, the album I found by chance in a second-hand shop. I wanted to see
both!
Looking at the dates, Oberhausen would be the closest by of the gigs - but there would only be a Withering and I really have Vinushka on my bucket
list, so I wanted to go for Berlin:
Only to find out the Withering to be sold out there.
What to do? Choose between two albums that are so dear to me?
So Berlin it was. The Berlin tour story is coming up as soon as I figure out how and where to upload the images, but here's Diru: a delightful bore
for a niche music market on a forum for another niche market!
I started off my trip to Astra Kulturhaus much later due to museum visit and ensuing planning issues that will be outlined later. It would've been
around 7:30 when I arrived - with the concert hall opening at 7:00 and the show starting at 8 it meant bad position.
I had one thing on my wish list - the latest Dir En Grey-album Phalaris. I ended up in a very long queue trying to get it - and when I made it, it was
sold out.
There's not much space left at Astra Kulturhaus, a concert hall surrounded by graffiti and doubtful foot joints on what is clearly the East Side of
Berlin.I find a place that's calm, before I find out why - it's right behind a pillar. I move around a bit and find that through the gap next to it, I
can see what's on the left of it and I can make out the sides of the drum kit. I stand very close by a professional camera. Will there be a DVD?
Yay!
As the band walks on, I notice there is not that much to see. Kyo, the brilliant singer and performer that he is, is not that tall and I can only see
him if he's standing on his box - provided there is nobody in front of me with hands up or trying to make a video with their cell phone. I mostly see
Toshiya, the beautiful birthday boy bassist. Occasionally I get a glimpse of a blonde Kaoru and I even see guitarist Die twice. I get the best views
during tuning intermissions.
The band starts off with Vinushka - and I remember why I love them so much. The song about the atomic bombings is fantastically constructed with tempo
and mood changes, makng the most of Kyo's vocal scale - there is a reason why I played it every day for ten years - and I still cannot fully put it
into words.
All songs are played pretty much perfectly, for as far as I could tell. The sound was pretty good, Kyo remembered all the lyrics to Vinushka (no small
feat, I tried and failed).
Red Soil was the second track. I love it: it's a bit cheerful, a bit agressive and in the instrumental break Kyo demonstrates some hilarious vocal
mania. When I saw the song live in Eindhoven in 2015, Kyo didn't do any of his vocal stunting during the brief interlude, and this performance matched
that. Good performance though.
Up tthird Glass Skin, a lovely gentle ballad - again very well done.
Fourth comes a beloved track of mine - Toguro. In shows from this era: 2008-2012, most notably the Budokan 2010 lives, Kyo displayed some highly
enticing belly dancing. This didn't happen this time - Kyo was sporting a robe with corset, which doesn't really lend itself to this kind of
shenanigans. Still a very sexy song with the leading tones.
Fifth a track I don't know yet, off the new album Phalaris: Otogi. Nice and rough song.
The show continues with the creepy ballad Inconvenient Ideal, which is preceded by the sound of church bells and images of a funeral. Bit harsh due to
a recent family casualty, but again, great ballad.
Followed by the next ballad: Oboro, latest single.
Song 8 is Bugaboo, another sexy favourite with possible exception for the infamous "creepy lullaby" version. After that Doukoku to Sarinu, another
highly esteemed song from Uroboros.
Tenth is a blast: Hydra 666 was often played during the Uroboros era. Favorite version is the Budokan Day 1 from 2010, where Kyo sports an R that
would make Till Lindemann jealous. Great hearing it in a concert setting, even if not all the rap made it in.
The show continued with energy-laden versions of Gaika, Chinmoku ga Nemura Koro, and Reiketsu Nariseba. During Reiketsu I noticed Kyo making swimming
movements on his box - in reviews of the show I nderstood he actually managed to "part" the audience this way.
The band rushed off stage, but there were still some unplayed songs of Uroboros, so it wastime for us to be noisy and scream for an encore. Not only
that - we also sang Happy Birthday to Toshiya twice.b
The band returns - Kyo minus one jacket. The band bursts into Dozing Green - a pleasant rock ballad that turns up to 11 when in the outro Kyo burns
into demonic screeching. Held my camera ready to capture it...
And it came! Hurray! Kyo's screech is still impeccable and terrifying.
After that came one of my favourites that is a little "off-beat" - Stuck Man, which is somehow very Primus-y. I notice the crowd is rather wild, some
people shove at me and others have found my place is not so bad after all and proceed to stand right in front of me.
After that the order is a bit mixed - if I follow my recordings it is first new song Eddie, then the re-vamped version of the only song that Kyo wrote
fully himself, TDFF. The band closes with an odd but fun and somehow also fitting choice, Akuro no Oka. From their Visual Kei days this ballad sports
a bass solo, giving Toshiya time to shine on his birthday.
After that the band said their goodbyes. I finally got to see drummer Shinya as he stood on Kyo's box, swinging four sticks and something round into
the audience - and noticed how beautiful he looked in his smart white jacket. The other lads also greeted the audience and tossed picks and water
bottles into the crowd.
After that I left. A bunch of people stayed behind yelling "on-co-ray" (Japanese for encore), but if the drummer's thrown his sticks into the crowd
you can be sure that that was it.
All in all, good show, good visuals - next time I'm going to try for priority or VIP, as I would like to see the lads as well as hear.
Click here for my video, don't allow embedding on this one.
Attachment: diru_share.jpg (116kB)
This file has been downloaded 5 times
|
![[*]](images/davis/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
