#modeofmacabre

[yridenergyridenergy]

Reposting because, lesson learned: sharing from Instagram significantly messes up the quality. By the way, I am still struggling with the concept of having a blog constituting of reblogs, so do not be offended if I do not reblog your posts and only like them, for the moment. I will get used to it eventually hah.

[yridenergyridenergy]

Dir en grey Tour Mode of MACABRE Osaka Day 1 live report

Well most of it was the same as in Kochi and apparently the prohibition was a misunderstanding, so let me repost this live report with a few precisions:

- Of course they began with Deity.

- Then came Macabre right after, if I remember correctly. Two great songs, but you could tell that the energy had really not been stirred yet.

- In Kochi, sadly for Macabre, the audience definitely became more awake after the first four or five songs, when Dir en grey played Hydra 666 followed by Uroko. In Osaka, thankfully Kyo was really more into the songs this time, so the fact that he danced a lot during egnirys cimredopyh +) an injection really helped hype everyone.

- As I mentioned in the preliminary thoughts, Kyo’s hair is now dyed turquoise, still somewhat bowl cut, definitely in the back. It is not just blue, definitely a little green. Kaoru is blond and it fits him so well, especially with the eyeshadow.

- Drawings coming up, but here were the outfits: * Kyo: A trenchcoat with a harness on top, and really ample clean pants. Overall a bit too much like a slim Kim Jong Un. Underneath the trenchcoat with studs like on a leatuer biker jacket, he seemed to have a shirt with two cute animal blobs on it. People who were closer may know better. In Osaka, he wore the skinny black jeans with torn knees, and he had a long large coat with a big hoodie, tied around his neck. He used the floating sides to create the illusion of a winged creature when, during Macabre, each member gets illuminated by a huge spotlight behind them, creating odd shadows on the veil in front of the whole stage. Underneath, he had some shirt with a triangular pattern on the shoulders and top. * Kaoru: A very nice top with naked shoulders, the sleeves were attached to the sides of the abdomen. He had either very ample and low sarouel pants or a sort of long skirt, but what is more interesting is the leggings he had underneath that were like bandages, with some black showing under. * Shinya: white blouse or whatever, as usual essentially. * Toshiya: sort of marshall jacket, similar to what the singer of Lost On You is known to wear, with tight black pants. At Osaka day 1, his jacket seemed blander and he definitely wore a white shirt with a thin black tie. * Die: some long coat with a fur scarf even though it’s a heat wave? With tight pants that resembled the relief you would get if you were to wrap bandage around your legs, with skin actually looking like it showed through in some places. ! -- The back of his left leg actually shows a lot of skin. The coat might actually be short and the part below was definitely some sort of long skirt cut on the sides, at Osaka. For the encore, Kyo wore the same pink and black blouse as in the sukekiyo niconico interview, with tight black pants and a sort of bow with two ribbons dropping from it. In Osaka, they were white, rather than black. Die and Shinya wore the cat shirt from the tour goods. In Osaka, Die wore the jam shirt instead. Kaoru had a black long-sleeve long shirt and you could really see the leggings then. Toshiya removed his jacket to reveal a white dress shirt, I believe. - Berry was fun, in the sense that Kaoru and Die took this opportunity to come on the side ramps closer to the audience. All the members seemed to have fun in this song too. The English dialogue in the middle of the song was either cut entirely or way too low to be heard. In Osaka Grand Cube, of course there are no ramps, but Kaoru and Die still exchanged their side of the stage. Overall less fun for the other members, in Osaka, during Berry.

- Overall again the only songs that brought everything out if the audience were more recent ones, but they ended the main setlist with Wake and then Zakuro, which was very emotional. They left and we did not know what to do at all, what was happening. It was silent. After a minute, the chants for the encore began. You could feel that Kyo was not bored at all during those two songs, whereas in others, he would move less, sing just the same rythm as in the album recordings, like in the Psychoconnect Gauze tour. In Osaka, there was less silence, so members left to fans clapping, at least.

- The encore was packed with energy, having notably Kr Cube (Kyo loves this one, he danced and came to the side ramps in Kochi, while he danced a lot but mostly teased the audience with the original arm moves for this song), un deux and Utafumi, ending with Rassetsukoku. In Osaka, un deux was replaced with SUSTAIN THE UNTRUTH and he had us sing along a lot.

- Kyo left early, but Kaoru threw a lot of picks.

- During Ain't afraid to die, a video of a man getting burnt alive was played, and it was very emotional. It seemed like it might have been refering to some Tibetan cause. Apparently self-immolation is commonly used to protest things. In this and another song, in Kochi, all members except Shinya turned and faces the back, the screen. In Osaka, Kyo was clearly crying at some points.

- A huge disco bell came down near the climax of Zakuro and somehow it felt just right.

- In Osaka, there was almost a back collision between Kyo and Die.

- Also in Osaka, Kyo wanted to walk to the right side of the stage but his mic cord got stuck in the central cage. A staff member came put to help but he tugged it out while singing like a pro, as if it was nothing.

Do not hesitate to ask any questions or tell me what to focus on more, as this is literally my first live report.

Overall, a great show of course, but it did not necessarily make me like my ‘least favourite’ songs more: I loved what I knew I would love.

I cannot say this enough: I do not understand how anyone, but especially the Japanese audience, can simply remain immobile during Dir en grey's 'slower' but so emotional songs. Know that, friend or stranger, I will never remain unmoved and not stretch a hand in your direction if you display sadness. You are deserving of my shoulder muscles cramping progressively.

[yridenergyridenergy]

Dir en grey Tour From depression to ___ [mode of MACABRE] Tokyo day 2 live report

This was the last show I could attend this tour, and wow was it the best one. I want to start by warning that the following could be considered spoilers, since this concert will also appear on the DVD. Usually nobody minds knowing, but just in case. After reading reports of yesterday's show and how bland the audience was, I was determined to at least punctuate that sea of people with my legendary raised arm, as well as at least clapping. There were still some songs that ended with silence, but overall it was a lot livelier than what it looks like yesterday was. They used a new opening sequence that I had apparently not seen yet, since Nagoya day 2 hah. It has a sort of horror carnavalesque music and the video shows medieval scenes, like a freaky bride, a castle, etc. It was a powerful moment to experience out of nowhere, in my case. Then, deity starts and the members are already on stage except Kyo, and due to the video being projected on the veil and the loud music, I think nobody at all screamed for their arrival, unlike every other time. Tonight, Kyo had the long cloak he has had since Osaka, but he let some strands of the harness around it stand straight outward somehow, which really gave the impression of antennas or other insect parts during the shadow projection, when he bent. I am so glad I was able to hear Tousei finally in this tour. It had not been part of the setlists for the shows I attended ever since they played it in Osaka day 2. And I had a good seat in the front area (not that close to the stage but literally the best seat I have had in this tour yet), the person who had the seat in front of me never showed up so that somewhat singled me out in a way and gave me a good view, and I kept my arm up to connect with the band and show support, while mouthing the lyrics and almost crying, and I swear Kyo looked at me a few times during Tousei and the rest of the concert and nodded slightly, like we knew what the whole thing was about. I think he had noticed that I was moving a lot, along with what the band was actually doing too, in Wake. I know every fan must be saying that at least once, but I swear it is true hah. Anyway, there were a few cool times where both Kyo and Toshiya bent down during hard moments, at the same time. It really made the moment more powerful, and that was not done on purpose at all. During perhaps Berry, Kaoru and Die faced each other on the right side and played guitar like that, grinning. Kyo barely spoke this time. I think he barely even said 'Nakano' or 'Tokyo'. Instead, right before the last song, he pointed to sections of the crowd and when they shouted, he pounded the mic on his chest, over his heart. He also did that pounding at the beginning of Tousei, by the way. Kaoru was wearing similar pants to before, buf the bandage-like parts were red and black instead of white and black. At the end, he bent down, sideward, offering his ear to the crowd, as if saying: "I'll only throw more picks if I hear what I want." Kyo again wiped some of his makeup on a towel before throwing it. Instead of spitting water on the fans, he let most of his bottle's content pour on the stage while he made his way to the edge and then threw it away. I think I am really forgetting something (I am certain that something happened during KR Cube), but man, this show was so awesome. Great way to finish my personal tour. I so wish I could for sure attend September's. It was so great following Dir en grey across Japan, in those four cities. Dir en grey certainly makes tourism blossom. It was great seeing them, but especially Kyo, grow more and more into the songs, of course making me tag along even if I had not wanted to. It was great seeing the lighting used in this tour vary slightly at each venue depending on their limitations. I can totally understand why they would want to film the shows in Nakano Sun Plaza: it was grandiose, especially with that theatrical curtain all around the stage. It was so cute watching Die stay on the stage the longest every single time. He seems so timid, like he clearly wants to grab all the attention to himself, and it warms him up inside, but he doesn't know how to deal with it either so he bows his head and turns his gaze away shyly sometimes. Expect a drawing of at least the encore outfits, probably.

[yridenergyridenergy]

Dir en grey tour From depression to ___ [mode of MACABRE] exclusive ticket limited goods. A very usable variety, this time, too. #Direngrey #MACABRE #ModeOfMACABRE #exclusive #tourmerch #aknot

[yridenergyridenergy]

As promised, sketches of everyone’s outfit for both of the first two shows of the from depression to____ [mode of MACABRE], if different.

By the way, sadly no Osaka Day 2 report from me, as I ended up getting a guaranteed buyer at the last minute. I really hope I am not missing Macabre’s new version, of all things…

[yridenergyridenergy]

This one MAY have been better than the two From depression to ___ [mode of THE MARROW OF A BONE] shows I attended in Tokyo? Damn I never really expected this from MACABRE. What a good run I had. #Direngrey #fromdepressionto #MACABRE #ModeOfMACABRE #nakanosunplaza #tour #soremuscles (à 中野サンプラザ)