Last Night: Dir en grey at the Regency Center
Dir en grey, The Rose Trims Again TourThe Regency Center's Grand Ballroom
November 30, 2008
Review and photos by Kirsty Evans
Better than: Just listening to the music on CD.
In all the world of music it would be hard to find a more obsessive fanbase than Dir en grey's.
Attendees started lining up at 7 p.m. the night before the show, braving both the cold November weather and the less-than-salubrious neighborhood armed only with sleeping bags and a few friends for moral support. Odd as it may seem, this is perfectly normal at Dir en grey shows. All over the world it's the same, with devoted fans lining up all day even in the most unpleasant conditions, just so they can get that little bit closer to the stage.
Judging by the looks on their faces when the band finally hit the stage, the audience thought the wait was worth it. From the first notes of "Obscure," all the tired expressions faded away into a Beatlemania-like explosion of excitement. It's a weird thing, seeing the sort of frenzy normally associated with boy bands at a metal show. Part adolescent lust, part simple excitement at seeing a band that up until a few years ago most American fans never thought they'd get the chance to see live, and part odd sense of identification, it's a strange relationship Dir en grey have with their fans.
Last night's show at the Regency Center drew mostly on songs from the band's previous two albums, with only a few tracks ("Toguro," "Glass Skin," "Dozing Green," "Gaika,Chinmoku ga Nemuru Koro") from new album, Uroboros. As much as the audience loves some of the songs they played - "The Final," "Clever Sleazoid" and "Merciless Cult" got particularly strong reactions - the band have been working with essentially the same set list for their past three American tours. It would be nice to see them mix it up a bit. It would also be nice to see longer sets from them - no matter how good a band is, barely 90 minutes including the encore does feel a little short.
Although the acoustics left something to be desired, there's no denying that Dir en grey can play. The rhythm section is where they really excel, with bassist Toshiya and drummer Shinya forming a strong backbone for their sound. And not only in a musical sense - Toshiya was by far the most active member of the band in terms of going out of his way to engage the audience. Subtle he isn't, but he sure is eye catching. Guitarist Die was more engaging than he usually is too, cheerfully hamming it up and striking rock star poses. Singer Kyo can always be relied upon to make the effort to connect with the crowd, and it made a nice change to see him doing so without carving his chest up with safety pins this time. Even habitually deadpan guitarist Kaoru livened up towards the end and cracked a few smiles.
All in all it was a pretty good show, but oddly lacking in the energy that Dir en grey's previous shows in the Bay Area have had. The fans who showed up were certainly enthusiastic, but there were far less of them than there were at the band's last solo outing at The Fillmore. This show attracted only 800 fans, as opposed to a near sell out crowd in 2007. Hard to say why, really, but I suspect that a less predictable set-list might have helped.
It's clear that Dir en grey have a strong core following in the Bay Area, and it was cool to see more men at this show than there were at The Fillmore, but whether or not they can cross over to the mainstream metal audience remains to be seen. I, for one, hope that they do, because when they're really on, as they were during final songs "Clever Sleazoid" and "The IIID Empire," they're brilliant. If they can somehow manage to hit that standard more consistently they may yet prove to be a force to be reckoned with.
Critic's NotebookPersonal Bias: I hate the new trend of bands spitting water on the audience, so I was not thrilled to see that at this show. Damn that's unhygienic.
Random Detail: Fans actually flew in from Japan for this tour. How's that for dedication?
By the Way: You can buy the new album in stores now courtesy of a brand new deal with The End records.
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