Dir en grey was the first Jrock band I got into, in the fall of 2005. A friend from school said she wanted to “turn me Asian,” which is a pretty ridiculous thing to even say, but I humored her and let her send me Jrock songs, which she figured would work since I mostly listened to assorted genres of rock music at the time, anyway. None of the things she sent me at first - I don’t remember them all, but Asian Kung Fu Generation was in there somewhere (and I actually like that song she sent me by them now) - appealed to me much, until she sent me Diru’s “Dead Tree”. She didn’t even like that song, but a friend had sent it to her, so she facepalmed a little when that was the only one I liked. I searched out some more Diru on my own after that, and particularly liked “Pink Killer” and “Umbrella” at the time. I eventually found a picture of them and thought that they looked really cool. It was a few months later that I got into a lot of other Jrock artists, but Diru will always be particularly important to me since they were the first.
So naturally, being able to see them live twice within the space of a year was a pretty big deal to me.
The first time was when they went on the Family Values Tour, in August ‘06. When I found out that they were on this tour and it was coming to my city, I was quite possibly more surprised and excited than I had ever been before. My friends and I secured our tickets as quickly as we could, and I managed to convince my parents to end one of our summer vacations a day early so we’d be back in time for me to go to the show. All that was left to do after that was wait. The day of the show was amazing: hours before they actually played, we got to see the entire band up close, as they walked from their bus in the parking lot to the building where they’d be preparing for the show, while we were allowed to stand very nearby. At the time, I’ll admit, I was mostly into their music and I didn’t know much about the members themselves, so I was the most excited to see Kyo up close, since he was the one I was the most familiar with. Actually being mere feet away from him was just amazing to me. And there they were, Dir en grey, actually right here in Toronto. When I’d been starting to get into Jrock, I never would have imagined that this would happen.
Random highlight of the Diru sightings was when we could see Die a ways away from us, and he was smoking, so one fan yelled “DIE STOP SMOKING!” I don’t know if it was loud enough for him to hear, but it was pretty funny for all of us waiting there. xD
Their set was terrific. I was pretty far away from them (far enough that it took me a minute to figure out that Kyo had fallen, when that happened…I had to look it up on Youtube later to see what exactly had happened; god, he WIPED OUT), but I was still blown away. I tend to not really absorb what I’m seeing and hearing at a concert for awhile, and then be suddenly hit by the weight of what I’m experiencing. The moment when it hit me was when they started to play Dead Tree. My first Diru song. I just couldn’t believe that I was hearing it live, and that was when I really came alive and got into it. It was an amazing feeling. After the show, some fans stayed until midnight to catch another glimpse of the whole band, but my friends and I decided to leave much earlier. We did, however, get to see Toshiya very up close, when he stopped to wave and say hi to the group of us standing there waiting by the parking lot. I’ve had a soft spot for Toshiya ever since then. The thing I generally have for bassists also helps.
The rumors that Diru were going to have their own North American tour in February started soon after that, but it was almost unbelievable that they proved to be true. And their show in Toronto was on my friend’s birthday, no less! (She even wound up getting Die’s pick, and he’s her favourite member too - WHAT A PRESENT!) Once again, we got our tickets as quickly as possible. A lot of friends were there, but I travelled with just one friend who also had to go to school for the morning. We left school at lunch to head to the venue, where we then waited in line for four hours in the freezing cold. I had seen one of my other favourite bands, Billy Talent (a Canadian band), live just a week before (and the day after my 16th birthday!), and I’d gotten a pretty bad cold after that. I wasn’t feeling great, and you’d think standing in the cold would’ve only made me sicker. But I was mostly just bored.
When we finally got to go in, we still had to endure the opening bands, who none of us really enjoyed. But after that, the opening started, that song that Diru always have playing while they come out onto the stage at the beginning of their shows (which I can’t remember or find the title of right now, though I used to know it). They hadn’t played it at Family Values; I had only seen show openings like that on Youtube before. It may have been my second time seeing Diru live, but it was my first time at a headlining Diru show. That’s a whole different event. The excitement built so much with that song, and then they came on stage. And it was a fucking amazing show.
After maybe two songs, I felt physically dead. My body was just too worn out from having gone to a concert the week before, and from being sick. I don’t even know how I managed to keep moving throughout the concert, and how I avoided being pushed into the mosh pit. But somehow, I survived. At times, I felt really out of it, and it was almost like my brain wasn’t even there. I distinctly remember a moment when my eyes were on Die, but all I was thinking about was how thirsty I was and how much I wanted Sprite, and how nice the bubbles would feel…and how jealous I was that there was a wind machine or something blowing on Die, because it was way too hot in there. And when Kyo became Bucket Man, I felt like I was watching a cartoon, and I just totally spaced. It didn’t feel real at all. But for most of the show, I was paying attention. The moment when everything really hit me this time around was when Kyo started singing acapella. His beautiful voice filling the room was…for lack of an adjective I haven’t yet used ten times, amazing. (Okay, I really ought to find another word.) The whole show was everything I’d hoped it to be.
A few of my friends and I had brought presents for the band members. Advised by a friend who said that Toshiya likes Doraemon, I’d bought him a Doraemon plushie in Chinatown the week before. I didn’t think to leave my plastic bag of stuff I’d felt I needed to bring in the coat check, for some reason, so when the bag broke, I wound up desperately clutching its most important contents - the Doraemon and a shirt a friend had given me as a late birthday present, this being the first time she’d seen me since my birthday - under my arm for the rest of the show. (The other contents of the bag had been ibuprofen, tissue packs, and pens, mostly. They wound up in various places on the floor of the place, and someone told me they had seen the ibuprofen bottle somewhere at some point. I think I eventually saw one of the pens but didn’t care enough to pick it up. xD) After the show, we gave our gifts to an English-speaking roadie we’d had a conversation with after the Family Values show, and he said he’d give them to the band. I really do hope that Toshiya got that Doraemon, and that he still has it today. …xD
And miraculously, the next morning, my cold was gone and I felt better than I had in a week. Diru’s magic healing powers? I think so.
Ever since the success Diru has had here, I’ve been saying that other Jrock bands would surely note this success and try their hands at coming here, too. Even when Diru toured with the Deftones and didn’t return to Canada that time, I figured that some Jrock band would come around eventually, so we wouldn’t have to wait forever. I thought that it was finally happening when Taste of Chaos was announced to have D’espairsRay and MUCC in its lineup. We were under the impression that the tour would be coming to Toronto, and we were excited. Then we found out it was coming here at all. And hell, Taste of Chaos has come to Toronto before! Why the hell wouldn’t it come here? It doesn’t even make sense.
When Diru headlined in Toronto, they drew in a huge crowd. A ton of other Jrock bands could do the same. So why haven’t any of them tried coming here yet? The Inward Scream tour was over a year ago, already. It’s time that someone else gives this a shot. More Jrock bands need to play North American tours, not just go to California and New York City. There are so many other fans over here who would go to Jrock shows that the tours would definitely bring profits. And we deserve to see more of our favourite bands!
Awhile back, there was a staff blog entry asking where fans would like to see the GazettE play. My friends and I tried our hardest to promote Toronto, but the band still hasn’t come to North America. Then came the poll asking if people would go to see Miyavi in New York. If he was playing there, I would do whatever it takes to get there - after all, it’s maybe a 10 hour drive away. That’s not a huge distance. My best friend travelled by bus all the way down to LA to see S.K.I.N.’s debut, but I still haven’t seen Miyavi live, and it would mean so much to me to be able to. Then, Toronto was added to the list of potential cities on a new poll. It was getting a whole lot of votes, including mine. And yet, tour dates have been announced for the North American leg of Miyavi’s world tour, and all three of them are in California. I’m still holding out hope that there are going to be more shows than that, because I’ll be mad if he’s only playing in California. Not mad at him, but at whoever had that idea. I mean, that’s RIDICULOUS! How are we supposed to feel about that? That hardly counts as a North American leg of a tour. It’s the Californian leg. I know the tour never even had Canada on the list of countries, but come on. Toronto deserves a show. At least New York, for the love of god! I know all Torontonian fans wouldn’t be able to go to that…but I would.
Still, I want to promote the idea of Jrock bands coming to my city as much as possible, because there is a huge demand for them here. I know that Maximum the Hormone was here recently, although I didn’t find out about it until after it had already happened, and it was a 19+ show anyway. That’s another thing that should be addressed: these Jrock shows should be all ages. I know that Miyavi played a show (in LA last year, I think) that wasn’t all ages, and I think he apologized to his younger fans who live there on his blog, but still. It shouldn’t happen. A lot of the Jrock fanbase here is made up of underage fans. Alienating those fans only makes the band’s audience smaller, so we’d all benefit from all ages shows.
But Maximum the Hormone coming here at all is a good step. Someone is taking notice of this city. The question is, who will be next? More Jrock bands playing shows over here is something that should have started long ago; it’s high time that this happens. Miyavi’s and the GazettE’s fans have showed their support of this idea online, and Hyde’s latest album releases (and Laruku’s, too?) have had US releases, so they’d all seem like good ideas. Maybe Diru’s success here wasn’t enough to prove that it’ll work, but perhaps one more band being successful here will be enough to inspire other bands to try it. Someone has to start, though. Come on, can’t someone take the chance? We’ll make it worth their while.
April 6th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[...] WHAT IS PILLOW FIGHT! wrote an interesting post today on The Dir en grey Model: Why other bands need to take a hintHere’s a quick excerpt … ongs, which she figured would work since I mostly listened to assorted genres of rock music at the time, anyway. … It was a few months later that I got into a lot of other Jrock artists, but Diru will always be particularly important to me since they were the first…. [...]
April 7th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
[...] The Dir en grey Model: Why other bands need to take a hint [...]
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 am
What you say is quite interesting about J-rock bands. There is definitely a lot of international interest…heck I can vouch for that: I’m from South Africa. J-rock is in no way well-known here but I know a fair amount of people who enjoy it and would kill to see live shows.
More bands with more world tours with more countries would really be great; it gives more fans the chance to experience the music and more exposure for the bands. I’d also say I particularly encourage it since it gives people like me [who lives in a J-rock deprived country...continent XD], more of an opportunity to possibly attend a show.
Example: I discovered Miyavi [and VK in general] this year, found out he was doing a world tour and voila, here I am in Taiwan waiting to attend my first J-rock live while on holiday to visit my dad. I couldn’t have asked for things to work out better and I’m really excited. X_X
So…in conclusion…I concur! XD =)