Post by arachne on Sept 11, 2006 4:42:37 GMT -5
Yeah, I know, the East Troy show was two weeks ago. Oh well.
Before I say anything else, I have to say that the FYE people were really... uniformed, or at least it seemed like it. According to the person we spoke with, the members of Dir en grey weren't signing stuff because they don't speak English and thus wouldn't understand what was going on. Which makes little sense to begin with, but when compounded by the evidence that Die at least can apparently hold his own in English, it makes even less sense. Since when has language been an issue during autograph sessions? I think most bands know what to do when a fan sticks a CD in front of them.
So any way, back to the actual show. We sort of hung out in the middle of the lawn during the first few bands' sets, and then ran down to the front of lawn section when Dir en grey went on. Almost all the people standing in the very first row of the lawn weren't there to see Dir en grey, and acted bored and were generally in the way the entire time Dir en grey was on. Which was incredibly depressing, especially when someone with a camera would wander by and film us; they came by at least three different times during Dir en grey's set.
Oh, and did I mention the mosh pit? Nothing pissed me off more than the mosh pit did. I really, seriously want to know if Dir en grey knows that moshing is happening on the lawn, and if so, was "mosh pit" properly defined for them? I don't know what the lawn set-up was/is like at the other shows, but at Alpine Valley, the area they used for moshing was not visible from the stage. If they weren't told it was happening, they didn't know. Anyways, I don't know how many of you remember/know this, but Dir en grey is like really serious about concert behavior because someone broke a leg crowd surfing at one of their shows a couple years ago. They throw people out of their shows if they do anything that can result in any kind of serious injury now. There's no way they would condone something like a mosh pit. They're trying to eliminate violence, not inspire it.
The screaming on the lawn was crazy. Seriously, there was screaming every time ANYTHING happened while they on. It was particularly loud when Kyo took off his shirt, which probably made no sense to the non-fans. Haha. I don't remember most of the set, but they definitely played THE FINAL and saku among other things (I think it was all Wtd., but I'm not absolutely certain). The sound system was already going when they started their set, and the feeds weren't mixed right for them, so it was kind of hard to hear Kyo whenever he wasn't screaming.
Kyo ran around like a psychotic child, though I was somehow disappointed when fake-scratched his chest. He had pause at one point to catch his breath in the middle of the set. The rest of the band was playing it a little too cool, and didn't do much more than strut around a little. It was like Diru-lite: all the looks, none of the... anything else. They were way more toned down than I was expecting. Oh, and their set ended 10 minutes early with no explanation.
I was disappointed when people kept missing Kyo's hand queues, which I think he gave up on halfway through the set. Granted they weren't the most obvious, but he wanted fists, not "rock" hands, and the only people that really got it were in the pavilion. And no one was head-banging! I had a really hard time doing it myself, because I was wearing platforms and couldn't get enough level ground to stand on because of the stupid girl SITTING DOWN in front me. I wanted to push her off the ledge, but security would have thrown me out and Dir en grey is worth more than revenge on some loser killjoy KoRn (Deftones?) fan to me. So I pulled a muscle in my neck head-banding. Most of the KoRn/Deftones fans were really nice, though, so please don't take this as a generalization or anything. Most of them were at least paying attention to Dir en grey with some kind of interest, and there weren't any outright insults. Pretty much any dissent got its ass kicked by the screaming.
So anyways, after their set, a massive line formed at the FYE table within minutes of them leaving stage. Thankfully, I found some Jfuckers in the middle of the line to squeeze in with. (Thanks again, if any of you post here.) We waited for what seemed like forever (my feet were well past numb at this point- I'm never wearing platforms to a concert again, PUTUMAYO pants be damned), until FINALLY Kyo slithered in behind the table and the line started moving. And then people started having nervous breakdowns and hyperventilating. And CRYING. It did seem that it was because it was Kyo in particular set many of them of into tears, more than it was meeting a member in general, so to that point I kind of understood. But people were having like... psychotic breaks on the grass right after going through the line.
As for Kyo... he looked extremely tired and he's lost weight. He's a bloody waif. He was a LOT prettier up close than I was expecting. Even with the stupid bangs. And he has these pretty little hands. I've never seen such small hands on a man before. And they were cold. He was wearing sunglasses so eye contact was difficult to discern. The (again stupid) FYE people hurried everyone through the line so fast that Kyo barely had time to do HIS thing, let alone for anyone to say anything to him. I have to say I was impressed by his ability to concentrate 100% of attention on the person in front of him. He didn't look at the line or the people spasming in the grass around him. Very professional.
I'm vaguely irritated that I wasn't able to add to my collection of Jrocker autographs. That was something I was REALLY looking forward to. I really like autographs, especially when obtained in person, because it evokes the memory of meeting the person when you see it. Or at least it does for me. So that would be the only disappointment I experienced.
Before I say anything else, I have to say that the FYE people were really... uniformed, or at least it seemed like it. According to the person we spoke with, the members of Dir en grey weren't signing stuff because they don't speak English and thus wouldn't understand what was going on. Which makes little sense to begin with, but when compounded by the evidence that Die at least can apparently hold his own in English, it makes even less sense. Since when has language been an issue during autograph sessions? I think most bands know what to do when a fan sticks a CD in front of them.
So any way, back to the actual show. We sort of hung out in the middle of the lawn during the first few bands' sets, and then ran down to the front of lawn section when Dir en grey went on. Almost all the people standing in the very first row of the lawn weren't there to see Dir en grey, and acted bored and were generally in the way the entire time Dir en grey was on. Which was incredibly depressing, especially when someone with a camera would wander by and film us; they came by at least three different times during Dir en grey's set.
Oh, and did I mention the mosh pit? Nothing pissed me off more than the mosh pit did. I really, seriously want to know if Dir en grey knows that moshing is happening on the lawn, and if so, was "mosh pit" properly defined for them? I don't know what the lawn set-up was/is like at the other shows, but at Alpine Valley, the area they used for moshing was not visible from the stage. If they weren't told it was happening, they didn't know. Anyways, I don't know how many of you remember/know this, but Dir en grey is like really serious about concert behavior because someone broke a leg crowd surfing at one of their shows a couple years ago. They throw people out of their shows if they do anything that can result in any kind of serious injury now. There's no way they would condone something like a mosh pit. They're trying to eliminate violence, not inspire it.
The screaming on the lawn was crazy. Seriously, there was screaming every time ANYTHING happened while they on. It was particularly loud when Kyo took off his shirt, which probably made no sense to the non-fans. Haha. I don't remember most of the set, but they definitely played THE FINAL and saku among other things (I think it was all Wtd., but I'm not absolutely certain). The sound system was already going when they started their set, and the feeds weren't mixed right for them, so it was kind of hard to hear Kyo whenever he wasn't screaming.
Kyo ran around like a psychotic child, though I was somehow disappointed when fake-scratched his chest. He had pause at one point to catch his breath in the middle of the set. The rest of the band was playing it a little too cool, and didn't do much more than strut around a little. It was like Diru-lite: all the looks, none of the... anything else. They were way more toned down than I was expecting. Oh, and their set ended 10 minutes early with no explanation.
I was disappointed when people kept missing Kyo's hand queues, which I think he gave up on halfway through the set. Granted they weren't the most obvious, but he wanted fists, not "rock" hands, and the only people that really got it were in the pavilion. And no one was head-banging! I had a really hard time doing it myself, because I was wearing platforms and couldn't get enough level ground to stand on because of the stupid girl SITTING DOWN in front me. I wanted to push her off the ledge, but security would have thrown me out and Dir en grey is worth more than revenge on some loser killjoy KoRn (Deftones?) fan to me. So I pulled a muscle in my neck head-banding. Most of the KoRn/Deftones fans were really nice, though, so please don't take this as a generalization or anything. Most of them were at least paying attention to Dir en grey with some kind of interest, and there weren't any outright insults. Pretty much any dissent got its ass kicked by the screaming.
So anyways, after their set, a massive line formed at the FYE table within minutes of them leaving stage. Thankfully, I found some Jfuckers in the middle of the line to squeeze in with. (Thanks again, if any of you post here.) We waited for what seemed like forever (my feet were well past numb at this point- I'm never wearing platforms to a concert again, PUTUMAYO pants be damned), until FINALLY Kyo slithered in behind the table and the line started moving. And then people started having nervous breakdowns and hyperventilating. And CRYING. It did seem that it was because it was Kyo in particular set many of them of into tears, more than it was meeting a member in general, so to that point I kind of understood. But people were having like... psychotic breaks on the grass right after going through the line.
As for Kyo... he looked extremely tired and he's lost weight. He's a bloody waif. He was a LOT prettier up close than I was expecting. Even with the stupid bangs. And he has these pretty little hands. I've never seen such small hands on a man before. And they were cold. He was wearing sunglasses so eye contact was difficult to discern. The (again stupid) FYE people hurried everyone through the line so fast that Kyo barely had time to do HIS thing, let alone for anyone to say anything to him. I have to say I was impressed by his ability to concentrate 100% of attention on the person in front of him. He didn't look at the line or the people spasming in the grass around him. Very professional.
I'm vaguely irritated that I wasn't able to add to my collection of Jrocker autographs. That was something I was REALLY looking forward to. I really like autographs, especially when obtained in person, because it evokes the memory of meeting the person when you see it. Or at least it does for me. So that would be the only disappointment I experienced.
