The Hard-Boiled Wonderland

[Music Reviews]

Dir en Grey live in London

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Dir en Grey, Live Events]

The Angry Men of Osaka have come a long way from the point of view of their international fans. Their native Japan has had them all to itself for a decade now, although the’ve made some noteworthy appearances in the US recently. It’s all the more significant, then, when their first visit to the UK is not one but two sold-out shows on consecutive nights.

Looking at the almost fever-pitch anticipation for the event, I felt almost sorry for poor Fair to Midland, the band who had the less-than-enviable task of warming up a crowd who were eager to see the main act take to the stage. To their credit, FtM’s performance was that of an enthusiastic and hard-working metal outfit who added a bit of electronic noise to the typical bread-and-butter metal sound: they really weren’t bad and I’ll be keeping my ears open for them in future.

The main event was of course Diru themselves, who were kicking off their European tour to promote their new LP, The Marrow of a Bone. After their trademark intro, the short instrumental G.D.S., the unassuming and harmless looking line-up walked calmly onto the stage; Kyo sprayed a gobful of water into the front row before they transformed themselves from shy, angsty types into full-on showmen. They started the proceedings off nicely with Repetition of Hatred and The Fatal Believer, which set the course for the first half of the set; with the exception of a blistering rendition of Saku and Obscure the crowd was warmed up with their newest material, whose hard-hitting feel suited the live situation and grabbed the attention of the moshpit straight away.

The more consistently varied and, in my opinion at least, superior quality of their earlier efforts was highlighted in the latter half of the performance in which they scattered numbers from their Withering to Death album amongst the more recent ones. Their rendition of Conceived Sorrow was superb but it was The Final that proved to be the highlight of the evening: including a theatrical act of self-mutiliation (or a convincing use of stage blood…I can’t be sure) from Kyo, the entire crowd was singing along in unison, which is no mean feat when the only English lyrics are usually the swear words.

The band were on fine form from start to finish, with Shinya’s arms flailing behind his kit like Animal from the Muppets, Toshiya laying down tooth-rattling basslines with clinical precision and the double-headed beast of a guitar section in the form of Kaoru and Die thrashing away at the opposite sides of the stage. Kyo proved once again that he is one of the most enigmatic frontmen in the business with his eccentric and brutally sincere stage behaviour: he hit all the right notes with conviction and abandon, even staying on-stage for a minute or two after the last number had played for a bit of audience interaction. There was no stage banter but the messages were clear: the band were enjoying doing what they doing, the crowd were overjoyed to see them there and the old adage that good music transcends language barriers is as true as it always was.

Dead Tree (which was heralded by Kyo’s choirboy-style falsetto harmonising) and Merciless Cult ensured that the Withering…-era material was adequately represented but the remainder of the main set was an almost-complete rendition of the Marrow… album. For the encore though, the band returned to the stage for Kodou and Lie Buried with a Vengeance before giving more long-standing fans a real treat with Vulgar’s The III-D Empire and a blistering parting shot with the inevitable, and brilliant, Clever Sleazoid that was introduced with Kyo breathlessly holding and index finder aloft and proclaiming “One more?” in broken Engrish. Needless to say he was happy to oblige, clearly pleasantly surprised at the enthused reaction he and his bandmates were getting from an audience who had probably never been given the chance to see and hear the band in a live situation before.

In Summary

With their reputation spreading largely through word of mouth and sheer hard work rather than TV and radio airplay, it is a little surprising to see that Diru have built up such a solid and dedicated fanbase that does not seem to view them as a novelty act of one hit wonder. The reaction to their performances of pre-Marrow… tracks on Thursday evening also suggested that their underground following is now long-established and that, hopefully, live venues in the UK have not seen the last of this extraordinary band just yet.

Set List

1. G.D.S.
2. Repetition of Hatred
3. The Fatal Believer
4. Saku
5. Rotting Root
6. Conceived Sorrow
7. Agitated Screams of Maggots
8. Ryoujoku No Ame
9. Obscure
10. Disabled Complexes
11. The Final
12. Dead Tree
13. Merciless Cult
14. Grief
15. The Deeper Vileness

[Encore]

1. Kodou
2. Lie Buried with a Vengeance
3. The III-D Empire
4. Clever Sleazoid

[Filed under Music Reviews]  [Tags: Dir en Grey, Live Events]

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