Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Live: AGE QUOD AGIS

AGE QUOD AGIS
[2011.12.04] House of Blues in Houston, TX
featuring: The Birthday Massacre & Dir en grey





The Birthday Massacre


Aside from Diru, I was really excited to see The Birthday Massacre again. They had a great, positive energy between themselves and their fans and their music is pretty awesome as well. I remember when they were starting their second song, "Sleepwalking", they had some technical difficulties, but Chibi played it off cutely and entertained us while they figured out the problem.

They've played a good mixture of songs from the past and even brought in their two newest songs from their last single, which made me happy. The performance was flawless as usual. It felt like they had even more energy than the first time I saw them. Chibi danced, bounced, and interacted with her bandmates and the audience constantly. She truly loves her fans and you can tell the other members do as well. They interacted with the audience occasionally as well and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. Way to go, Canada! Here's my attempt at a setlist:

Setlist
[no particular order]

Sleepwalking
Red Star
Burn Away
Blue
Forever
Always
Pins and Needles
In the Dark
Control
Shallow Grave


"Forever" by The Birthday Massacre



Dir en grey

Once TBM's set was over, I was a little sad, because I was really getting into it and they're amazing performers, but on the other hand, I was really excited what Diru was gonna bring to the table. I had very high hopes for the boys, since that tragic night in 2009. DUM SPIRO SPERO was released this year and I thought it was a masterpiece like UROBOROS.

The guys made a dramatic entrance and everyone was feeling it. There was so much great energy flowing between us and the band, it was very refreshing. They mixed a little bit old and new and I really mean a good mix too!

Everything that was lacking from 2009 reappeared this year and I was really grateful I came back to the comforts of Houston. I thought the crowd was great and respectful and energetic. Anyway, the guys moved around a lot on the stage. Kaoru and Toshiya even switched sides with Die a couple times, which was a nice contrast. I wish I could've gotten better pics of them then, but I was too busy enjoying the show to squeeze my hand in my pocket to pull my camera out. There was also a lot of emotion and drama displayed through Kyo. He really put everything into each song, which was fascinating. He twisted, contorted, squealed, and morphed into some tortured creature that you had to keep your eye on at all times. He even put the mic aside to connect with audience and the other members interacted as well with us. It was great to see them let go of everything again like 2008. Most surprising thing for the evening, the dramatic, emotion filled performance of "Mazohyst of Decadence". It had it's original musical arrangement and everything and was performed like it was a brand new song. Apparently, they've been performing "Kasumi" other places which would've been nice to hear again, but I'm happy I got to hear that at least once. I hope they continue incorporating their older material with their newer stuff with minimal changes or at least if they do change it, go in the route they did with "-mushi-". *__* So, here's my crappy setlist, which feels like I might be missing things:

Setlist
[no particular order]

狂骨の鳴り
Mazohyst of Decadence
Tsumi to Batsu -2011-
Obscure -2011-
THE BLOSSOMING BEELZEBUB
THE FINAL
DIFFERENT SENSE
AMON
LOTUS
激しさと、この胸の中で絡み付いた灼熱の闇
羅刹国
GRIEF
ROTTING ROOT
冷血なりせば


"Mazohyst of Decadence" by Dir en grey



For some reason, I watched Tainted Reality's head douche man Roger's reaction to the show. He hadn't been to a Diru show since 2007, but he found the performance and the fans boring. I'm pretty sure he's what one of my friends would call a jaded jrock fan and he should just not attend such things, because what I experienced was a double shot of mindfucked! From the opening act to the main event, it was an amazing performance. The energy was good between the crowd and the band and the selections were a perfect mixture of everything that makes up both bands. I'm looking forward to more great things from both bands.

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