829 Service

Apocalyptica-Bring Them To Light feat. Joseph Duplantier of Gojira (And Kyo of DeG Live.)

He's a large and ugly giant monster, headless on my back
This urgent haste in my head
Materialized in this dark whole world
No one can help me there
I know this pain has gone too far
The fear is now so loud

Kill a child I'm trying to protect myself
Against your old controlled hate
Pollution of mind filled all the space and destroyed my light
At least mine were never allowed

The hardest thing for me is
Facing the fear I live
No one can help me now it's under my heart

I'll come to know the living
My demons are inside
I'll bring them all to light

I wanted to hate, I wanted to die
I wanted to see you sacrifice
I had to deal with the fear you gave me
But you fucker never tried to help me
I was jealous and I was scared
Nobody ever replaced my pain
To say I'm not evil, to tell I'm not bad
Too late – I'm lost in human nature.
Leave me be
Set me free
Leave me be
Set me free

The hardest thing for me is
Facing the fear I live
No one can help me now it's under my heart

I'll come to know the living
My demons are inside
I'll bring them all to light

Unexpected yet expected,
Emerged from the dark I come to life
Take everything if you give my horse its head

You know me, your fear me, you know
The hardest thing for me is
Facing the fear I live
No one can help me now it's under my heart

I will come to know the living
My demons are inside
I'll bring them all to light
-------------------------------------------------------------

I guess I can start this blog by saying: When my cousin Josh was up in Alaska working over the summer we discussed me using my frequent flyer miles to fly over for a weekend the next time Dir en Grey was in town in Portland where he lives. He said it would be cool to stay with him free and that it'd be a lot of fun.

Later in the week I saw that Dir en Grey was actually about to do a tour in September, but was only going to play in Seattle. A few days later they announced that they were adding a Portland Oregon show at the Roseland Theater!! I knew I had to go! I immediately texted Josh and asked if the offer was still open to stay with him. He said "Yeah Definitely!!" and I knew I HAD to make it. I looked around on the internet and saw that there would be an opportunity to meet them if you grab VIP Tickets for 100 bucks or so... Im totally okay with it even though it is A LOT of money...

After Comic con I actually ended up having to take out a loan to make it through the month. It sucked, but I needed to eat you know? I realized that going to Oregon would be lame if I didn't have any money and had to take time off of work etc... I told my cousin I couldn't make it and my dreams were crushed :(

Fast forward a month or so... I was sitting at work on September 1st configuring Axis cameras and my boss Allen asked if I wanted to go do Axis Training on the 14th, 15th and the 16th of October... Seeing as playing with security cameras is my favorite thing to do, I said Yeah!! I'd love to... He said he had to hurry and book my tickets and confirmation of course attendance seeing as it was in Portland... ... ... .......

....
..... Wait? Portland? ..... 14th, 15th.... Dir en Grey is playing on the 12th...

Oh my god Dir en Grey is playing on the 12th!

I went to try and find VIP Tickets ASAP!! and unfortunately they were all sold out :( Luckily After the fact someone who went was able to record the meet and greet in Portland!!

The anticipation the week before I went out was insane! Especially seeing as I was out in Bush Alaska working...

I said goodbye to shane, packed up my gear and headed off to the airport in Anchorage. New ritual is grabbing a Margarita at Chilis before I left, so I definitely did.



After that I ventured onto the plane... I had to sit next to some business guy, and a british punker kid with a nose piercing and a leather jacket with ripped jeans and a white shirt... I'm pretty sure he wanted to punch me for no reason whatsoever... ANARCHY

In the Bathroom of the airplane I realized that there is an ashtray in there... and a NO SMOKING sign right above it... WTF is up with that.



I landed in Portland for the first time at around 5am and jumped on the Light rail. The first of my many public transit interactions. I met Josh in town at Pioneer Square and all of the architecture and sculptures everywhere. The old buildings are all well preserved and the overall feeling is pretty good. (Aside from all of the homeless people around the main part of downtown)



It's pretty funny to see homeless people laying around everywhere... I like it here Iphones are way cheaper :)





Ended up eating some breakfast and going back to Joshes place to unload all of my stuff! Hung out all day and ended up going to a show that night for a band called Tera Melos. They had 2 openers and the first one was so horrible that my head was going to explode... Take note: this is probably considered Noise Rock... And has no regularity and beat. It is hilarious watching people bob their head to it because everyone is off (Because its impossible to keep the same rhythm) and everyone looks retarded as hell... The second opener was a drummer and a pianist doing some more noise rock... it was kind of boring and reminded me of Earthbound music. I recorded a sample of audio but i'll save you the trouble of not having to listen to it. Tera Melos is definitely more interesting, as they have... SO MANY EFFECTS... here's the lead singers distortion pedal boards:



The other guitarist and bassist had extra pedals and a synth/midi keyboard. It was a fun show... All the songs had decent vocals, and cool effects but it wasn't my cup of tea honestly. They do however have a HILARIOUS band intro video



After that we decided to have some drinks at this Alaska Themed bar lol... it was pretty awesome and I had the best Ameretto Sour i've ever had. The attractive bar tender made the bars special homemade sour mixture which was AWESOME. We finished off the night at the rock bar right next to Joshes place of residence. All the regulars were partying it up with karaoke and we watched and had drinks... GREAT night!!.

I forgot to mention that I got to meet Joshes girlfriend Sam. She's really nice and a pretty cool person. lol... ANYWAYS.

I woke up the morning of Dir en Grey "Unwavering Fact of Tomorrow". I can't even describe how awesome it was to wake up knowing how awesome that night was going to be. NOTHING could ruin that for me. The weather was nice and just... everything was working out. We brought some PBR (beer of portland lol) over to Sams new apartment which is right downtown. I'm sad I didn't take a picture of the view outside of her place but it is a beautiful outlook over the city on the 5th floor. You can see the bridge and everything!!

After Beer and Pizza I anxiously left for the Roseland Theatre down the block... Standing in line was pretty funny I could see the Gothic Lolita girls hanging out and the oversize goth girls with DeG shirts on. It was really funny to listen to the awkward metal dweebs behind us in line having annoyingly BAD conversations about stupid stuff... getting high, and which obscure metal vocalist they -HOPE- to hear with Apocalyptica... Personally I would have to say johannes krauser ii.... THATS JUST ME THOUGH lol...

The line finally went in and we got tickets and I ran for the merch booth. Unfortunately most sizes of shirts, and the Hoodies were all sold out :(



The view of the stage... I could tell that Dir en Greys backdrop was up... and I was SO excited... It was really awkward to look at all of the different people standing around. I ran to the right corner positioning myself right where Die would always stand... He always takes left stage by himself in every video ever XD .... I was ready for the awesome!!





The first band that played was Evaline



They were okay at best... They need more self confidence honestly... the first thing they said was: ALRIGHT We'll get this over with real fast so you can see Dir en Grey and Apocalyptica.... I was like Damn ... That is what I was thinking, but I was ready to give you guys a chance after watching the cool music video LOL!!! .... Their songs were mostly unmemorable. Maybe its because I was waiting to see DeG... But their final song they all played random drums on the stage and the singer broke his mic which was pretty fun, but like I said I was really just waiting for them to leave. I may check out an album later, but with the release of so many amazing albums i'll probably pass XD

This was it.... the people setting the gear up were definitely japanese... When they were doing sound check with Die's guitars It was so awesome to see Die's awesome red guitars. Around that point they put out Kyos Booster stand.... that he always has to have because he's so midget LOL!! In front of me the two Gothic lolita girls were playing pattycake or something and squeeing with excitement... I felt stupid as hell for feeling EXACTLY the same way LOL..... Behind me I hear a kid yell "KYO STANDS THERE!!!!" I turned around and laughed abit because he totally just vocalized my exact thoughts... Then they put out Die's Mic stand and he yelled "DIE'S MICROPHONE STAND!!!" Again.. exactly what I was thinking haha....




I met these kids Leland and Johnathan who were both into DeG. Aside from that the crowd was definitely a let down... It was the LAMEST crowd i've ever seen honestly. Everyone just stood there for the most part. Great for filming, but other than that... Wheres the fun in standing around... I love crazy shows... Can't wait for 36 at zombie fists... Speaking of... They're going to be at the Roseland too soon!



I also loved the fans labeled DeG... (insert bad DeG fans joke here)

They were mainly used for adding wind to dies hair to make him look more badass....



ANYWAYS!!

The show started and Shinya came out and waved and quickly ran behind his amazing drumset and Die, Kaoru, and Shinya took their places. They all busted into the first song and I had the privilege of filming it :D

Here are a few videos from the show!! **All Recorded by me (I think one was done by my cousin. EXCUSE any singing along that I might have done that is somehow audible.




(Sorry!! I need to flip this video!!! wtf happened?!)











I have loved this band for such a long time that it feels like I have a love for each member... I can't help but notice them all. Most people ONLY talk about Kyo which is kind of sad seeing as there are 4 other equally awesome members!!

Die was just as awesome as I expected!! He really gets into playing and I love his facial expressions and his guitar style A LOT!! he's always been my favorite member and I was mesmerized by his precision and just overall awesomeness!!. He had 2 different guitars one for heavier songs and one for a cleaner sound. His signature one is so beautiful in real life... I wanted to steal it!!

Shinya is an amazing drummer. Extremely adorable and stylish. He totally hasn't changed one bit since I first saw him which I really appreciate. His drumset is so impressive and watching his drumming style is so fun to watch! I also really love watching his facial expressions a lot. You can totally see his passion for music and what he does when he plays.

Toshiya... Totchi ... I would say the most active guitarist. I LOVE the way he holds his bass. He mostly held it kind of low and almost upright. He had a boyish girl haircut (If that makes sense) and wearing a skirt lol!! From jumping up on Kyos stand... to Shinyas drum platform... to spinning around and jumping he was so awesome!! If I was a rockstar I would totally want to be just like him.

Kaoru-- Well!! he's Kaoru haha... Completely overshadowed by Toshiya being so awesome. He had a HUGE cross necklace and played mostly stationary. He did switch sides with Die for one song, but other than that he sort of just stood around WHICH IS FINE!! he doesn't need to move much ... he's still a total badass.

Kyo... Where to even start. I love his vocals... but I dont think there is a single person who will argue with me when I say he doesn't sound the same as he used to. His metal screaming is fun to listen to, but everytime i've heard them play an older song he just ignores half of the lyrics and ends up growling over them. He is one of the most interesting vocalists i've ever watched perform, and despite his height his stage presence fills the entire stage and then some.









The most memorable moments from the show were definitely when they played some older stuff ( I read on Die's blog that they were going to play a few songs they haven't played in north america before!!)

I loved being able to sing along with Obscure and The final! It was like a dream come true. I'd have loved them to play Umbrella or Mitsu to Tsuba. Berry would have made me laugh but I mainly love the vocals to the chorus so... Kyo would have messed them up anyways XD Seeing as i've listened to all of their music several thousand times... Just being able to feel everything while being there was seriously not able to be put into words.

Having the final song be Raetsu Koku ... just ... my heart skipped ... It took me by HUGE surprise. I could only really identify it by the guitar part as I tried learning it FOREVER ago and can sort of play it... Kyos vocals over it made it sound really sludgy and I dont think anyone around me realized how amazing it was that they were playing Raetsu Koku. It was one of the first songs I absolutely loved so long ago.... and it's about demons taking over the earth. I would have sang it for Kyo seeing as he didn't seem to either A: remember the words... or B: Feel like singing them. Regardless this was one of the highest points of the night.

They Encored with Saku and just... Everything was just so surreal... I'm so glad that I came!! When everything was over Shinya threw his drum sticks to the crowd and him, toshiya and Kyo left the stage. Die and Kaoru continued to stay out for a bit and threw guitar picks out. I wanted a Die one so bad and I totally MISSED one by a couple inches when he was throwing them like ninja stars in every direction. Die came back around with a pick from Kaoru and bounced it right off of Joshes head and it landed right in front of me... I totally picked it up and FREAKED OUT!! .... There is no way i'm ever losing this!!



After the show Apocalyptica came out and rocked the place. I spent most of it /fanning over DeG and how awesome the show was with my friend VIA Text message .... They played some AWESOME songs that range from brutal to elegant symphonies... It is definitely a show just about ANYONE could appreciate. I ran upstairs to the bar to drink for Apocalyptica.

Half way into the show they brought Kyo back onto stage and let him do vocals for "Bring them to Light" I got part of it filmed, but there are people with better videos on Youtube: here's the epic video of Kyo and Apocalyptica :D *EDIT: I added my video above :)



They ended up playing some metallica covers which were pretty awesome! Seek and Destroy was pretty fun! the encores were so extremely epic... I love Hall of the Mountain King... it really just ended the night well!!

Afterwards it was hard to absorb all of what happened. I totally had a whole bottle of Disorono to myself and ended up crying because I was so happy. I was in great company with Josh and Sam and her friends... and no matter what my family is going to be there for me which I confirmed. I woke up the next morning and the only thing I could think about was how messy my hair was and how I have kyo spit in it from when he spewed water from his water bottle everywhere.




After the fact I watched this extremely lame QA session from the Portland meet and greet... overall I guess I don't feel like I missed out on much. ... Korn and Slipknot?! ..... thats all ANYONE has?!!? not one good question...


Sa Bir, Dozing Green,Reiketsu Nariseba, gaika,chinmoku ga nemuru, Red Soil, Rotting Root, Vinushka, hageshisa to kono mune no naka de karamitsuita shakunetsu no yami, Shokubeni, Obscure, The Final, Raetsu Koku, Saku <--Setlist that I remember while sitting here... i'll have to -RE-remember

It was definitely one of the greatest nights that I wont easily forget. I'm uploading more to add to this.