Hizumi is back with a vengeance — His screams were album quality. His voice broke a bit during some longer notes in singing sections near the middle-end of the show (understandable) but I was so impressed at how well he nailed it all. Like there was never a health issue to begin with.
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Yeah I would say the same. Garnet was impeccable. His voice only cracked on the really difficult notes. Like when he has to sustain his unique growl voice. Not band for an older musician singing songs he made 20 years ago. Not bad at all.
He did have some backing tracks to him him too, but they werent loud enough to overtake his singing.
I’m still reeling. I feel like I was transported back in time to a show before they broke up.
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Finally had time to watch the Rapture Live yesterday. On the weekend before I had watched the Closer to Ideal and the Human Clad Monster DVDs, so I had something to compare it to.
Hizumi did a fantastic job, especially with the darker, heavier songs. I felt he struggled most with Angel Dust, Squall and Hollow. Not at all with something like Garnet. Now there is something that keeps me wondering. If I compare this to Human Clad Monster, their last concert before disbanding, I don’t notice much struggle there. But back than their reason for the disbandment was Hizumi’s vocal condintion. I also don’t think, there was too much work put into the DVD to cover up struggle as I was at that final live and don’t remember thinking that he sounded bad.
There is also that Interview with him where he states, that he went to all kind of doctors but no one could find a physical reason for his problems and it being likely nervouse system related.
Sooo, I was wondering if this was stress related due to the trouble with the label and the pressure put onto them and not a classical vocal cord condition. In the end it probably does not really matter what it was but since it 00:35 in the night it does keep me up at night 
Nontheless, I am so so happy to see them back. And Hizumi looked really happy at the end. He wrote in the fan club meesage that he was extremly nervous and even had little black out moments during the concert. But they seem to be back with full force and keep announcing more event participations.
I also noticed, that there is no Despa song, that I dislike. I think I can hear all their albums without a skip. I am always struggling with deciding if Despa or Diru are my favorite band but since I hate a full Diru album, it might be time to admit, that Despa is my fav 
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Yeah, at this point it we can totally say that the disbandment was due to this whole label mess, not because he was really limited by throat issues.
For me it’s almost the same. Diru used to be my favorite vk band until I got into despa. There’s lots of Diru stuff that I look and say “Hell, no” while with despa, the only song I ever skip is the Murder Freaks from Terrors (really don’t like this version) and sometimes Kogoeru Yoru (I like it but idk)
Just by curiosity, which Diru album you hate?
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Funnily, everybodies favorite Dum Spiro Spero
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RAPTURE sounds good!
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For those that weren’t able to watch/listen to their live they posted a different snippet of rapture!
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Taste of Chaos has been dead since 2016, but Warped Tour is still a thing, there’s all kinds of festivals too. Maybe we can get them across the pond again some day.
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One can dream. Karyu stated his goal is to do a world tour again. Though these days it’s LATAM and Europe. It does seem like touring here (states) is dead (except for Jiluka lol)
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I mean honestly we wouldn’t know what hizumi was experiencing vocally only speculate. I’m sure he had a condition that did affect his voice to some capacity and it seemed enough for him to mention it publicly. It could have been a combination of label issues and his health issues. Overall glad he’s back 
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This live report on Visual Music Japan was such a great read. 
The authors love for Despa is undeniable and they really found touching words.
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My favorite article! It was so well written 
With the general hype regarding their comeback I started an ambitious project in the last few weeks and purged the setlist.fm of D’espairsRay which was a complete mess before.
Unfortunately I have already exhausted all my sources but there are still so many gaps, especially the time before 2004.
So now I need your hive mind:
- Do you have any sources for setlists of old vk concerts?
- Do you have any setlists, reports or videos from the oversea concerts?
Maybe someone is able to help? 
Also there is one Japan tour missing (the one with the beautiful name “Tour pregnany eight months” 
) The only source I have is this poster
but I’m not able to read the tour dates.
Can anyone help?
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For 22.11.2006 Berlin I found something from a fellow fan in an old forum, I still have access to. But they were unsure about the order of songs in the middle of the show:
1. dears
2. born
3. infection
4. in vain
Order unclear:
reddish, subliminal, closer to ideal, kogoeru yoru ni saite hana, yami ni furu kiseki, abel to cain, pig, forbidden, gärnet
encore:
~1~‘tatoeba’ kimi ga…shinda…ra
~2~new song (Probably Squall)
~3~fuyuu shita risou
~4~quarter void
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I think rapture is gonna be one of my favorites by them. Its literally otherworldly sounding and the perfect representation of Despairsray.
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I wasn’t able to catch the livestream but I found the live here (not a download link, just video streaming but mods please remove it if not allowed):
Edit: Video removed
*Rapture at 51:19
It truly does sound like something that could’ve been released during their Redeemer cycle. The boys didn’t skip a beat. It’s really refreshing to hear a band of their age come back and just write music like they used to. I can’t think of many bands nowadays that are ripe or reprise their presence in music and decide to write music like it’s still 2010.
D’espairRay is BACK BABAY.
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Thanks for the link 
Yeah, we can hear Hizu struggling with some long notes and high screams (the last one on Infection for exemple, or on Forbidden) but he really killed all the song during a +2 hours song. No one can argue with that.
Still a bit weird to hear old songs played a bit lower than before but it’s almost nothing compared to the band’s absence.
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I’m watching the live now…and man, idk who they got as production/tech but they gotta get the boot.
I didn’t notice it when i heard this on my phone (with my beats earbuds) but on my laptop with studio monitors, the flaws stick out more…
I feel like Karyu’s Guitar and Zero’s bass are buried behind the backing tracks at times. Also, whatever electronic sounds they added to these newer versions of these songs are very distracting.
Also i feel like with a comeback live, I gotta hear the crowd more, especially with the chants. They are also buried, despite showing HELLA enthusiasm, which is great.
Ima show grace, since they’re coming back after a long hiatus. But they gotta tighten their live sound up.
Pro’s. Its great to see them back. The songs in lower tunings give them more life. The energy and chemistry is STILL ON POINT.
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Yeah the electronics being pushed right into the front especially during Dears is very jarring. Overall the sound was good considering it was an unedited real time live performance but if this ever gets a Blu-ray/DVD release I hope they go back and clean up/remix it so they aren’t as noticeable
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saying it in the most polite, actually positive way, watching Hizumi and the band perform again after all those years feels like watching a ballerina dancing again after 20 years of retirement. It’s endearing, it’s emotional, a bit clumsy and bittersweet too, but it’s makes me happy and excited still. My eyes were a bit teary during Kamikaze ( my first D’espa song ) and Horizon ( my favourite D’espa song ).
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