DIR EN GREY - TOUR22-23 PHALARIS

My copy of the Blu ray just arrived. I’m really liking the packaging on this.





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Yeah mine came yesterday too. Only watched the first disc so far but package is defo nice. Comments about the show.

Nice setlist

Smoking on stage does not make you look cool

Die looks like hes put on some chub

Pitch shifting Toshiyas backing vox is an interesting choice but actual sounds good

Toshiya looks quite emotional during a couple of songs. I always like it when you can visibly see the members really feeling the music.

And what the hell is with the pitch shifts on Kyos voice during TDFF??? :laughing:

Good stuff all round though, did enjoy it and looking forward to getting into the other discs later.

  • If someone wants to add this to discogs so I dont have to thatd be grand. Haha.
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I turned off the first disc about halfway through because Kyo was annoying me, lmao. I’ll go back to it later.

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Why do i feel like this is a growing trend?

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I do kinda get that. I know its nice to see the band perform with genuine passion but im starting to wonder how genuine Kyo is. Almost every time they play something a bit more emotive Kyo goes into meltdown and instead of hearing a lovely performance of the song we get a nice instrumental with someone sobbing and screaming over it. Case in point, the first half of the Kamui performance, soooooo good, Kyo as well as everyone else are totally nailing it but then he goes into one of his sobbing fits and cant barely get an actual word or note out anymore. Smh…

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Dir en grey need to hire this guy ASAP

To my knowledge, Kyo traditionally had better – and often more restrained – performances when they were being professionally recorded with intent to release.

Even here there are times when he’s on point and hitting higher notes he struggles with. But then something clicks in his head, says “fuck it”, and falls off a cliff.

He could be bored or comfortable with where he’s at. He could also be phoning it in. Some older musicians do that especially after long careers.

Who knows? All I know is this new phase Kyo is in sucks and I’ve ranted about it before. Sometimes, Kyo just needs to shut the fuck up and stick to what he can do because those shouts he’s been doing just sound like he’s constipated. He can’t pull it off.

Other vocalists can pull off that shouting gimmick. He clearly can’t.

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Basically this, 100%.

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The problem I have with Kyo is when he records songs that he is not able to perform live. Especially with the UROBOROS album, I think it is a very ambitious album that cannot reach what he recorded.
Every time they play a song from that album I am afraid that he will “destroy” the song with some out-of-tune vocal.
On the other hand, I think that he currently records things that he can sing or perform well live, for example, the re-recordings of GAUZE are totally realistic to what Kyo can sing.

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I do wonder what Kyo would sound like if he prioritized vocal health during 2005 - 2012. Dude was all over the place.

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Kyo wearing an Ian Curtis shirt in the first concert. :headstone::pinched_fingers:t2: When’s the last time we’ve seen someone in visual kei smoke on stage? KIYOHARU maybe before he started vaping, but surely no one else. Oh I get it now. He’s literally cosplaying as Ian.

I dunno why but i thought the smoking on stage was kinda cringe. Haha.

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I guess it doesn’t bother me because of any country you’d expect people to smoke on stage it’d be Japan.

I’ve already seen all 3 concerts. I’m very disappointed.
First of all, most of my opinions are because of Kyo, the other members of the group did great and I have no complaints. (unless they are to blame for artistic decisions)

Of the 3, the most “interesting” is the first volume.
Although it doesn’t have half of Phalaris’ tracks, it has an interesting tracklist and Kyo defends it well.

The problem comes in the next two BDs.

Volume II is pathetic. I don’t know how they put this one on sale having the TV recording much better executed. I can’t stand that Kyo, one who only screams and goes hoarse from the first tracks. I don’t find it interesting, I don’t find it entertaining. I only suffer for the destruction of the songs. The aesthetics don’t work for me.

The third one I was already hoping to see a good final concert, something like Arche Budokan. Everything goes wrong from minute 1. You put on Otogi, my favorite track from the album, with a regrettable decision by the artists to put AI in the video??? everything went to shit. Kyo passes the microphone to the audience in the best verses of the songs. He bellows when he feels like it and ends with Kamuy and the return of those videos…

I am disappointed, very much, and I am very afraid of what it can do in the future. I don’t know how musicians, who should defend themselves for their original artistic creations, decide to replace artists or video programmers with such garbage.

At least I didn’t see those decisions in TOUR24 PSYCHONNECT. Do I keep hope or do I give up?

For those who think about buying this collection, I would tell them to buy only the one they released for the fanclub and bury this one very deep.

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Disk 2 was my favorite because I like Kyo’s mummy outfit. He does add more grit to sung parts so you hear less of his beautiful singing voice but he turns the grit on and off and consistently. For example he stops the grit to sing the very high notes on 13, both times. I don’t think he was hoarse.
The AI was one of the cooler things I’ve seen on a screen in a concert. Makes me excited for the quality of aesthetic AI could help achieve in the future.
I do wish the U-Next show would have been available on physical though.

For what it’s worth, I feel the same way you do. The idea was okay, but the execution (using AI) was not cool. Although I haven’t seen these Blu-rays so can’t comment on them specifically, they showed an AI video alongside Otogi on the EU tour which I was able to attend. IIRC, it featured images of pregnant women with their flesh being stripped back to the bone.

If that German show ever gets a physical release, the AI video will be there, too.

Kyo has been using AI in pretty much all his other projects. It’s a case of either learning to tolerate it or finding other music to enjoy. I don’t like either option, but also, I haven’t been into much of what Kyo’s worked on post-ARCHE aside from sukekiyo.

Just as long as they don’t start using AI to make the music itself…

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Kyo is using Oboro as an excuse to have an emotional breakdown, and it’s just as annoying as when he decided to fishhook for an entire verse in Kodoku no Shisu instead of singing it.

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Yep this is basically what irks me about this. Once in a while, ok but when like half the set he is just sobbing, screaming or pressing his face into the floor rather than singing the actual song it gets annoying. Especially when a lot of my personal favourite songs of theirs are the more emotive ones and instead of enjoying some nice vocal melodies we just get to hear Kyo jibbering, babbling and uncontrollably screaming over the instrumental.

Is there anyone else here from the UK who remembers the episode of “Game On” where Matt joins a band and does the gig in the pub? Its almost the exact same style of performance. Except, he is supposed to be having a legit breakdown because of his agoraphobia. :laughing:

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Idk he’s been doing it for a long time now and it’s something to expect and some people come to see his craziness in person. The man loves Michiro Endo so it’s not surprising. Just be glad he hasn’t gotten naked or bled on the audience or attacked them. He’s also a G.I.S.M. fan so setting someone on fire or chasing them with fire isn’t out of the realm of possibility either. :man_shrugging:t2:

I-Is there a video of that…? :flushed:

I loved the it withers and withers dvd even if it was a bootleg because it showed a lot of Kyo’s craziness with bleeding and stuff.