Price was actually a bit less expensive that way. I’ll be taking the bullet train for Nagano on October 2nd, though, just because the airport is a good ways outside of the city and I don’t have as much time until my show in that case.
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i had no idea flying could be cheaper! who are you seeing in nagano?
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It’ll be the Club Junk Box 25th anniversary show with Kaneto, Zeke Deux, Chaqla, Dexcore, Nazare, Nameless, MaMa, Mad Night and Razor.
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Petit Brabancon 「BURST CITY」09/20 @Kawasaki Club Citta
Back in Kawasaki, this time for Club Citta, a much larger venue than Serbian Night.
This was, however, my first time using Eplus IB, their service meant for international buyers. The process was a little confusing, to be honest. I was provided a QR code instead of a ticket, and told to exchange it after 6 pm for the real ticket but by then, numbers are already being called. After being finally directed to the office to collect my number, I was already 150 numbers too late for my call.
Probably wouldn’t recommend.
Before going in, I saw the sparsely crowded merch table and decided that I was in the mood for some kitschy merch, which Petit Brabancon is known for. I got myself a cute little side plate to eat my red bean paste fish pockets on.
So I get to what I think will be my spot in between the centre and right side of the stage around the middle of the floor.
I notice that there seems to be an even 50/50 split between men and women around me. And that I definitely wasn’t the only foreigner.
And then, right before they go on stage, it’s like a barrier is removed and everyone rushed forward. I went from being in the middle of the floor to maybe being between 12-15 feet away from the members at their closest. Suddenly, being over 800th in the venue doesn’t seem so bad.
Not everyone cares for Petit Brabancon’s music. I myself thought that it was just okay when I listened to it. But I think anyone with doubts should witness them live at least once. I felt like I was attending a concert at home with a lot of typical VK concert tropes thrown to the side (still member calling, though). Bodies pushing up against each other, western style mosh pit, crowd surfers just going whenever they want and sometimes being lucky enough to get high fived by Kyo, people singing along with Kyo as much as he wanted.
Kyo at times couldn’t decide if he should be serving sex, or sewer gremlin. He decided to cool off people in the front rows frequently with going through several bottles of spitting water. By Batman, he had discarded his hat, throwing it in my general direction. Contemplating for a split second if I should dive for it, it gets caught by a guy adjacently behind me.
I was on Antz’s side, but Miya still came by often to see us. The energy was pretty much non-stop, audience alternating between fist pumping, head banging, sometimes both at once. Whatever people felt like at the time.
After 17 songs, they take off. Antz throwing a few picks into the crowd. “Encore!”Someone calls. “One more song! One more song!” a few people chant.
Nope, the lights stay turned on and the “show’s over, get out” PA music is still playing.
“Encor-eh?” A few people try. Still nothing.
Guess it can’t all be perfect.
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thats a yikes
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This thread is awesome! Haven’t had time to read through it yet, but thanks for keeping us all in the loop of your VK adventures.
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Plastic Tree 30th Anniversary “Kinen” Autumn Tour 09/21 @Nagoya The Bottom Line
So two things have been irritating me over the past couple of days. First, my head cold is gone but there’s still a persistent throat/chest congestion that I’m dealing with, and secondly, Mobal seems to be throttling my data whenever I go out. Making getting out and doing stuff even more difficult.
So there’s that.
Super fun to get up early to go fly to Nagoya. After wandering around the neighbourhood and having a fried horse mackerel meal set, I was allowed to check in and shower before heading out to the show.
Just a quick three stops away, it becomes clear right away where I need to go. The Bottom Line is directly outside the station, and the merch/present table was wide open for us.
After dropping off some cheezies for the guys, I bought my tour t-shirt and what appears to be a makeup bag??
I take my place in line, pretty confident that I’d be waiting a while. A fellow passing foreign fan a couple dozen numbers ahead of me compliments my Kansai Rock Summit t-shirt before saying that she’s disappointed that she won’t make it to the Halloween show like she had planned. Finally, there’s some movement and I take my place by the stairs.
As the concert starts and they come out to Limelight off the new album, I begin to realize that another advantage of my vantage point is the ability to see exactly what the cameraman’s doing…and boy, does he sure love Ryutaro. Must have seen him coming back to take well over 200 pictures of him alone.
The set contains every song from the new album, much like the Spring tour did. But I will say that none of these slots felt “wasted”, so to speak. One thing I’ve been noticing on this trip is that a lot of the vocalists tend to utilize backing vocal tracks to give their voice a more full, album-like sound while singing live. I heard very little evidence of Ryutaro using that tonight, especially with the main set.
You can hear the imperfections, which I can respect. His highs are still a little strained, but I’d say that his vocals have bounced back from the past couple of years during some of the Peep Plastic Partition sets where his voice was straining considerably on the slower, vocal focused songs.
On a side note, during the first MC, I felt the strange urge to clear my throat, which I end up loudly doing…during a period of otherwise silence. My cough echos through the venue.
“…I’m glad” Ryutaro says. Laughs emerge.
I like to think that was partially directed at me.
Shikabane-ze saw the first actual furi move of the entire concert, limited just the chorus. Then
during Uchuu Yuuei, the same umbrella from the time that I saw them last June makes a repeat appearance, as a fake rain pours down on the members via the screen/lighting.
Ken Ken opened the MC set after second encore call (poor Ken Ken by the way, this MC is probably the only photos he’ll be appearing in without Ryutaro at the forefront), and Ryutaro talked about hitting up an izakaya and eating some Nagoya food while sipping a beer. Something something Nagoya zoo, something something Ken Ken wants to buy something, something something tripping while trying to catch the Shinkansen can be dangerous.
Everyone gets a beer, and “Kanpai!”, the beer opening sounds spread to the entire venue. The real energy was reserved for that second encore, where Maimu and Melancholic had the entire venue moving (and singing, in Melancholic’s case).
And the cameraman taking enough pictures for each of their 30 years.
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Hadn’t time to read all the live reports yet but maaaan I am so jealous! Hope you have the time of your life!
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OFF Day - Nagoya
So for the first time in three weeks, I’ve woken up with nothing to “do”. A middle day in a mini vacation to another city, sleeping in a hotel, and figuring, “Oh what a perfect day for sightseeing. I wonder what the weather’s like”
Heavy Rain until 1 pm
Well, shit. Guess I can count the zoo out.
Buuut, there is the Nagoya Port area. Given the increasing unpopularity of whale/dolphin shows in North America, I figure this might be my last chance to actually see one.
After I was done at the Aquarium, I climbed aboard the Fuji, an Antarctic ice breaker research ship that was converted into a museum.
So I figure that my best use of a concert-less evening was to take in a movie at the local cinema. And what better movie than…
Now keep in mind, my Japanese is still pretty crap. So I wasn’t able to follow even most of what the guys were saying in the documentary portion. They talked about a few things, like when they became aware of a foreign fanbase, how they think YouTube and social media helped it take off, the feelings they get performing for a foreign crowd. Kyo talking about the Japanese stuff he misses while on tour overseas. A tour bus tour with Kaoru.
Intercut were also a few interview clips with fans in Europe, explaining why they listen to Dir en Grey even if they don’t presumably understand the language.
During the earlier songs they were showing, I assumed they were going to do the crowd dirty by not showing them singing along because of how they edited Jesus Christ RnR, but that was dispelled by the middle of the doc when they showed dead tree. And their footage of The Final put any doubt to rest that the European fans know their stuff.
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Vijuttoke Fest!! 09/23, @Nagoya Electric Lady Land
I wake up refreshed, re-checking my calendar to find out that I don’t really have anything to do until 2:30 pm. What a lovely day for the famous Higashiyama Zoo, I’ll get some exercise, see some animals…
Closed until Tuesday.
Well, damn. Guess I’ll just sleep off some more throat congestion.
Unsuccessfully, I head out at 1:45 to exchange my wristband.
The venues are all in the same building, a three minute walk away from the exchange station. After waiting ten minutes for priority tickets and earlier A tickets to be called, I finally get in and take a third row spot for V[Neu].
The first thing I notice was all of the light up heart rings that their fans are wearing on all of their fingers. I have a good 30 minutes left to wait at this point, so I start talking to the fan next to me, who also happens to be from Canada! She’s here for three weeks, and so we talk about some stuff in between sets until she has to take off.
So V[Neu] start off with one of their slower songs, before picking it up with more energetic ones. At some point in the middle of the set, fans came forward to form a ramming barrier, which our side of the stage didn’t immediately take the bait for. At the second time around during the song, I had no clue what to do, so I went and gave the Saizen barrier a little bump. Three other people immediately make eye contact with me and go bump them themselves.
Otherwise, the furi for V[Neu] was at times pretty unique and elaborate. The highlight of the set was Yes≈No.
We move up one row, and afterwards was Deadman, who played mainly newer songs, with Obereru Sakana thrown in there for good measure. Maco came out with these glow sticks around his neck.
We were in front of Aie, who at times was pulling a crabcore pose in front of us while playing.
The sound seemed quite a bit more raw than when I saw them in Osaka earlier this year. Guess there really is something to seeing Nagoya Kei in Nagoya.
So after a little bit of a wait, Asagi comes on in full wafuu costume. Starting off with Gekai no Mikko, the fans were instantly out and rarely left people’s hands throughout the set. Both Teru and Hiro got a chance to solo, but Asagi was still very much the most popular man there. And it’s easy to see why, given the growls, laughs and classic Asagi vocals combined with his ability to work the crowd using both fan and fox puppet.
After saying goodbye to a Japanese Hiro fan that we had been talking to, my new Acquaintance and I headed for the exit. Her, to turn in for the night, and me, to try and grab some Miso Katsu before the next band that I wanted to catch. When what do you know, Asagi comes bursting out of the side door right in front of us. We look on in surprise, neither of us wanting to be “that person” who calls out or tries to follow him.
She copies down my Line QR, and we head our separate ways. After running to check out a Miso Katsu chain that seems to have way too long of a wait…I figure, when is my next chance to see more Nagoya Kei in Nagoya? Probably never.
So I vow to grab my Miso Katsu later and run back to ell. Size for DARRELL. featuring Ai, the vocalist of Deathgaze. It was a pretty small venue. I was initially asked to come to the front by some older Japanese fans but I told them that I didn’t really know the furi, lol. Maybe about 25 people when the band first started. Right away, the bassist Joker started having trouble. It took all of the first song and part of the second for him and the tech to make sure it was fixed. Definitely didn’t impact the energy, though.
By the end, another 20 people had made their way inside, and I even passed by the same couple that I had seen at Jiluka/Luv Parade a few days ago.
So I figure that I have time, and I’ve only missed a couple of songs, so I head back to the main stage to catch the rest of BugLug’s set. From the back, it was easy to see that BugLug were commanding the crowd pretty easily, with pretty much the entire floor and even some people on the stairs engaged in the furi.
Finally, came the main act of the night, Dexcore. Opening up with Skindeep, I thought for a second that I might get a repeat of Jiluka with Kagami trying to speak English but really hamming up the fucks and shits but he did keep the MCs almost entirely in Japanese with a couple small exceptions in song intros.
Also playing songs like Savior, Still Alive, and 20, the set was not quite as “br00tal” as I thought it might be. Not that I’m complaining much, Kagami really does have quite a nice clean voice.
Just as popular though, was guitarist Yumeto, entertaining the crowd with roundhouse kicks and even playing lying down on the floor at one point.
- Set List -
- SKINDEEP
- THE DARK
- Savior
- Still Alive
- Living hell
- 20
The time comes for the raffle call, which I was only a couple of numbers away from being called. But oh well. Miso Katsu awaits! I must say, it was worth the wait.
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How you know we go to too many concerts - I saw that same couple at Xanvala & Sadie’s concert too 
That is def how Dexcore is with all the English…at metalcore concerts. It’s always interesting to see them promote with Vkei because out of all the times I’ve seen them it seemed like they had more guy fans. I’m going all the way to Nagano too just to see them promote with Vkei 
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Both blonde, guy kind of looks like xQc with glasses?
This is super fun to follow! Awesome that you can experience this, especially after a not so happy time.
This def solidified that I want to see PB live, even if I don’t care very much for whatever the f they’re doing right now.
Xavak, Danger☆Gang, Hakanaki, Vice Gloria, DESTiA, D. Alaeve, 大金魂神社, Surendra 09/24 @Ikebukuro Edge
So as a disclaimer, you’ll notice that I don’t have any Setlist info. This is because I went into this with pretty much slim to nil info on many of these bands. They are very much smaller, niche bands and don’t always post setlists on their Twitter. Some don’t have any releases on Spotify or very few. A couple don’t even have physical releases yet.
So I get to the venue, worried about potentially missing my number call and missing out on a decent spot. My QR code just won’t load at first, damned internet.
Until, yes, finally it loads. I collect my drink ticket and turn around…and there’s Panda!
No, not a literal panda. But the same Panda that a lot of you know from RarezHut Auctions. He and Val have made it out to the show for Danger Gang, but were still going to watch all of the bands tonight.
So we get into the area, and we notice right away that any fears of us missing a spot were…unfounded. I give it a little while to wait for stragglers, and by the time it’s starting, I count…16. Yes, 16 people in the audience. I’ve seen it when it’s packed, now, I see it on a slower night.
Surendra- Karen haircuts. That is all. Okay, not fair, but the set was an okay opener, pretty unremarkable and it was clear that nobody really came specifically for them.
Ookintamajinya - Every member looked like they belonged to a different band. There was one very enthusiastic fan jumping up and down in Saizen, but the small crowd didn’t deter them, performing and working the crowd as if they were all in Saizen.
I’m starting to wonder if this will be the island of misfit VK bands.
D Alaeve - They come out, and unlike the last band, most of the members are wearing matching outfits with the exception of the drummer (who is a session musician, so, forgiven) I’ve heard about them before, so I decide to step forward and start participating in the furi on the main floor. D Alaeve has a gap in their Saizen, which the vocalist decides to fix by motioning at both me and a girl behind me to come forward. She clearly doesn’t want to, so I decide that I can take one for the team. This earns me a head pat from vocalist Kengo.
After getting two D Alaeve singles signed by the guitarist, Kenshin, I take my place on the floor again. Hey, maybe these singles will be worth a lot of money one day.
Destia - Another band, another large gap. This time, they start out with three Saizen fans, and I hold back yet again only to get the picture when the vocalist starts motioning at people on either side to come forward a couple times. Oh, well if you asked nicely…
The re-branded Project Zero, they played a decently solid set.
Vice Gloria - the side project of Jaki, the vocalist of La’veil MizeriA, this time, flanked by a mere two Saizen fans on the far sides of each other. Okay, I get it. You guys need more Saizen. I volunteer as tribute. They have yet to release anything physical, to my knowledge. Nor do they seem to have anything available on streaming. But it was definitely some fun kote-kei. The only thing out of place was the drummer, who just refused to match the look of the rest of the band. I’m sensing a trend here.
By around now, the total of people has increased from 16 to about 21. Slowly getting there!
Hakanaki - one of the more impressive turnouts of the night, it seems like they had no problem filling their Saizen. So I hung out in the second row and just followed along. They have a drummer and lead guitarist who don’t look like they’re from the same band at all. I later hear that their drummer is a session member, which could explain things. They were alright, but I couldn’t help but find myself be more interested in most of the other sets of the night.
Danger Gang - We come to the main reason why my buddies came, and it’s easy to see why. When the vocalist Waka took the stage, she wasted no time in pumping up the crowd (although, they certainly didn’t need convincing. They’re about tied with that one lady for Ookintamajinya in terms of enthusiasm).
Perhaps even more popular than she was, though, was the guitarist, Hiko, who had several fans diving at her in praise all set.
Xavak - I must inform you that despite Twitter rumours, Xavak had no problem filling their Saizen. Nor did they have any problems with visual coordination. Not really a furi band, still a great chance to just vibe with the music. Vocalist Mukuro sounded great, and towards the end , there was an MC section (that I could half follow this time!) with guitarist Kairu and drummer Tossy bantering back and forth.
① IN MONOCHROME
② SINS FOR YOU
③ NEVAEH
④ SHOWTIME
⑤ 過去形真実 (蜉蝣 cover)
Earlier on in the live, I had chatted a bit with Kairu (real name Kyle), and bought a deluxe copy of their second album and bought a 2-shot (for only 1000¥). That’s how you know these dudes are real ones. No games to “win” a 2-shot, no 5,000 or 10,000 minimum purchase, just straight up 1,000 for a photo.
Now mind you, we weren’t ready for the snap, and that’s why we both look a bit unprepared, but that’s the fun of it, right?
There was also a bit of a gap between the end of the sets and photos where I got to have a chat with Hiko from Danger Gang and Kengo and Kenshin from D Alaeve.
If this is the island of misfit VK bands, I’d call it a tropical vacation.
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Yes! that was them!
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Burst Presents Tokyo Rebellion 6 09/25 @Holiday Shinjuku
Warning - Self harm mentions
Today, I vowed that I would escape my bedrot and get out and do something. Aaaaand, it’s raining. Nuts. Oh well, always tomorrow. Back to Shinjuku’s Kabukicho Host club district at the Holiday Shinjuku this time around.
Deathpair - The guitarist Setsuna getting quite a bit of love from the crowd. Their set was pretty heavy, but not a lot of crowd engagement. A barricade ram session was attempted at the last song, but kind of fizzled out. Got a cheki from each member in random pull.
Revaless- Their looks kind of betrayed their first couple of songs. The vocalist Ena looked like he just got off his host club shift. I was expecting something a bit more…upbeat. Maybe not pop rock, but perhaps kind of a classic VK throwback or even power metal. But the first couple of songs were unexpectedly heavy. After the MC though, that more upbeat sound came through. More audience engagement than the last band.
① V.P.
② 承認欲求
MC
③ BeReborn
④ 傾奇道
⑤ BLACK WINE
Some odd behaviour I noticed though. I looked down, and the girl that had “claimed” the spot beside me had came back to add her shoes, cosmetics bag and water to the pile in addition to a shopping bag from the set before. “Oh great, even if I want to do mosh furi for Revaless, I can’t now”.
Then half way through the set, I take a look around and notice several gaps in the second and third row from girls who have done the exact same thing. Left their stuff in the spots, then pissed off to the back or outside. Is this like the slightly more cowardly/respectful version of sitting down on the ground during a band’s set? Or do they just not feel like trading their spot with anyone later?
Soranaki - So I notice that there’s like…wide open space between the vocalist and bassist’s position for this band. You have three Saizen fans mainly in front of the guitarist, and like…that’s it. So I’m like, “fuck it, get bold” and I step forward in between the vocalist and bassist. I hadn’t actually listened to a thing from this band prior. I kind of hate how high the barriers are at Holiday Shinjuku, because it take a huge amount of effort to vault yourself over one of them. I couldn’t even imagine trying to hold position to have people ram into you.
The vocalist Naki has this really high pitched voice that could probably get annoying after a while for most people. Luckily for him, I like most highs. Their music has a lot of wafuu elements. The Support Bassist Takumi spent a lot of time flipping off random people, then blowing them kisses.
I try to ask about cheki, but they only seem to be selling 10,000 2 shot tickets. Yeeeeah, no. I get a fan from them instead.
Rurunone - Spot hogger girl is back. So are another foreign couple to the side of me that I again, awkwardly don’t talk to. So they come out with a great presence from the beginning. Vocalist Yamon hunched over, wearing a long robe like some kind of Yamamba. People immediately reach for fans. Not knowing the etiquette regarding pulling out another band’s branded fan, I opt to use my hand instead.
Two solid rows of dedicated fans, almost full Saizen. The vocalist tried the ay-ay-ay call. Only I respond.
He tries to banter with the audience after the first two songs. Stone faces stare back at him. Even his own Saizen won’t say a word or make a noise back. Yikes, rough crowd.
The awkwardness isn’t lost on him, but I can’t help but wonder if this is sarcastic roasting of the crowd that we aren’t meant to respond to, lest they catch his attention like some kind of snap back comedian. The other members are plenty animated, the bassist Rea seeming to enjoy my enthusiasm.
So of course, Yamon tries harder to get a reaction. Jumps down to the barricade to bait the Saizen and second row into singing into the mic. Jumping over the barrier to the rest of the audience in order to try and engage the audience while performing the second to last song. He finally comes to me and we make eye contact. “Atama ga ii? Atama ga ii??? Hits head” I nod, right before he, the audience and I instantly start to headbang harder than I had that night.
After one more song, still more chanting attempts, only I respond. The audience does their motions. Barely a single face reaction, no noise. How can I not throw them some cash?
Ran come on, and like last time, Meiliang is not wearing a shirt. More specifically, an off the shoulder jacket. They have a support drummer with them who kind of looks like he could be Pata’s brother.
I had heard from someone either on the forums or discord that Ran sometimes causes “trouble”, and I noticed a weird habit the rhythm guitarist Uso and bassist Mogami Yoru have of pointing to people in the third and fourth rows who are only half engaged, trying to get them to do more.
Now, I did pick them as my preferred band of the night. And their set definitely went hard. The noise…it was back! Right from the start, screaming Saizen fans. The guys getting up close and personal to the barricade. Uso beckoned me forward for the barricade ram section. Meiliang holding his guitar up with his teeth.
I had money left for exactly one cheki.
Sorry Ran, my last 3000 is for the next band.
- 1%
- Fivefold Envy
- What…?
- Mary
- Finale
So Ran finish up, and within three minutes, Senketsu Ako Chan’s background noises start, with Hiro hollering and creating a ruckus as they set up behind the curtain.
The crowd has definitely thinned out.
They get started after about 12 minutes of audio skits and more Hiro hollering, coming out with both the hedge clippers and…oh no, now he has a knife.
After performing a couple of songs, imitating self-stabbing motions, and losing his contact lens he gets to the end of the third song, where he pulls out the hedge clippers for his “pretend to cut my wrists”
Wait, nope. He did it for real this time. The blood is visible right away. He holds his hand out so we can see the blood dripping. He wipes his face with the wrist, and the guitarist walks over to ask if he’s okay. He waved him off at first, getting a bandage to continue wiping himself down. While trying to continue the fourth song, he falls to the ground. People look somewhat concerned but furi still continues. The guitarist again hovers over and asks what’s happening.
He gets up and finishes the chorus before asking for a pause so that he can get a bandage on his wound. He attempts in vain to wipe his blood off the floor and centre platform. After getting wrapped up, he finished the set with their final song,
Now keep in mind, he’s still putting on a “show” for the crowd, yammering much in his same manner while trying to clean himself and the stage up. Eliciting an uncomfortable chuckle from the crowd, sans me and the non-fans. He ends the show much like the first one did, on the floor.
I pick up my cheki order, the bassist explaining matter of factor about their point card system, as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened. Maybe for them and the fans, it really isn’t.
- Noumenchansatsuzinziken-choueki2.5jigen
- Ryouchiayamechan
- Netorarehanariyamanai
- Zansatsu Biyori
- Jinnikumanjuutagirukun
After a while for clean up, Gertena closed off the night. The lead guitarist, Satsuki is also the rhythm guitarist of Zeke Deux. I wonder if he recognized me from the live last week and the Instore yesterday. But where I really felt the recognition tonight was from vocalist Agato, who appreciated my vocalness during his screams and audience calls. Makes me regret that I have no money left to give them, but there’s always next time for the drummer’s birthday show.
PEEPING HOLE
VISOR
COUNT DOWN TO ZERO
UNCHAIN
DAZZLE
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Bruh. The Senketsu Akochan bit was a wild read. I wonder if he does this all the time?
I did see on twitter that Hiro lost a whole month’s worth of psych meds, maybe that had something to do with the unhinged behavior? I feel bad for the people who had to clean that stuff up.
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Yeah, I don’t know if whether he does it for real or not is based on the venue’s policy on self harm, how long the set is, if he’s “feeling it” or not, how long it’s been since he did it last, etc. Still, the audience kind of had a blasé attitude towards it. They barely paused their furi, and to chuckle afterwards?
this thread is such a joy to read. never know what i’m gonna see next lol also super jealous you saw deadman, that has always been a dream for me!
That’s wild… I can’t imagine doing furi while a guy is slitting his wrists on stage.
Btw, I’m going to khimaira vol. 5 after all - I think you mentioned going in another thread? If so, I’ll say hi if I see you!