"My guitar after the Singapore gig. March 7, 2014"
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I told you he was a vicious bastard.
Definitely not the kind of guy you'll catch spraying his fretboard with Finger-ease.
And take a look at just HOW great this picture looks under my blog header. You're an artist, Will. You already know it.
And take a look at just HOW great this picture looks under my blog header. You're an artist, Will. You already know it.
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| "Rottnest Island, Australia. March 2, 2014" |
Soundwave Festival is over, and the caravan of bands who can't afford to sit in their comfortable So Cal homes throughout the American winter (like KISS or Metallica do) starts slowly moving up from the cosy warmth of Australian summer and into the realm of the freezing Japanese winter.
Black T-shirts get covered with black leather jackets; jeans remain in place. The occasional scarf pops up to protect delicate throats from the dangers of cold air. At least, there's one aspect in which the life of a rock musician is pretty easy.
And the good thing about the freezing Japanese winter is that, like all things Japanese, it happens to happen in Japan.
It's precisely at this point of the trip where Dir En Grey put on their vicious bastard sunglasses and show a silent (and friendly LOL) middle finger to all the other bands who have followed them north from the Antipodes as they say to themselves:
Dir En Grey are obviously bigger than Alice in their homeland. Tangible proof of that is the fact that, on the two nights previous to Alice's tour-end concert, Dir En Grey played TWO SHOWS at the legendary Budokan (we could be talking about a total 28.000 people, if they sold out), while AIC had to do their thing at a 2.500 capacity club.
Yes, you heard that right: Alice In Chains play fucking theatres and clubs because... who needs justice anyway? Keep that in mind the next time you see One Direction selling out fucking stadiums or Kanye West doing fucking arenas.
It's even funnier if you consider that the next act to play at the Budokan after Diru was... Il Divo.
Il Fucking Divo, ladies and gentlemen.
How's that supposed to make you feel?
Of course, it's remarkable that such an extreme band as Dir En Grey (especiall since they started turning the metal up and the visual down more than half a decade ago) can mobilize such amounts of people in their home country (just to make a comparison: 14.000 is more than Tokio Hotel ever sold on a regular show - excluding festivals, obviously -, and they were supposed to be a boy band LMAO).
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Black T-shirts get covered with black leather jackets; jeans remain in place. The occasional scarf pops up to protect delicate throats from the dangers of cold air. At least, there's one aspect in which the life of a rock musician is pretty easy.
And the good thing about the freezing Japanese winter is that, like all things Japanese, it happens to happen in Japan.
It's precisely at this point of the trip where Dir En Grey put on their vicious bastard sunglasses and show a silent (and friendly LOL) middle finger to all the other bands who have followed them north from the Antipodes as they say to themselves:
"Welcome to the Land of the Rising Sun, gaijin bitches."
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[Dir En Grey in full-on vicious bastard mode LOL]
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Dir En Grey are obviously bigger than Alice in their homeland. Tangible proof of that is the fact that, on the two nights previous to Alice's tour-end concert, Dir En Grey played TWO SHOWS at the legendary Budokan (we could be talking about a total 28.000 people, if they sold out), while AIC had to do their thing at a 2.500 capacity club.
Yes, you heard that right: Alice In Chains play fucking theatres and clubs because... who needs justice anyway? Keep that in mind the next time you see One Direction selling out fucking stadiums or Kanye West doing fucking arenas.
It's even funnier if you consider that the next act to play at the Budokan after Diru was... Il Divo.
Il Fucking Divo, ladies and gentlemen.
How's that supposed to make you feel?
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| [Budokan vs. AgeHa. Not the most flattering comparison.] |
Of course, it's remarkable that such an extreme band as Dir En Grey (especiall since they started turning the metal up and the visual down more than half a decade ago) can mobilize such amounts of people in their home country (just to make a comparison: 14.000 is more than Tokio Hotel ever sold on a regular show - excluding festivals, obviously -, and they were supposed to be a boy band LMAO).
This is just another proof that we still have a lot left to learn from Japan... probably.
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| "Freezing in Tokyo post-show. En route to end-of-tour family dinner with band & crew. 3/10/14." |
And so, this tiny little Pacific Rim tour has ended much earlier than
I thought it would... and what a strange journey it's been.
A strange beautiful journey to the other end of the world.
And, like all good things in life, it ends with a Japanese (don't think they'll go looking for an American BBQ restaurant in Japan, right? LOL) dinner somewhere in the beautiful Tokyo.
Not bad, if you ask me.
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Like the coldest winter will
Heaven beside you... Hell within
And you know you have it still
Heaven inside you
