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06/11/2007 Deftones, Dir En Grey, The Fall Of Troy (Niagara Falls, NY @ The Dome Theater)
By Eric | June 11, 2007 11:59 pm
So ten years of concert going brought me to the Dome for some Deftones. There weren’t a lot of people there at first, and they had the balcony closed, so the lack of people was even more pronounced at the start. The Fall Of Troy was up first, and I still don’t know what to make of this band. They’re a three-piece that incorporate some cool metal riffs and solos, but then the songs devolve into just noise, and the singer just kinda wails incoherantly. They had a ton of energy, which at least made them fun to watch, but a half hour was plenty. The middle band was Dir En Grey. The hype on this band is that they’re a five-piece from Japan. They apparently didn’t do any touring or releases outside of Japan from the time they formed in 1997 until 2005, and they’ve also had a ton of underground (and internet) hype. And they suck. To me, it seemed like they were trying to copy every harder musical style, and not achieving any of it. One song had a couple breakdowns, sounding like a poor-man’s Hatebreed, and then the very next song started out like Dave Matthews before launching into some super high-pitched screaming. As I told the kid next to me at the bar, “They’re not the absolute worst I’ve ever seen, but they’re damn close.” Mercifully, they were done after 45 minutes, and then it was time for Deftones.
I hadn’t seen them in seven years (July 2000 at ESL and Runwayz during the White Pony tour). I was hoping for some classics, and some of the new stuff. I got both in large doses! I started out right in front of the bar, and the band started out with two from Adrenaline (Nosebleed and Engine No. 9) and two from Around The Fur (Lhabia and My Own Summer), and once My Own Summer got started, I couldn’t stay on the sidelines any longer. I had to get up towards the front and jump around with everyone in the pit. What a great decision! Everyone in the front was awesome, getting their mosh on without being idiots, belting out every song, picking people up, etc. And Chino sounded freakin’ great. I’ve seen clips where his voice isn’t the greatest, but tonight was not one of those nights. The band did an awesome job of whipping the crowd into a frenzy, and then toning it down with some of the slower tunes (Digital Bath, Passenger, Change, etc). They also whipped us good, with Hexagram, Around The Fur straight into Rickets, Rats, Korea, Root, etc. After a brief rest, the encore got started off with Back To School, then Change, and the riotous closer was 7 Words. Needless to say, due to the heat and humidity in the place, everyone was wringing their shirt out at the end of it. Freakin gross, but you can’t say you didn’t have a good time getting there! And if he ever happens to read this, I just want to give a shout out to Mike from Pittsburgh (and his girlfriend whose name I didn’t catch) for being cool at the bar, trading beers, and catching my watch in the pit! The whole setlist (mostly in order) was:
Nosebleed
Engine No. 9
Lhabia
My Own Summer
Korea
Hexagram
Around the Fur
Rickets
Digital Bath
When Girls Telephone Boys
Rats! Rats! Rats!
Bloody Cape
Xerces
Passenger
Hole in the Earth
Beware the Water
Bored
Feiticiera
Root
————–
Back To School
Change
7 Words
Topics: Concerts | Tags: 2007, Deftones, Dir En Grey, Dome Theater, Niagara Falls, The Fall Of Troy | 7 Comments »
June 12th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Wow. Your Dir en grey description is so bad, I can’t really take anything you say seriously. Not because you think they suck, because that’s your opinion, and opinion is subjective. But simply because if you think that anything about this band sounds remotely like Hatebreed, or gods forbid Dave Matthews, for even 2 seconds, you obviously have no ear for music. “It seemed like they were trying to copy every harder musical style, and not achieving any of it” – no, they meant to achieve exactly the degree of “hardness” and exactly the style they produce. What you mean is, they didn’t achieve a hard enough musical style for YOU. And that’s ok. But when you aim to write a review to kiss the headlining band’s ass, go ahead and do that. You don’t need to belittle the openers to do it.
June 12th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Um, wow. Well, quite simply, they didn’t have a style. They were all over the place. I didn’t say they sounded like Hatebreed or Dave Matthews, I said “One song had a couple breakdowns, sounding like a poor-man’s Hatebreed, and then the very next song started out like Dave Matthews before launching into some super high-pitched screaming.”. That in no way is comparing the entire body of work to either of those bands. So yes, for 2 seconds, they sounded like they were trying to copy them. And as far as having no ear for music, my cat sounds better than their lead singer did. (Oh, and tell said singer that Geoff Tate is suing for character defamation, because the few times he did actually sing, he sounded like he was auditioning for a Queensryche cover band.)
When you aim to critique a review to kiss the opening bands ass, you don’t need to belittle the reviewer to do it.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Call me crazy, but that’s good arguing with random people about crappy band memories.
Happy Bandiversary. Congrats on 10 years.
June 13th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I don’t think I said anything to belittle the reviewer, sorry you see it that way. If I wanted to belittle the reviewer, I could have been a lot more harsh. I did say you are entitled to your opinion, and that whatever your opinion is it’s ok, because we all perceive things differently. I simply don’t think you have much of an ear to distinguish music. Again, I don’t see how they sounded like the aforementioned artists, not even for 2 seconds. (although if it was only 2 seconds, it was hardly worth mentioning, so again, you seem to be going out of your way to put them down if you have to point out something that lasted only 2 seconds) And the comment about Geoff Tate even furthers my impression that you must not have a very fine-tuned ear. But as with all opinions, this is all subjective. It’s just my own opinion. You have yours.
Anyway, it’s just so typical to bash opening bands, especially foreign ones. Seems like the cool thing to do – or at least the easy thing to do – to say they suck. Would have been much more interesting to have shown a little respect, even in criticism, to give an intelligent explanation of what you didn’t like about them rather than just say they suck. I suspect you didn’t really give them a chance and didn’t want to. Fortunately Dir doesn’t need american approval, since they do these little tours for fun rather than commercialism. If they want money, they’ll go back home and sell out a few arenas.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Mary – Thanks! I almost wanted to scream out VELOUR once or twice… 🙂 Have fun at the wedding this weekend.
Calico – I’m not gonna sit here and expound any more about defending *my* opinions on *my* site, nor I am going to try and pick yours apart because, quite simply, I just don’t care enough, about you or the band.
However, I feel compelled to respond to your crack about not having a finely tuned ear. I think you’re hanging onto one specfic part of the review you didn’t like, and you’re harping on it. Seeing that you’re from NJ, I’m going to make a leap and say you were not in attendance at this show. Therefore, you didn’t hear what I heard. End of story. I actually was interested to see what they were like, due to all the hype, and I was grossly disappointed. I’m glad you like them, I’m not telling you to hate them, I’m telling you (and everyone else) *I* think they suck. Period.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Dude, you’d be surprised how far Dir en grey fans will travel to see multiple shows. XD So chances actually are, she probably DID hear the same show you heard; although she obviously did not hear what you heard, if you know what I mean. Beauty IS in the ear as well as the eye of the beholder, or in this case listener. I think you also hear things differently from the point of being overly defensive and combative. I saw nothing in the previous comments that seemed like “harping on” anything, or like a % “. (Other than all the stuff YOU have been retorting. XD) So I’M going to make a leap and guess that in your experience as a reviewer, you have gotten lots of crap from people and learned to be defensive. Lighten up a bit k?
The previous commenter acknowledged your entitlement to your opinion… and she/he is correct. You can think they suck. But when I see someone taking on the role of concert reviewer, I expect more, and am grossly disappointed. :-p It’s cool that you think they suck, just if you’re going to make such a harsh pronouncement, you should have something more detailed–and expressed with more sophistication–to back it up. Otherwise you just sound like one of the brainless rabble amongst the crowd, who wouldn’t have liked ANY band while they were waiting for the great Deftones. *Chuckles*
I was one of those who traveled to several shows, primarily to see Dir en grey. Sorry you didn’t enjoy them too. (I like both bands, just Diru happens to be my #1) Personally I think ALL the bands performed incredibly well, including Fall of Troy. A THREE-man group producing the sound we heard… I think that’s fairly impressive. The guitarist especially blew me away. And of course Deftones are always good. So I had a 5-star all-win evening. Again, sorry you didn’t, but every band can’t be everyone’s personal cup of tea.
June 29th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Wow, I see the “Dir En Grey Shitty Review Rebuttal Team” has been deployed in full-force. I get it, my review wasn’t terribly detailed, and you all are trying to point out the error of my ways. Thanks, point taken. I don’t care how “grossly disappointed” anyone is in my reviews, because the reviews are primarily for me, and my personal recollections of the show. Period.
I guess I’m grateful that anyone even found my site, let alone decided to comment on it. But seriously, no one reads this site besides my family and friends, which is about 15 people, tops. I’m sure your collective energy could be spent for far greater gains elsewhere on the internet. Debating opinions with someone who just does this for my own concert recollections just isn’t an effective use of your time.