The concert was just amazing. Dir en Grey came to Chicago on the 16th of November and performed at the Metro. The interior was pretty cool; a victorian/roman/gothic design . Anyways the purple and green lights added a nice effect on the walls. My friends from Michigan (Go TAFers!) came to see Diru too and waited outside in the cold for three hours, kudos to them .

At entrance, I almost couldn't get in, because I had forgotten my I.D. but they were nice and finally let me in . My buddies and I started in the mosh pit and we were only a few feet from the stage (awesome!) so Kyo won't be far from our reach o(>w<o. The people who also attended the concert were not the nicest of people, but who can expect much from fans of death metal?

Finally, the concert started (sort of) when the band Digital Mindy, a white rock band, opened the concert. They were not that great in my opinion...The lyrics of their song were pretty generic and they started sweating really unattractively halfway through their second song...

Anyways, Dir en Grey time!!!!! The stage crew who set up the equipment for Diru were pretty slow at setting things up =.=. Haha, but I still laugh at the asian person testing Shinya's drumset because he was wearing a mask that all asians wear on the streets. Aside from that, it was hilarious when the stage crew set up beer along with water for the band members (Toshiya had fun with that). Additionally,Die's guitars (around five or six) where perfectly lined up on stage left and a platform was put up for Kyo (so short! I'm so proud of our asian race *tear*). Shinya's drumset was epic. Not only was it more complex but it also included some additional knick-knacks some six feet in the air over the drumset(how is he supposed to reach that, especially when he's sitting down!?!?). I'm pretty sure he had to whip up some drumsticks from his pocket and shiriken them at it.

The lights dimmed and they appeared!!! At this moment, the mosh pit didn't feel like a good idea to me...The people behind (and there were a lot) pushed until I couldn't breath and I had to awkwardly lean on to the person in front of me. Did I mention I was semi-claustrophobic and I was really short so air was hard to come by? Anyways, the music was awesome and so raw! The sound blared and the lights turned a deep red. Kyo stepped appeared and the fangirls went wild (at this time, I was close to dead and the concert hasn't even started). Kyo's voice confidently and beautifully resonated. All hands were up and heads banged to the music. Where we were right between Kyo and Die (guitar) and got to see them work their magic up close! Dir en Grey played through the songs from their album Uroboros starting with Sar Bir. Personally, I thought the lack of make-up suited them more than than when they did, because the music matched it. Haha, Kyo almost fell off of his platform and landed himself on the ground like a cat XP. Their stage presence was awesome. Kyo stood proudly on his platform and spread his arms frequently as fans swayed underneath him (I didn't really like his actions here because it seems like he is trying to be god-like, but I guess its his confident style). Die looked like he was taking glamour shots for a hair commercial because he was the only one on stage with mysterious billowing hair in a fan-less room. Toshiya frequently riled up the crowd by beckoning with his fingers. His popularity didn't stop there, everyone swooned when he opened that beer .

Now for something that only I would remember, what they wore: (i'm not shallow, clothes and stuff just really stick out in my mind). Kyo was wearing a leather jacket without a shirt exposing a intricate tattoo running vertically along his body. Pretty cool! He had a belt or something that said "back" on it. His hair was a dark blonde that was short on left and long on the right. His overall attire really suited his music . Die wore a white t-shirt with ripped jeans. His straight, black hair parted in the middle really reminded me of Takumi from NANA . (btw, I really hate Takumi)Die is more awesome, haha. From what I remember, he played his red guitar for the most of the time. He riled up the crowd a few times by raising the guitar above his head and everyone went crazy. Shinya was hard to see but he was wearing a sleeve-less white shirt and jeans. He had blonde hair, curled at the ends. Toshiya was wearing a grey (I always spell grey with the "e" now, it just feels right ) low-cut shirt. His hair was probably my favorite out of them all. It was black and cut pretty short at the back and his extremely long bangs hung down past the neck. Kaoru had straight black hair that came to this shoulders and he wore all black. So, they definitely didn't dress like they would for photo shoots. Sorry about the boring description, this is more of a note so I wouldn't forget the concert.

Halfway through the third song, I couldn't stand moshing anymore. I was dead-tired and couldn't breath. I relocated to the outskirts of the crowd, still really close to the stage where Die was. I could really listen to the music from here. Vinushka was awesome and everything was perfect! I spent most of the time here. Then, I explored the upstairs close to the end of the concert. Haha, after three encores, the band members started tossing their possessions on stage. Toshiya, Kyo, and Die sprayed water at the thirsty fans. The guitarists and bassist threw many of their picks and some lucky ones caught em. (My classmate caught one of Die's guitar picks! I was so jealous and I made him bring it to school to show me again ) lol, I remember Die fail throwing a water bottle upstairs to where I was standing, it almost made it *sigh* oh well.

Afterwards, it was time to purchase some merchandise! I was lucky enough to be in the front of the line and after haggling the price of the thirty dollar t-shirt (way too expensive, I got it for 24 bucks, at least I saved some money) . My friends told me to hurry upstairs because some of the members were signing stuff . I went up alone and (this part was pretty embarassing) I wandered around aimlessly in the seemingly empty room with a couple people of stage crew cleaning up, expecting to find a autograph place...Well, it turns out that the people there weren't stage crew, they were Toshiya (bassist) and Shinya (drummer). They were staring at me the whole time I was just walking around...=.=;; So, I asked for some autographs and I had a mini conversation with them! (I was so happy they understood my Japanese ) They responded, smiled and thanked me. Being so close to them, I realized how short Shinya was XD. Perhaps only a few inches taller than me. Most exciting experience ever!

It was a good day . (Pics might be coming soon!)