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The Freedom of Expression Vol:13 - Looking back at the 25th Anniversary tour.

*As soon as the wait screen appears, the sound of the director instructing Kaoru about the plan for the free half and the paid half can be heard. A few comments pop up saying, "We can hear you" etc, and the mics are promptly turned off until the official start time😅*

K: Hi, and welcome to The Freedom of Expression live on our Niconama channel. Im Kaoru from Dir en grey.

J: Im Joe Yokomizo.

T: And Im Tasai from Tokyo Sports.

*applause*

K: Its been a while since we were here.

J: This studio? It has, yeh. Is this where we did the Christmas tree last year?

K: Was that last year? Yeh, last year.

J: Was it this year?

T: It was last year, wasn't it? Eh?! Was that last year??

K: Eh? haha

J: It was last year, right?

T: Yeh, yeh. It was last year.

J: Since covid though, don't you feel like its kinda hard to know what happened when over these last two years? Don't you like, lose a sense of it? Or is that just me getting old?

K: Hm, Im not sure.

J: We did do the tree here though, right?

K: Yeah, we did. And we made that cake.

J: We did!

T: Oh, yes.

K: And we made Takoyaki. It makes me think we are gonna eat whenever I come here. And we had all the Umaibos!

J: Was it here where we went up to the roof at New Year?

K: Oh, what was it?...Bubbles, and stuff.

J: Was that here?

K: Yeah, I think it was.

T: *reading comments* One year since the cake, that black cake.

K: *notices the comments* Eh?! It looks like umaibo. (*there is a kind of wierd graphic in the comments*)

J: Woah. How do they do that? People are so creative. Ahh, the cake of darkness, yeh.

T: That tasted good.

J: Ah, memories, memories. Well, anyway, today we dont have any cake, or Christmas activities, but more importantly, Kaoru, congratulations on completing the 25th anniversary tour!

*applause*

K: Thank you.

J: So, the tour is now finished, after starting on October 25th and continuing nationwide. And you did one extra show on Dec 16th, with audience cheering allowed! I wonder if anyone who went to that show is watching now? I think a lot of the people watching us today will have gone to at least one show during the tour...Oh, whats that? Kaoru's mic is hitting his necklace?

*Kaoru fixes his mic*

T: (*reading comments*) "Thank you for coming to Tokorozawa!"

J: Ah, "I went to Shinjuku". That has become a legendary performance.

T: "It was so much fun!"

J: "At last, I could use my voice!" Ahh, keep sending in your comments. Oh, so by the way, the theme of this live broadcast is 'Tour 22: From Depression to____ After-Talk Special'!

*applause*

J: Ahh, "I couldn't get tickets to Shinjuku", "I went to Sendai", "I went to Osaka and Amagasaki". Ok, so Leader, the tour is over, but first just give us a quick word on your feelings about it.

K: Well, hmm, a lot of people came, so I'm really thankful to everyone who did.

J: I see. Tasai, what would you like to ask?

T: Well, I went to Haneda. It was quite a different feeling there. It looked like you guys were having a lot of fun on stage, but how was it really for you?

K: Well...I'm gonna get a bit serious here, haha...Uh, well, normally we'd release an album, and do a tour, and the songs would be all kinda new, right? So as we do the tour, we'd be kinda gradually chasing the songs up to a higher level as we play them. But this time, we've already done all there is to do with these songs...It might sound strange to say it, but there is nothing higher to achieve with them. Plus, parts of them are ingrained in us, so we know exactly how they will flow out.

J: You mean, you've perfected them live?

K: Yeah, so it wasn't really a case of 'How is this tour going to go?', but rather, 'How can we make each day exciting?'. So, that was actually quite difficult, haha.

T: Ah, like retaining your motivation?

K: Yeh, or like trying to decide which parts we need to spice up on each day, and stuff. It wouldn't be very exciting if we just played the songs the same old way as usual. I mean, even for us too. So we kinda fumbled along, trying to make each day of the tour exciting.

J: I see, so if you have a new album out, your big goal is to perfect the songs live, but with these songs that you already know so well, you had to kind of set yourself new objectives, or missions for each day of the tour?

K: Yes. It also reminded me of my past self, well, in my playing style too, but also in my movements and stuff. It was almost as if my past self was trying to emerge, I remembered how I used to be on stage. It felt too different from my current self, and I didn't really want to go there. That was hard for me.

J: Well, a live show is a bit like a documentary of current times, so in that sense, you didn't want to fall back into your old habits?

K: You could say that, for me. It was difficult anyway.

T: What exactly do you mean by your past self emerging?

K: Well, it could be anything. When I'm playing a song, the feelings I had in the past emerge in my body, you know? I mean, I don't know if thats actually how I really was, but, you know?

J: It happens spontaneously, right?

K: Also, we had a bit of leeway with them this time, right?

J: Ah, yeh, because they are not new songs?

K: So, I ended up feeling like I need to do something different with them. I could simply just play them as they were, but I did end up feeling like I need to do something with them. I had this kind of ongoing internal conflict in my head..'You don't need to change it, its fine', and 'Oh, you need to do something with this!'.

J: Were there any parts of the tour where you really tried to challenge yourself with the old material?

K: Well, no, in that sense we put a group of recent songs in the middle of each set, then we put in the new 'ain't' after those. That was the part where we could challenge our current selves. So thats what we considered while making the rest of each setlist.

J: I see. Someone asked, "How do you feel about the re-recorded versions?" Everyone is sending a lot of enthusiastic questions. But, I was gonna say, a live show happens in the moment, right? So you must have had a lot of incidents ocurring on tour, like in the dressing rooms, or in transit etc? Can you tell us about anything that happened during this tour?

K: Now? Incidents?(*thinks*)

J: Yeah, backstage gossip. We wanna hear about it.

K: Well, at Haneda, my amp broke.

T: Which day at Haneda??

K: Day 1, during the rehearsal before the main show. (*To his manager off camera*) It was day 1 wasn't it? Yeah. So we had an emergency substitute brought in. Oh, no, actually on that day we just used a back up one that we already had, but we got a proper substitute in for the following day. I still havn't got mine back yet.

J: Oh, its still being repaired?

K: Yeah.

J: ???

K: Well, the staff did their best.

J: Ahh, I see. Well, this kind of thing can happen on tour.

T: What about food? Did you eat anything nice?

K: Well, we went to Hokkaido at long last. I ate some nice things in Hokkaido. Well, there is good food everywhere though.

J: Well yeah. What did you eat in Hokkaido?

K: Seafood...Uh, I had Shirako ponzu (*cod milt/sperm with ponzu sauce*)

J: Ahhhh, I wanna eat that!!

K: Hahaha

J: I couldn't go to any of the regional dates, I wanted to go to Osaka though.

K: They don't call it shirako in Hokkaido though, do they? What do they call it again? Tachi?

J: So like 'tachi ponzu'?

K: Tachipon.

J: Ahh, did you have sake with it?

K: No, I had a highball. Haha

J: You always drink highballs!

T: Thats the type of thing that would come up in a Kaoru quiz.

J: Oh, will it?

T: Yeah, you have to remember this.

K: For another time, right? haha.

J: Yes, for another time. Thats the keyword to remember with Tachipon. Oh, look, some people are saying they went to Hokkaido. Well, we'll talk more about those details later, but for now the director is telling us to move to the next page.

(*They all pick up thier notes and turn the page*)

J: Ok, just notifications to read out. Uh, on this show we really, really welcome lots of comments and messages. Suppport, thoughts, feelings about the show, anything is ok, so please send them in. Twitter users can use the hashtag TFOE. The first part of this show is free for anyone to watch, but the second part is for channel members only. As a member, you can watch the live broadcasts in the archives for one year, and there are also members only videos for you to see, so please everyone...can you see the link at the top of your screen? Leader, point to it. Thank you. Everyone, please use this link to become a member and stay with us to the end. Ok, so for this 25th Anniversary Tour After-Talk Special, here is our first corner. "Ego-surfing for reports of the tour!"

T: Lets do it!

J: We did this once when the album was released, right?

K: Yeah

J: Well we are going to do another forbidden search, now that the tour is over. Its scary, right?! Searching for yourself online. Eh, someone said "Aghhh, don't do it!" No, we will do this live. Tasai is currently searching on the PC, but this same Tasai has an injured foot.

T: Haha, sorry.

J: What happened? Show us.

(*Tasai lifts up a bandaged foot*)

T: Its embarrassing, haha.

J: What happened?

T: I fell over.

J: Where?

T: In front of my office.

J: Ehhh?! Were you drunk?!

T: No I was just setting off for home like normal, and there was a pothole in the road. My foot got caught in it and I fell over sideways.

J: Honestly though, Leader, don't you think Tasai has gotten bigger? I think he has.

K: Well, he looks big.

T: Oh dear, thats not good. What should I do?

J: Whats your weight?

T: About 100kg.

J: I bet it is, that sounds about right. You fall in a hole with that much weight, this is what happens! How embarrassing.

K: (*Laughing at Joe*) How embarrassing? Hahaha

J: Look, someone said, "I want to nurse him"

T: Thank you.

J: There are people like that out there! When you get guys like me laughing at your pain and embarrassment, there are still people out there who want to nurse you. Haha, someone said, "He's getting plump" haha, "Tasai is becoming a Titan". Oh, ok yes, lets do some ego-sufing.

T: (*Reading tweets*) Ok, whats this one..."ワシら(wasihra/us)"

K: Thats my tweet, haha.

T: Hahaha

J: The first one you chose, and its Kaoru's?? Oh, right, Im being told to explain the hashtag. Right, yes. So what we are doing is searching on Twitter for tweets about the tour. We want to see the reports from people who went to see the lives. We are searching using the tag DIRENGREY25th, so if you havn't already tweeted your thoughts, do it now with this tag, and the injured Tasai may just pick up your comment.

K: These tweets go right back to the start of the tour.

J: There's so many, its hard to choose, right?

K: Should I do the scrolling (*takes over*)

J: Poor Tasai with his foot, he can't move much.

T: Haha

J: Well, if you remember when we did this with Phalaris, even if you write something now, it might still get seen.

K: (*Reading a tweet*) "There were a load of songs from Vulagar and Withering to Death, it was a great setlist. I wish they had played The Final and Obscure though".

J: Ahhh

K: Ahh, we didn't play those two on this day. We did on other days, just not this day.

J: I see, yeh. It depends on the day. Well, later we will talk more about how every single day was different, the director is telling me.

K: Haha, they weren't that different from each other. They were only a little bit different each time.

T: You can talk about the reasons for the changes and stuff.

K: No no, its not that we planned to change stuff, its just like I said before, we just needed to make each day more exciting by changing little things here and there.

J: Oh, so you didn't have a big plan from the start to make each day totally different?

K: No no.

J: It was just a little bit to keep up the excitement after each show.

K: Yeah.

J: So would you like, finalise or change up your setlists at the last moment?

K: On the same day?

J: Yeah.

K: Well, we have done that...

J: Amazing!

K: Well, I mean, thats not really a big deal for us. haha. The staff will have to change a few things round for us, but thats about it.

J: Ahh, I see. (*reading comments*) "Thats backstage gossip too". Right?

K: (*Looking at computer screen*) These are all tweets from Sendai.

J: Did something special happen at Sendai?

K: No, no, I mean, we've only scrolled as far as Sendai, haha.

T:(*Reads out a tweet mentioning Rasetsukoku*)

K: Hm, yeh, we played Rasetsukoku each time. Im just gonna scroll right down...Ah still Sendai.

J: There are so many tweets for each live.

K: There's still tonnes. Tasai, I was hoping you would have scrolled a bit further by now. Hahaha.

J: Yep, there they are both, scrolling away. Are you past Sendai yet?

K: Uh, Zepp Sapporo.

T: (*Reads out a tweet saying that Saku was the first song*). Ah, starting with Saku!

J: Yeh, I noticed a few days started with Saku when I saw the setlists. Im honestly a bit envious. Starting with Saku is epic, right?!

K: Really?

J: Yes.

K: Actually, we started with Rasetsukoku for the first two days.

J: Oh, really?! Thats the rule??

K: The rule? Haha, no, we just decided off the cuff.

J: Oh, is that it?

K: Yeah.

(*Louds noise blares out. Kaoru looks shocked and wide-eyed. The sound goes off, and then the video stops for several mins. A message pops up informing of technical difficulties*)

K: Ok

J: Ok, we're back! We did it!

T: We're back!

J: The tech staff got us back.

K: That was quite scary wasn't it?

J: Yeah! Like 'Kyaaaaa' all of a sudden.

T: It was like a screech from another world.

K: I was pretty shocked.

J: Someone in the comments asked if it was Kyo.

K: Haha

T: Haha. One comment said that its because Joe was predicted many blocked paths this year. You remember our shrine visit?

J: Ah, maybe thats it. I was predicted that at the start of the year, wasn't I?

K: It was Tasai's mic acting up though wasn't it? And then this huge noise exploded.

T: As soon as I talked about my leg, it started doing stuff.

J: Tasai, you need to be purified at the shrine, you have evil on you.

K: We went at the start of the year though, right?

J: But if its Tokyo Sports there could be all sorts hanging around.

T: No, but since I hurt my foot, my wife won ¥10000 on the lottery, and WestLand, who I'm reporting on, won the M-1. So there are a lot of good things happening around me.

K: What about us(Dir)? hahaha

J: There's nothing bad hanging around you! Ehh, what could it be? Well, at least we've got the sound back. What were we talking about before? Oh, Saku!

T: Yeah, Saku.

J: Where was it? Hokkaido! Saku was the first song in Hokkaido.

T: You need a lot of power to burst open with Saku though, right?

K: What else did we say? About how we opened with Rasetsukoku only on those two days.

J: Yeah, I think the viewers probably heard that. So continuing the search. Actually there was a question about Sendai...something about a sauna in the dressing room? Did you go in the dressing room sauna?

K: Ahhh, no I didn't.

J: Oh, more background noise? There is definitely some evil hanging around.

T: Is it me??

K: We didn't hear anything here, right? Its better now?

J: Ah, lots of ghost emojis..."Its Rasetsukoku" (*land of rakshasas*)

K: Well, I mean, weird stuff just happens to us a lot.

J: Yeah, so we are probably ok, right?

T: Anyway lets do this search.

J: Yes, lets get on with that. Someone wrote, "Sprinkle salt around Tasai's leg"

T: Haha

J: Someone bring us some salt!

T: Haha, yes please. Ok, now we are at Nov 18th which is Amashin..

K: While we were off air, we did some mega scrolling, haha.

J: Yeh, the sound guy and you two were working hard, I was just sat here. Sorry, haha.

T: Ok, here's a tweet. "The speed at which Toshiya crossed the stage during KR cube was incredible!" Do you remember this Kaoru?

K: Uh, I dunno. Haha. He's being doing that for years though, right?

T: Another one, "C straight after Merciless Cult was amazing!" What do you think? This song order is great on the album too.

K: Yeah, we tried that. I think we only did that once though.

T: (*Correctly reads out a tweet containing a few song names*)

K: Oh, you really do know the songs! Just from this?!

T: Yes (*reads the name Mamachen/Marmalade Chainsaw*)

K: You even know Mamachen!

T: Yes, because I listen to them.

K: Oh, thank you.

T: (*Reading more tweets*) "It was amazing beyond words", also, "Toshiya is really macho" etc.

K: (*scrolling*) Joe, speak for a bit.

J: Ah, ok. There are a lot of comments coming here, as well as the tweets, especially about Toshiya cutting across the stage, like his legs are so long he can cross the stage in three steps.

T: No way!

J: Thats was was written in the comments! There are lots of comments about Toshiya..."I was happy to see Die all in red"...."I thought Toshiya's body was 90% legs"

K: Hahaha

J: That must be a joke. But people are saying its right! Someone wrote that you were chasing each other around the stage at Amashin.

K: Eh?

J: Were you chasing each other?

K: Uh, no. What does that mean?

J: Give us some more details people...Did you chase the other members around the stage?

K: Oh, like following behind? Yeh.

J: "Kaoru and Shinya chased Kyo"

K: Ahhh, yeh.

J: Also, "Kaoru's paper airplane"

K: Oh yeh, I did that. Where was that again?

J: Osaka?

K: Yeh. I folded the setlist into a paper airplane while I was on stage, but my folding technique was a bit off. I folded it like this (*demonstrates with notes*), so it just flew in a vertical drop as soon as I threw it. Haha

J: It didn't even reach the audience??

K: It fell in the space just infront of the audience.

J: Ah, someone just said it was Osaka day 2, the paper airplane story. If you guys have any other events from the tour that you want to know about, please send a comment...."The towel throwing was also great". Did you throw it far, Leader?

K: Well, it flew.

J: Oh, someone said the water bottles and towels flew as far as the second floor at Hatch.

K: If you throw the water bottles right, they do go quite far.

J: To the second floor?

K: Yeah.

T: (*scrolling*) I think I've reached to the newest tweets...."I made so many memories, it was amazing. My neck is sore"..."I was glad they played Saku and Kodou"...Where is this? Hm, maybe Hatch day 2..."The 25th anniversary tour was great! KR was so much fun, and I've always wanted to hear songs like Wake, Drain, and Jessica live, so I cried a lot during the show"

K: Well, songs are like that. Each person has their own particular meaning and memories attached to each song. So yeh, I can understand that.

T: It seems like there were a lot of songs from earlier albums.

K: Well, that was decided by the song battle which Fujieda did. Sitting and talking by himself all that time, haha. But we tried to just include most of the highest ranking songs from that. The songs that we chose ourselves are actually very few.

J: Ahh. "The mistake at the start of Jessica was also good" Did you make a mistake?

K: Yeah

J: They spotted it.

K: Well, we stopped the song.

J:Oh! Please write where that was if you saw it, guys. "Thank you for spraying water on me, Kaoru".

T: "The excitment was crazy with Rasetsukoku at the start". That must have been one of those two lives.

K: Yeh, people like that song.

J: They really do. "Citta day 2"? Ahh.

T: Also "They didn't play 'I'll' after all". A fan sent this with a crying emoji.

K: Well, well, well...hahaha.

T: Ok, I get you, haha.

J: "I love Rasetsukoku so much, I want it at the start and the end!"

K: Nah...I don't think so, hahaha. I'd want a different song.

J: Yeh, we get that they love it, but we need variety too.

T: "Happy Birthday to my favourite guitarist, Die"

K: Ah, yeh, it was his birthday yesterday.

J: Happy Birthday Die.

T: Yes, Happy Birthday. Hm, what else can I find here.."It was so emotional at Shinjuku Blaze"

K: Oh yeh, it was the first time in ages for me to go to Kabukicho, the last time was for that talk event we did in Loft.

J: Oh yes, that was 4 or 5 years ago, right? Ah, but Blaze, yes.

K: Yeah, Kabukicho really doesn't suit me. Hahaha.

J: Its so garish, right?

K: Well, it felt kind of dirty.

J: Ahhh, yeh.

K: Like, people lined up everywhere, drinking. I know people do that from the daytime in Ueno and places too, but Kabukicho has a kind of slimy feel to it.

J: Yeah, Shinjuku is unique. Uneo and places are different.

T: People are commenting about Tōyoko (*トー横 - An area in Kabukicho*).

K: Yeh , it was next to Tōyoko.

J: But this was the first 'cheering allowed' live in ages, right? How was it?

T: Yeah, I wanted to go.

K: Well...it was a step in the right direction.

J: Yeah. So cheering was allowed from when the members appeared on stage?

K: Yes

J: Ahh, somebody write how it felt in the comments! Well, as Leader said it was the first step. Uh, we will talk more about the setlist in the second half. Ah, someone said, "I cried". Well, of course yeh, its been a long time.

T: (*Reads out a couple of tweets praising the Blaze live*)

J: Oh, but that moment where the lights go down and everyone screams, right?

K: But at first, when the lights changed, everyone clapped.

J: Oh, out of habit?

K: Yeh. Then when Shinya went out, he was the first out...thats when the cheering started. Well, as far as I heard.

J: Ah yeh. "I wanna scream their names". Yeah, people who couldn't go to Shinjuku will be feeling this. People really want to know whether cheering will be allowed at the tour next year?

K: Well, with current circumstances, the answer is no. It depends on each venue. A lot of them are saying that cheering is allowed at half capacity, which would be a bit tough for us. But if they say cheering is allowed at full capacity...well, I don't know yet. But for now, no.

J: Its not really something a band can decide on their own, right? It depends on the venue and the region, but im sure people will understand. Anyway, we had a bit of a break earlier, but we are now at the end of the first part of the broadcast. I think we've made up for the part that we lost earlier. In the second part, we will take a much closer look at the setlists from the 25th Anniversary tour, so please join us for that. As was mentioned a bit earlier, each setlist was different!

K: Haha, I don't think thats such an impressive thing really though.

J: Oh no no. Im not sure if the audience and the performers feel the same about this, but changing just one song can change the whole atmosphere, right?

K: Well, that is true, yes.

J: So its really exciting for the audience, if they compare it to previous shows. You may even see setlists from the shows you went to, so please send in any questions you like. Ok, ill just inform you of how you can watch part 2. The next part is for channel members only, so you have to be a member if you want to watch to the end. Then you'll be able to watch this broadcast in the archives for a year, and we also have members only videos for you. In these we set various challenges for ourselves. There are some funny ones and some more serious ones. Ok, here's how to join. There should be a blue link at the top of your screen. Leader, point to it please. Thank you. Leader's fingers are on the move. If you click this link you will get a payment method screen. Thank you for pointing sideways, Leader. Choose you preferred method, click proceed, and then enter your info. Its really simple, so if you haven't already joined, please do so to stay with us to the end. Ok, Leader, before we switch over, do you have any announcements you'd like to make?

K: Announcements?

J: If you have any. Its ok if you don't.

K: Hmm, do I have any?

J: Haha, I don't know. For example, TheTheDay stuff, or something?

K: TheTheDay is the day after tomorrow.

T: How about what you will eat tomorrow morning or something? haha

K: Should I really announce that? haha.

J: I think you could.

K: I haven't decided yet, haha. Oh, just earlier...today we were rehearsing for the New Year festival, and I had a bit of time before coming here, so I got some ramen, but the soup was lukewarm. It was so disappointing.

T: Hahaha

J: Ahhh, what a shame for your post-rehearsal ramen!

T: Thats quite an important announcement.

J: Yeah, it is.

K: I was disappointed.

J: Yeah. What will the New Year festival be like? Well, you probably can't say anything, right?

K: Nah. Anyway, we don't even have a timetable yet.

J: Well, we can look forward to it. Someone asked what kind of ramen you had?

K: Soy sauce type.

J: Is that your usual type?

K: No, I like miso, soy sauce, tonkotsu, anything salty, but I guess if im trying a place for the first time, i would choose soy sauce.

J: Ahh, but still, the sauce was lukewarm. Well, lets get rid of your disappointment and cheer you up in the second part.

K: In Hokkaido I had miso ramen. It was the first time in absolutely ages to have ramen in the middle of the night after drinking.

J: Ah, but I guess you didn't care much if you were drunk?

K: I wasn't that drunk though.

J: Was it like, you went straight in without having to wait in line?

K: I did have to wait.

J: Oh, you did? Ahh, someone wrote "ramen report". Maybe we will have to do that next year. Ok, we will stop here to switch over. The change over screen will appear for a moment, so members hang tight. See you in part 2 for more 25th Anniversary tour talk!

#dir en grey #the freedom of expression #translation #薫 #long post #Toshiya 90% leg

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