Happiest Moment in My Life
From left to right: Karyu, Zero, Tsukasa and Hizumi.
D’espairsray. My completely all time favorite band, and for the first time I saw their solo world tour concert tonight. To be quite honest it felt like I was on heaven on earth, even amidst the pushing and the shoving and the cries for attention directed at the band members. At first I thought I was going to have such a shitty day, my friend had certain issues going on with her family and told me she’d be late, which meant
I would be late, which meant we wouldn’t be first in line and also in the front row. Fortunately, however, not many people came, and we were pretty close to the door. This made me incredibly happy. We were going to be in the mosh pit, which meant we could push ourselves to the front.
So we were waiting around, Slim’s is a pretty small place and also held a bar and tables to eat. Of course, it was fucking freezing outside (thank you San Francisco weather), but inside, it was nice and toasty, and at once I had told my friend to get up front and save us spots. I was going to check out the merchandise table in case things were going to be sold out, but seeing as it was completely crowded, I opted to stand with my friend instead, right up in the front, second row. Small stage, very intimate with the crowd. I used my friend’s iphone to check up on chat, but it didn’t take long for the clock to tick 8:00PM, and then the crowd bustled up all close and everyone began to scream. They were right on the dot. Perfect timing, no delays, nothing that would make the crowd angry or anxious.
The band came out, starting with Zero, the bassist, then Tsukasa, the drummer, Karyu the guitarist, and then, of course, Hizumi, the vocalist. There were screams and shouts everywhere, and I have to tell you, having a girl scream directly into my ear was enough to make me deaf for pretty much several seconds. But it was all fine and dandy. The band started with Reddish, a very very popular song of theirs:
And everyone went batshit crazy. Arms were flying in the air, people were smashing into each other and my friend somehow wormed her way to the second row from the fourth. Needless to say, she wasn’t the rabid fan I was, and she forced me to switch places with her. I saw Tsukasa so well from that vantage point I wanted to cry. He was so amazing to watch, his drumming skills were exceptional. Karyu and Zero were rocking it out on either side but I rarely paid them any attention, because I was so focused on Hizumi and Tsukasa.
Of course, Hizumi enjoyed toying the crowd and bringing his arm out as if to allow people to touch him, then tucked it back in. What a tease. At one point, he did it, I jumped up, wrapped a hand around his arm and nearly pulled him in, but I didn’t want to be the girl to be thrown in prison because she accidentally pulled a hot asian man into a group of rabid, horny fan girls now would I? No, but I had my fair share of feeling around. And I loved it, a lot. He went shirtless at this point of the show:
And of course, the girls went crazy again. So did some boys, who knows? During one particular song, can’t recall the name, perhaps it was from the new album Monster that’s not out yet, the computer died, and we had to sit there while Hizumi brought out a little camera and started filming the crowd, which became something akin to Girls Gone Wild. We were screaming, hollering, touching his arms and the camera, ecstatic that he was filming us. It was really cute, seeing him smile all goofy, and hearing him speak English that turned out a LOT better than what it used to be.
I thought at first, they wouldn’t be playing their old songs from years ago, but no, I was surprised. Not two songs after I called out “Play Garnet!” They play it, my all time favorite song:
This was right after they played Sixty-nine, a fan favorite for it’s magnificent climax:
It made me want to cry. It was fantastic, a mesmerizing experience to be so close to my idols, and not only that, they had a meet and greet afterwards, and autograph signings. Of course, I made my friend sign my poster for me while I signed the little booklet I bought for $15. I would pay ANYTHING for this band, I love them to death, and just seeing them in person made my heart flutter. When I passed my booklet for them to sign, I got to shake their hands, and when I touched Tsukasa’s hand I think I exploded in my head. It was bliss. He’s so gorgeous in person it’s not even funny.
I’m sorry that I went on and on about an insignificant concert that probably no one knew about, but I just had to talk about it, to share it with the people of Mizahar in the hopes that they learn and appreciate a band that is very underrated in the world of rock. : ) Long live, D’espairsRay