I went to see Dir en Grey tonight. My first real concert concert.
Jaymee and I met at Diana's and she drove us to the Hawthorne Theatre. It was a nice cool night but we dressed light and just wore jackets for the line. I haven't listened to Dir en Grey in a while (since I was 18 or so) but for nostalgia and for my first real show, I bought a ticket. The audience was mostly made up of teens between 14 and 18. Lots of youngins with intense makeup and way too much clothing for a packed show. We had some giggles at the fashion choices and also felt old because just being 20 put us in the minority of "older" listeners. The line was right near traffic and we kept getting honks. Some cars drove dangerously close. The Monster Soda truck swerved onto the curb and gave out free energy drinks to the teens. Nuts!
When we got close to the entrance, Jaymee and Diana took our coats to the car (which was only like a block and a half away, score!) and I held a spot for them. It was cold but it was the best choice as I became soaked through the show. The theatre was designed for about 300-500 people, I don't quite know the number for sure but it was small. Lots of little girls all shoved into the place. The first band was The Human Abstract. American and not that interesting. The audience had no energy for them and they generated none. Just some wanky looking guys, whatever. Some of the audience were fans though. During the break Diana gave us shoulder rubs and we made fun of people. Some of the shoving of the audience made girls put there hands up in "back off" motions. I jerked my thumb in a "you should get away from the front because you will be stomped" motion. Seriously, who enforces personal space when they are 10 feet away from the stage?
The crowd cheered for each Asian that came on stage and then stopped when they realised it wasn't a member of the band. I was screaming jokes about that something like, "YEAH ALL ASIANS LOOK ALIKE!" and "YEAH ROADIES YEAH!"
When Dir en Grey came on it went mental. Everyone crowded and pushed and clawed to get closer. Kyo, the lead singer, was shirtless and was so controlled in his snake like contortions. It was just mental. Screaming, pushing, elbows, sweat, arms, hands, bodies, fabric, skin, spit, everything together in one shifting waving mass. Kyo spat on his audience for the start and we reveled in it. I was mostly within the cluster with slight movement. We were not locked in place but we shoved onwards and forwards.
People had their cellphones and cameras out for such long portions. They just HAD TO PROVE how close they were and how awesome it was. I would rather just experience the show instead of documenting it to relive it. Can't relive something you barely live.
This lady behind me shoved me more than pushed me. I didn't elbow her in the nose but I wanted to. Every time I saw her, her face was grumpy and irked. Like she was dragged there by her boyfriend. She just didn't want to be close or anything. I pushed back into her a little harder than I was pushed. Seriously, why stand so close if you don't want to be touched?
The little girls put up a good fight. My hair was soaked and sticking to my face. I jumped and danced and screamed and screamed. I escaped to the back when their main set was done and scooted closer when they came out for their encore. I wish I was closer when the other band members came up for the last gestures but I had room to jump in the back.
The night was sweet and refreshing when I emerged. A guy chatted me up while I waited for my friends to show. We screamed each others names and jumped on each other in triumph of the show.
Fred Meyer's gave us sweet sweet liquid to consume and hydrate ourselves.
We sat in Diana's car and unwound. I called Chris and gushed the details. When we got chilly it was time to go home and crash.
The Thesis Presentations:
Jason: Brilliant. He knew how to word things and how to put together a slide show to explain what he was going to do. The room was filled with easily 40 people. Karen, Robin, and I sat on the couch and didn't have the best view but still got a good general idea. Jason is doing a life size sculpture of those spitting dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. It is on a wrecked car and will be spitting toxic stuff. It deals with childhood pop culture and the inclusion of radioactive material in it. He phrased it in such a way that it was perfect. He is an illustration major but he has already mastered all that there needs to be mastered in technique and examples of stuff. He is set for life that boy.
Natalie: Could have had more character sketches and a better idea of the final concept. There was some major nit-picking. I think the end result has some great potential. She was very nervous but as we asked, her thesis got more fleshed out. She is doing 15 illustrations based after the Norwegian story about the girl and the polar bear.
Matt: Beautiful slide show. Perfect amount of time spent in explanation and he really knew what he was drawing from to create the story. It is a steampunk comic about the relationship between two brothers. I think he will add more pages because 15 is such an odd number.
Maddison: He had a loop of ominous music playing while we filed in. His project is a sequential scroll based upon Lucifer's fall from Heaven. He was dressed like he was going to sell us Ice Cream and the under lighting of the podium gave him a very sinister look. Some people asked him some silly questions which seemed more about showing off their own knowledge of the subject. I wanted to ask how he was going to use the scroll aspect in its design.
Charlie: I sat next to Charlie's darling wife Karie. Wonderful woman. This was Charlie's oral final thesis presentation. Months of work lead up to this and he did not disappoint. He wrote a book and illustrated it and got it printed up through Lulu (print on demand service). It looks really nice. The oral was so personal and he really bared a lot of himself in the glare of the lights. He knew every word. There was no doubt. He gave us all pamphlets of his work as well. Goodies! Next paycheck, I think I will order a copy of his story. His art style is amazing. We all adore Charlie so much, I'm going to miss him.
I did about 6 sketches during the proposals and final. Plenty to ink and finalize!
During lunch Jaymee came up to Diana and started talking about the Dir en Grey concert. I decided to get a ticket if it was not sold out, and it wasn't so I got one. So quick with the Internet. The long lunch was long and I decided to change my puppet because the plaster just isn't working the way I want it to.
I only got about 10 minutes between getting home from the thesis stuff and going to Diana's. Karen was a doll and drove Robin and I there and back. Karen so rocks.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAHHH!!!!
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