As you know by now, Visual Kei band D’espairsRay will be taking a hiatus after their world tour, to allow Hizumi’s throat to recover. Rose and I now realize how fortunate we were to have seen the J-rockers perform on August 6th, and to have received a photo pass. At long last, here are exclusive images from the D’espairsRay Seattle concert, along with our review.

La Carmina: Rose and I loaded up the Goth-mobile and drove from Vancouver to Seattle. No drama along the way. Before the show, we wandered in Pike Place Market; I fell in love with the healthy Cinnamon Works bakery, especially the spicy soy chai with sugarfree vanilla! Back at the hotel, we ripped, pinned and pasted our outfits together. Here are photos that we took in front of the gum wall.

Rose: We arrived at the Showbox around 6pm and talked to some people in line. Then we headed over to The CanCan Cabaret and I had my first taste of absinthe — and loved it!

La Carmina: Isn’t it funny how all my buds — myself included — are obsessed with the green fairy? Here are photos from the burlesque absinthe bar. (Seattle friends, you must visit CanCan.)

Rose: We returned to the Showbox, and I started to realize how small the crowd was. I was surprised; I was expecting a huge turnout. We chatted with more fans inside, many who recognized Carmina, and I bought a Human-Clad Monsters tour poster at the merchandise table.

La Carmina: The opening band, I’m afraid, did not go over well with the audience. Beat-boxy rock, with awkward singing and dancing… it was as far from Jrock as one could imagine.

Rose: And then, it was time for D’espairsRay! We scurried in front of the barrier where La Carmina was going to be taking pictures, and I was privileged enough to be able to join her. The crowd went insane when they came on stage. If I didn’t know, I would have thought there were ten times as many fans there: so much excitement.

Rose: They opened with the song Death Point, followed by Dope, and Love is Dead. I was impressed with their energy, which they maintained for the entire live. I was so happy when they played some of my favorite songs: Redeemer, Mirror, Garnet. Everyone went crazy for the encores Reddish and Born (two of my very favorites).

I wrote down the full set list in my little notebook: 1. Death Point, 2. dope, 3. Love is Dead, 4. Going On!, 5. Redeemer, 6. 13 -Thirteen-, 7. Abel to Cain, 8. Human-clad Monster, 9. Angeldust, 10. Infection, 11. Crossed Arrows, 12. abyss, 13. SIXty NINe, 14. Devil’s Parade, 15. Mirror, 16. Hollow, 17. Garnet, 18. Reddish -DIVA version-, 19. Born

La Carmina: D’espairsRay appeared in stripped-down, deconstructed black. This isn’t a studio-only group, or one that relies on theatricality. The dark, grungy music hits harder than any gimmick in the Visual Kei repertoire. The terse guitars, thunderous drums, intense singing and headbanging: it draws you in, and holds you captive.

Rose: Throughout the whole show, Hizumi performed with much charm and his voice resounded. Karyu had his hair in little hair ties, and kept lunging and growling at the crowd, very fierce: you couldn’t help watching him. Zero is one of my favorite bassists, and he was very energetic as well, jumping around and smiling constantly at the fans — it was so cute.

Even though the crowd was smaller than I anticipated, you couldn’t tell once everyone was cheering and headbanging. The band played with so much energy and heart, it felt like they were playing to a full house.

La Carmina: After a roaring encore, the musicians left the stage. But they were soon back, and sat down at a table to sign posters. Rose put her poster down to be signed; we said “arigato” and shook hands with each member. It was very funny because she was wearing her taxidermy rat hair band, and as she approached, each J-rocker looked at her head with surprise!

Rose: All the D’espairsRay members were very sweet, and I really appreciated them doing the signing after the concert. Especially after all the energy they just put into the show… I admire when bands make gestures like this to make fans feel special.

Arigato to Sword Records for letting us review the concert. To D’espairsRay, for putting 100% into the Seattle concert. And thanks to all of you who came and cheered your hearts out in support!

Have you ever seen D’espairsRay perform live? What did you think? Tomorrow, I’ll random-select the Gloomth winners, I promise! And I’ll soon announce a scintillating pirate jewelry giveaway and my latest venture…

Japanese Word of the Day: Jishuu = Self-study (Japanese learners can do just that at Smart.fm)
Song of the Day: D’espairsRay – Reddish