Okay, there are two things of note that I would like to point out in this journal, both of which you may have gleaned from the title.
First off, I submitted new drawing.
It's a bunch of Shinyas drawn for my friend Matt. Check it out, and leave some love.
matto no tame no shinya
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NEXT, Dir en grey!
I went to the shows in Philadelphia and New York. They were AWESOME. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures because we weren't allowed them. :[ I also didn't get to go to the meet and greet, which was really disappointing.
We got to the Theater of Living Arts in Philly at around 5:00 PM or so, so I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to be close to the front. We had to wait for about an hour and a half, and it was FREEZING outside. I'm glad that there was a clothing store RIGHT where we were standing. XD I saw a few people dressed up in Gothic Lolita and thought to myself, "Dir en grey aren't going to like that..." There were also a lot of Hot Topic/otaku fans too. >_> Eww. And scene kids! Never have I seen so many scene kids. I'm rather sure that they didn't even know Dir en grey were. >_>
Anyway, the venue was really small (only seating about 500-1000), and the show wasn't even sold out. When we were inside, this mother was really nice and pitied me for being so small, so she told people to move so that I could stand in the front. XD I was on the left, facing the stage, directly in front of Kaoru. The first opening band was Bleed the Dream, who were pretty good; the second, Fair to Midland, wasn't too bad, but the singer was a little spazzy, so it was kind of weird.
I was freaking out when Dir en grey came on though. XD Not fangirl-freaking-out, mind you, but I did scream quite a bit. I had room to move (which I usually never do), and to breathe (which is just important). I could only really see Kaoru, Toshiya, and Kyo. I envy the center people. Kaoru was cool and moved up really close to the edge of the stage on our side. :] At some point in time, everyone behind the bar people shifted about five feet to the right, so that was good [this kid kept digging his extremely cold hands into my back]. I didn't catch anything though, because no one throws to that side! Psh.
Afterwards, my friends and I saw Keith from Bleed the Dream in Jim's Steaks, and he was really nice.
My friend's dad told him to come over and sign an autograph. XD She was chatting him up and asking about Dir en grey. Apparently, he gets to hang out with Dir en grey after every show and drink with them, and Diru like the band, so they're going on tour in Japan sometime. XD He couldn't say the same for Fair to Midland though. >_> Apparently the singer has a condition that makes his hair fall out.
He was going to call Die for us, and pulled out his phone and everything, but then HE GOT DISTRACTED. So close.
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Okay, New York!
I had to take public transportation there, unfortunately. x_x I got there around...4:00 PM, I think. I met up with my friend and her brother, and waited in line for realllllllly long. x_x It was awful, because it was bitter cold. My toes and feet were dying.
People were dressed a LOT more outlandishly here. Lots of otaku/cat people. >_> Lots of Hot Topickers. There was a person with a blue wig and a neo-kimono type thing. And a skinny girl with a vinyl corset and skirt that showed half of her ass. Oh mannnn. But the absolutely BEST[worst?] thing of all were the cloaks. There were people in CLOAKS for God's sake. That did it for me. XD
The Nokia Theater seats about 2000, I think, so this was packed compared to Philly. I couldn't see ANYTHING. x_x So we just went to put our coats away, because it was pointless to have to carry them AND not be able to see. The coat line was about an hour long. That was insaneeee. There was some speculation on whether those cloaked individuals checked in their cloaks or not. XD We missed the first two bands because of the line. x_x
When we came back, there were some more people, and I could only see the top of Shinya's drums. x.x Crappy. When they started playing, the whole floor started shifting, so my friend and I thought it would be good to try and get to the front all the way from the back. Not a great idea. She kept making sure that I could breathe and stuff and that I wasn't dying. XD We were squished so badly and banged around, and it was so HOT. I was wearing two long-sleeved shirts too. Sweaty bodies everywhere. >_< People were dripping sweat on me, I think. The worst was the people whose skin was exposed, because I'd have to put my hand over my mouth in order to prevent my lips from touching their sweaty arms. D: Grossssss. We ended up about four rows of people away from the front! We had to stop there because this 6-foot beast in front of me wouldn't move, and kept leaning on me. And this blonde girl kept looking at me and smiling, and then she would just go back to jumping on my feet. God, it was awful. x_x I only caught glimpses of Die and Kyo. :[
After the show, we went to find merchandise and stuff so that I could by another CD and shirt. The guys from Bleed the Dream were there, and Allison had formulated a plan to hang out with Keith, who would lead us to Diru. XD He was pretty drunk though, and he was like kissing and hugging and touching other girls. XD I think he recognized us. He came up to me and was like, "Heyyyy cutie, you're so little. Konnichiwa!" or something and hugged me. XD Oh it was hilarious. We got the guys to sign stuff though, but we decided to abandon the plan on account of his inebriation. Darn. XD Later, he was standing a ways away, and he started squishing our heads. Sooooo drunk.
After going out to eat, we went back and saw Diru's tour bus.
We waited there with a girl who got one of the stickers to see Diru, but had it stolen!! I felt so bad. They wouldn't let her see them though. It was sad to see the bus leave. D:
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Hm, that was really long. x_x
The moral of the story is: line up early and wear layers.
Sleepy~
