Lithium Magazine

Review & photos by Mike Bax

www.direngrey.co.jp
www.myspace.com/direngrey
www.apocalyptica.com
www.myspace.com/apocalyptica

It was like a changing of the guard at Sound Academy this past Monday night. The entire front of the barricade was lined with Asian men and women for Dir En Grey and they all seemed to leave right after Dir En Grey’s performance to make way for a completely new line-up of Apocalyptica fans. I’ve seen very few shows where this sort of divided audience seems to take turns for bands touring together on a bill.

It was obvious that Dir En Grey have some rabid fans in Toronto. As the five-piece Japanese band walked on stage, the screams coming from the crowd to greet them were quite impressive. I am ill-fitted to really wax-on about the songs Dir En Grey played live, as my only experience with them as a band is the recently released live CD/DVD package ‘Uroboros’. I recognized a few tracks from this live package during the band's performance (‘Sa Bir’, ‘Stuck Man’ and ‘Inward Scream’) but for the most part, I was watching Dir En Grey as a newbie.

Kyo's vocals throughout the hour long performance were pretty amazing. He can hit notes so menacingly low followed by ear piercing highs, it was hard NOT to be impressed by his singing. He’s a smallish fellow, but what he lacks in physical height, he more than makes up for in massive stage presence. As his bandmates belted out technically amazing song after song, Kyo twisted and bent in all directions as he belted out the lyrics to about a dozen Dir En Grey songs. They were pretty damn awesome.

‘No Surprises’ by Radiohead blared throughout The Sound Academy at 15 minutes past Apocalyptica’s start time - the audience watching as microphones were tweaked and spare cello bows were placed in front of the drum kit (only at an Apocalyptica show will you see this). With all the lights dimmed, a lone stagehand peeked out from behind the speaker stacks and flashed a light at the soundboard – the universal sign of starting a concert.

I keep a running list of about a dozen bands that really SHOULD be seen live, and Apocalyptica are definitely on this list. Watching three Finnish fellows shred on cello’s for 80 minutes is something every music fan should experience at least once. The addition of Mikko Sirén on drums a fews back (Sirén is a percussionist of the highest order) only cements the Apocalyptica live experience.

Gone are the days of Apocalyptica touring as JUST four cellists. With one cellist gone, and the addition of percussion and the occasional guest vocalist, Apocalyptica has long since shed their reputation as an interesting Metallica cover band. There will ALWAYS be a requisite Metallica song or two throughout an Apocalyptica performance – the band won’t soon forget their roots, but they feel to me like icing on the cake when compared to Apocalyptica’s fine original material. Like something a new fan might think is just a novelty during their performance.

Opening with ‘2010’, an instrumental track from their newest album Seventh Symphony, Apocalyptica started strong and kept their energy high throughout the evening. Seventh Symphony officially got released this week on the 24th, and a signing at midnight was planned for fans willing to wait around after the show.

‘Master Of Puppets’ and ‘Seek And Destroy’ were the Metallica songs of the evening. Fans were also treated to ‘End Of Me’, the most recent Apocalyptica single (featuring vocals by Gavin Rossdale). There were three or four songs at this show that involved vocals, and they were satisfactorily handled by touring vocalist Tipe Johnson. After an hour long set, Apocalyptica returned to the stage to play an encore featuring ‘I Don’t Care’ and ‘Hall Of The Mountain King’.