Shibuya Rex was sold out to an expectant crowd on December 2nd, the venue buzzing in anticipation of DIAURA, mid-way through their deadly"9"circuit tour.
Applause filled the hall as the curtains rose to flashing lights. kei and Shoya took to the stage first, raising their fists to the crowd. The stage lights dimmed to red as yo-ka stalked on, pacing up to the front rows of the crowd to spew the audience below him with a mouthful of water. Unphased by what came to be the first of many dousing of water, the crowd threw devil horns into the air and moshed as DIAURA opened with Deadly Number, a song with alternating lighter sections and heavier charging sections which really allowed the crowd to get into things. The song ended with the band silhouetted against the stage lights, before they then tore into DEAR RULER, yo-ka headbanging and stomping on the stage. The crowd joined in, jumping up and down with their hands in the air to the chorus, Shoya accompanying on vocals with some heavy growling. Red and green lights took kei into a distorted solo, before the band and crowd together thrust themselves over for the slower, thumping mid-section, yo-ka bringing the song to an end by whispering into the mic.
The recent single, evil, was up next: its heavy opening groove punctuated with guitar squeals and a distorted vocal had both guitar and bass player rocking out together. The time changes in the song kept the audience on their toes, standing with hands raised in the devil horns, pausing, before pumping their fists along to the music as yo-ka sang “still I believe in future”. Shitsuyoku no seiiki followed, the vocalist goading the crowd on at the start of the song. Shoya’s bass rumbled throughout the venue as all three band members came to the front of the stage for the chorus, bathed in red lights cut through by green lasers. Shoya took centre stage, yo-ka offering the mic to the crowd on the right of the stage. As the song ended yo-ka proffered his middle finger to the crowd and screamed “You’re awesome, Shibuya Rex!”
There was a brief interlude as the band caught their breath between songs, but the crowd needed no such rest, growling and screaming the band members’ names as creepy atmospheric background music filled the venue. yo-ka returned to fire up the audience, asking the crowd if they were feeling strong enough for the rest of the set, and commenting on how hot it was getting inside. The crowd called back affirmatively, so the band wasted no time in slamming into Inferiority Complex, an unrelenting number which saw screeching, growling and furious headbanging from the crowd. yo-ka climbed the stage scaffolding and began conducting the crowd from his perch. kei and Shoya alternated turns at growling accompaniment as the vocalist, back on the stage, lay back into the audience and took himself for a crowd-surf. When he returned, yo-ka ordered the audience at the back of the room to move backwards and start then beginning slamming into the members at the front. The band continued playing the same refrain as yo-ka dropped himself into the crowd and began walking across the floor, dictating to the crowd at the back what they should be doing. Returning to the front, and receiving his own fair share of slamming from the more-than-willing audience, yo-ka raised his microphone to kei to growl into, while Shoya was ordering about his own corner of the audience to the left.
As Chaos Play began, with its chugging groove and vocal jumps between growling and melody, the temperature in the room had become noticeably sauna-like. yo-ka chanted “Die! Die! Die!” with a maniacal facial expression that demanded to be obeyed, the crowd shouting along to the chorus. Just as the previous song had, the band took this number into an extended section, Shoya taking a thunderous centre-stage with his bass-line reverberating through the air, meanwhile, kei reached out to slap audience members’ hands, as the rest of the venue headbanged wildly. Ending the song with a throat-slitting gesture, yo-ka leapt from the podium as, with barely a pause, the band launched into Beautiful Creature. The fans leapt from side to side across the venue and Shoya jumped up, pick in mouth, to slap his bass. yo-ka cuddled up to kei and whispered in his ear before the guitarist screamed into the microphone.
During another brief pause in proceedings, the crowd continued baying for the band, and everyone in the venue took the opportunity to mop the sweat from themselves. “It’s not steamy enough in here, is it?” yo-ka commented to kei, much to the disbelief of the saturated crowd.
Vanity Lips saw yo-ka gather the crowd to the front before this bouncier number changed the pace. The crowd took this opportunity to draw their breath a little. yo-ka bopped along to the number, clapping in the bridge, sticking his fingers in Shoya's mouth to suck on as kei took centre-stage and had the crowd leaping up and down in time to the beat. Cult had the crowd clapping along, Shoya again sowing off his slap-bass, before yo-ka with a mere nod of his head sent the crowd into a headbanging frenzy. Mixing a lighter and more upbeat melody, the song moved into a balladic bridge before descending into a heavier ending. The vocalist crouched on stage glaring at the crowd before climbing up the scaffolding again and shouting “Die! Die!” at across the venue.
To ENEMY and an Insanity brought things back to a frenzy with heavy riffing and harmonics accompanied by yo-ka veering between soaring vocals and growling. While kei fanned the sweat-soaked crowd with his towel, yo-ka spat water over the fans, drinking and observing the crowd with what seemed to be a mixture of amusement and feigned-contempt. As the last song of the set slipped into distortion and noise, kei used his guitar as a gun and started picking off members of the audience with his axe, before bringing the song back together for the finish.
yo-ka thanked the crowd and headed off-stage, but before the band had even fully exited the stage the crowd was already screaming for an encore in a mixture of keening voices and deeper guttural tones from one impressively throated audience member.
kei, Shoya and the live support drummer tatsuya returned and opened the encore with a drum solo. With a word from kei, the drums stopped suddenly, apparently not quite right, but after flashing a sheepish grin the band slammed straight into the sleazy Guns N’ Roses riffing of Ms.psycho. kei got the crowd chanting and finally yo-ka returned, chucking water into the audience. As the crowd waved their towels during the chorus, Shoya leapt on to the amp at the front of the stage but slipped off, momentarily sending those who saw into a brief pang of panic – DIAURA, after all, do seem to be quite good at injuring themselves. Luckily, the bassist got back up and carried on with barely a note out of place. As MASTER brought the night to the finish, the whole audience, including those at the back unable to mosh, was drenched in sweat. A furious number to end on, yo-ka belted out the lyrics and the crowd sang along, the singer even offering them the mic for one section.
“Thank you!” yo-ka called as the band finished in a storm of feedback. Stepping from the podium he offered a theatrical bow before exiting the stage. kei, last to leave, also offered his thanks, throwing his towel into the audience.
The doors to the lobby opened and it was a welcome relief to everyone in the venue as gusts of cold air pushed into the hall. Only half-way through their tour, DIAURA had succeeded in creating a rock'n'roll human onsen which had pushed both band and audience to their limits. After a night of unrelenting heavy music, the crowd slowly filtered out, mopping their brows and pulling sweat-slick hair from their faces with an air of satisfied exhaustion.
Set list
SE
01 deadly number
02 DEAR RULER
03 evil
04 Shitsuyoku no seiiki
MC
05 Inferiority Complex
06 Chaos Play
07 Beautiful Creature
MC
08 Vanity Lips
09 cult
SMC
10 to ENEMY
11 an Insanity
EN
01 Ms.psycho
02 MASTER
