D'espairsRay landed in Taipei for their last show out of Japan before their indefinite hiatus.
After many gloomy days, the weather was bright in Taipei for D'espairsRay's last show at the Wall, a cosy and highly famous live house located in the upbeat district of Gongguan. This venue has already hosted a lot of Japanese concerts: J from LUNA SEA, ayabie to the more recent Guitar Wolf being some of the numerous examples.
People started gathering at the doors early in the afternoon for good reason. The show was planned to start at 5:30 pm, which was quite a surprising timeslot. The audience mostly comprised of girls, but also some older women. Another good surprise was that a lot came from Japan or Hong Kong and Western girls could even be spotted.
The doors opened on time and the crowd entered quietly in line into the venue hall, passing by the goods stall — which surprisingly didn't sell the band's latest album — and waited patiently for the members to come. Some of them ordered drinks at the nice bar located at the back of the venue, opposite to the stage.
This quiet and friendly audience immediately turned into a fierce one when the band came onstage. The crowd was sincerely amazing on that special evening. From the choreographed headbangings during Born to the religious silence for Abyss, no one made a sound, nor even made the slightest move; it was obvious that the fans wanted to honor the members for this last show abroad, providing a really hot atmosphere.
As for the Monsters, they were full of energy once they entered the arena. Hizumi was vocally impressive, alternating singing and screaming with such an ease that one could hardly believe he had throat problems. Tsukasa was really focused and delivered a good performance. It was a shame he was a little too laid back for most of the live, despite the numerous fans screaming his name — the one from a Tsukasa fanboy during the encore probably the most memorable of them all. As for Karyu and Zero, both also did a good job and also regularly communicated with the audience, smiling and getting closer to them.
Besides, it was a pleasure to see the band in such a good mood, playing with each other sometimes, and being so close to their fans, aided by the fine physical gap between the stage and the crowd. Hizumi didn't hesitate at the end to shake as many hands as possible from the stage platform, or speaking some words of Taiwanese, provoking many fangirl screams, while Tsukasa did even better by singing a bit in the dialect. Some were a bit too close, however, as Zero sprayed water many times onto the audience with his own mouth. It would be unforgettable for many of the fangirls though, whether in a good way or not.
Moreover, the band treated their fans by performing many of their hit songs along with the tracks from MONSTERS. The new tracks were rather well-received by the fans, especially the addictive Love is Dead, during which the venue nearly turned into a dance floor with fans clapping and jumping. It was definitely the climax of the concert. Nevertheless, older songs like Garnet or Mirror definitely remained fan favorites, seeing the explosive atmosphere inside the venue during these performances.
Near the end, after a longer than expected encore, the whole crowd was totally captivated and even the few apathetic people at the back were clapping loudly or tried to mimic the fans' dances. The look of delight didn't seem to be able to leave the fans faces. The band members all took their time to throw goodies to the fans and Zero was the last one on stage throwing picks... with his mouth, obviously.
Seeing the smiles or even tears of joy from sweating and exhausted fans, some of them lying as if they were dead on the few couches in the Wall's lobby, it was clear that the concert was a success. The audience and the band gave their best for an enjoyable evening, which would be the last one for a while. Now fans just hope that their announced hiatus will not be too long.
