November 23, 2008 – Stopping on their The Rose Trims Again tour, Japanese rockers Dir en grey performed to a reverent and rabid crowd, delivering a 20-song throw-down that had the fans begging for more.
The performance included a heavy selection of songs from the band’s latest release, Uroboros, including “Toguro,” “Glass Skin,” “Dozing Green,” and “Gaika, Chinmoku ga Nemuru Koro.”
Photographer’s Notes:
Funny story.
Before the performance, I talked to the members of Dir en grey about using flash for their set. I showed them some images utilizing speedlights and described how the lights would work during the show. The guys seemed skeptical, worried that the flashes might interfere with their light show, but eventually we agreed to use flash only during the last five songs during the encore.
I shot Dir en grey’s entire performance, working with only the ambient stage lighting for the main set, then switching to flash for the encore.
After the show was finished, I spoke to Nora, the band’s translator, and she asked me if I’d even used flash. The band had asked her the same question, because they hadn’t even noticed anything different even as I blasted away with four speedlights during the encore. Nora and I joked that next time, we’ll know better about flash!
The majority of Dir en grey’s performance was lit from the front with two LCD projectors, which bathed the stage in dim, mottled colors and amorphous shapes. In addition, Kyo was lit from below by a square array of LEDs, which provided a nice, constant glow.
The stage setup for Dir en grey was fairly simple. Kyo had a riser in front of him, while Kaoru, Die, and Toshiya were closed in at the front by massive speaker monitors. The monitors themselves were set back slightly from the edge of the stage, which created even more distance to the guitarists.
The drummer Shinya was enclosed in a fairly gigantic drum kit – as big as I’d ever seem crammed onto the small drum riser built into the stage at Pop’s.
During the band’s main set, I used the Nikon D3 and D700 in tandem, along with the 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm. For the encore, I used only the D3, using the SB-900 to trigger the three SB-600s on stage.
End Notes:
Big thanks to the band, their management, and translator Nora for all their help in facilitating this shoot. Best of luck to the whole crew as they get ready to take over Europe!
Also, stay tuned for the images from the photo shoot with the band we shot before the show, including individual portraits of all the band members.
I am presenting a larger-than-usual collection of images here for Dir en grey’s fans, as I know how much the band is loved. These images are copyrighted and I must ask that they are not used for additional artwork or otherwise repurposed. Thanks very much for your understanding and consideration, I hope you enjoy the images.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 11:19 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2008, die, dir en grey, images, kaoru, kyo, live, music photography, photographer, photography, shinya, toshiya, tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
[...] 23, 2008 – Just before they took the stage, I caught up with Japanese rockers Dir en grey for a quick portrait session. Despite a chill in the [...]
TODD OWYOUNG ??????????????????????? http://ishootshows.com/2008/12/01/dir-en-grey/
[...] I’ve photographed Dir en grey twice before – once opening for the Deftones in 2007 and then on their own headlining tour in late 2008. [...]
Welcome to ishootshows.com, the premier site for music photography featuring daily concert coverage, portrait features, and photo advice from professional music photographer Todd Owyoung.
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My name is Todd, and I love the rock show. My work has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, the New York Times, Alternative Press, Metal Hammer, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard Magazine. I'm available for worldwide travel for editorial and commercial assignments.
These shots are really stunning. Can’t wait for the rest :)
I hope the fans will listen to your request, the ones that actually care about copyrights are few and far between and most seem to believe that if it’s online it belongs to them and they can to what they want.
Hey Rey,
Thanks for the comment, I’m glad to hear you like the shots.
The last time I photographed the band, I received many requests from fans asking for permission to use the shots, and I can only hope that they will respect these images this time around as well!
i love the 2nd one, it’s absolutely epic and the light makes it look like a drawing/poster to me.
and that’s a crazy drumset. this is so beautiful. and i have been wondering about the same thing about the speedlights too, i obviously have never seen it in action in concerts but did it bother the performers at all or do they like DEG doesn’t even notice?
Hey Jessie, thanks for the feedback. The second one shows the kind of crazy projections that were on the band. It made for very tough ambient-light shooting, but did add to some of the moments.
Yup, the drumset was pretty huge – very cool. Shinya also gave away a few of the heads to the fans after the show, which I thought was very nice.
I’ve never had any complaints using flash for the shows I cover, and I clear the use with the band/their management first.
Jeeeeesus christ, Todd. These pictures are so bad ass. I’m going to have to check this band out based on these pictures alone. That drum kit is intense. I do not envy their drum tech at all.
But yeah, the composition in all of these is great and the band looks so heavy in every shot. I hope they end up using these for something. Definitely one of my favorite sets of yours.
I’ll stop fanboying now. Great work again, Todd.
Hey Brian!
I may have pressed the button, but believe me, Dir en grey was nothing but metal during their set – always on, always heavy.
This band has a huge following, so it was an honor for me to photograph them.
I’ll be passing them along to the band and their management, so we’ll see where they go!
Tod,
Where was this band performed?? Thailand?? I see Thai letter behind the band.
excellent. these guys are intense. didn’t know anything about them when i shot them last year and was surprised how fanatic their fans were. they seem to have a reverent and rabid crowd everywhere they play.
Supatclub: I think what you’re seeing in the background is the band’s banner. This show was in the US.
Hey Riny, thank you. Yes, the fans for Dir en grey are as passionate as you’ll ever come across! I hope they enjoy these shots.
Good thing you got to use flash. If pop’s is anything like the pageant – and im sure it is – lighting can be difficult, unless DEG’s lighting show is just that spectacular. It must have been cool using the translator to talk – I’ve never heard of Dir En Grey up until now, but I’ll have to check them out. Sounds like a cool experience.
Did you have anymore promos from them?
I think 1, 2, and 3 are AMAZING. 13 has some nice hair action going on, and 15 is a nice wide angle. 17 is great as well, but I think 22 and 27 are my favorites. Can I ask what ISO were you shooting at? It could just be the blue image/risers, but it looked like there was a little more NR going on.
Kick ass set.
Flash was a nice tool to change things up for this set, but the majority of the images you see in the set were shot without flash, so you can get a pretty accurate idea of what the lighting was like for this show. It looks like 14 out of the 66 images in the set feature flash.
I do have a full portrait set coming.
I don’t use in-camera noise reduction on the D3 and D700, so these images do show a little more noise from when I was using ISO 6400. I did some mild removal of chroma noise in post, but left the luminance noise.
Thanks for the comment and the picks.
I saw the twitter about your friend posting the pics from Norway, I have to say, I love your hair.
Hello, Mr Todd!
It’s funny but until I saw your shots, I just noticed that this is the first time I saw the band at such an angle (i.e. with the camera by the audience and tilted up towards them)! One done professionally, that is. I especially loved the way the colors and lights looked so alive in this set and how energy was basically everywhere. I’ve got a lot of favorites!
Also, I laughed when I read your note regarding Dir en grey’s management and the flash mechanism. Really, people give flashes so little credit.
Congratulations for yet another amazing set! And thanks for sharing your great work to us fans. :D
Ive been to several of their gigs before and everytime the lighting on stage has been really poor, but ive only ever seen them in tiny tiny venues with around 800 people crammed in using the venues in built lighting system, which was very poor.
I like how you managed to persuade them to allow you to use flash and they didnt even notice :D but im sure they were used to the in built flashes on most cameras blinding them all the time. I wonder if they will now allow more photographers to use flash, well im hoping they do when i shoot them in January.
Amazing images like its been said several times before the fans are gonna go crazy over them :D
Hey Liv,
Thanks for the comment. You mention the angle – I guess part of this is simply due to the height of the stage, but I also like to get slightly under the performers for wide-angle shots.
I’m happy to share these shots, glad to hear you like them.
Hi Christine,
The lighting was very difficult for this show. The venue where I shot can fit around ~1500 people or so, maybe a little more, but there were probably around 500 total for this show. Still, it had a good vibe.
The band’s official policy is still “first three, no flash” – I don’t think that this would change from these images, unfortunately.
Thanks for the kind words!
Thank you for these Todd!!!
You did a great jod, I really love these photos. <3
I hope you don’t mind if I save them for my private collection of images. I won’t disclose them on the internet elsewhere – people can always look them up here.
Also, thanks for the tidbit info on the Europe thing! You’re the greatest! As a fan from Europe, this really made my day!
Thank you again!
Aru
These are stunning! Completely stunning. You’ve done a really incredible job of capturing their energy during a live show.
Thank you so much for sharing these with us! =D
Hi Aru,
Thanks for the comment, I’m glad to hear you like these. I don’t mind if you save them for your personal collection, I hope you enjoy them. I don’t mind if people link here, just so long as the images are not reposted and altered, things like that.
Hope you get to see them when they head over to Europe!
Hi Claire,
Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate the comment, I’m glad to hear from fans like you.
These pictures are the best pictures I’ve seen of this tour yet! I’m one of those ‘rabid’(for lack of a better word) fans and I can’t say how much I appreciate a great photographer like you taking beautiful high-quality pictures of 5 the five people I respect the most. Your pictures are full of so much of the life energy they thrust at you during a performance. Looking through these pictures makes me feel like I’m at a show again, which is something that I yearn for constantly. I truly hope you are able to photograph them again when they come back! Thank you again for the beautiful photography!
oh snap!!! thanks for posting so many *__* i can’t wait for “the images from the photo shoot with the band we shot before the show, including individual portraits of all the band members.” <3
Hi Melissa,
Thanks you! I’m really happy to hear from so many fans here, and I’m glad you like the set. I’ll definitely try to photograph the guys whenever I can in the future.
Thank you very much for displaying so many pictures, they look fantastic!
Good one.
Hey Max,
I should be posting the portraits on Monday. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Rinia,
Thanks!
YOU ARE AMAZING! Thank you SO much for these. Can’t wait for the rest. They are beautiful beautiful pictures. Thank you.
Rhea,
Glad you like the images, thanks for the comment.
Your photos are always so amazing. Thank you so much for sharing these. I’ve been looking forward to these since I was first linked to the post with one from your shoot, so far you’re my favorite photographer of them.
Thank you so much for so so many beautiful pictures and for presenting them larger-than-usual for us. That’s really sweet of you. This one is my favorite: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3001/3076365734_26b4d7ffc8_o.jpg
though the upward angle shots of the guitarists are awesome too.
Hey Ahn,
Thanks very much, I’m happy to share these shots.
Hi Melanie,
Thanks for the comment and your pick! Kyo had so many different and great expressions. I did like the image you picked for Kyo’s eye contact with the audience.
Very impressive work!
dear Todd,
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THESE PICTURES!!!
i’m a fan of Dir en grey. so i don’t know how to describe my feeling when i saw every photo you shows…
THEY ARE JUST PERFECT TO ME!!!!!!XDDDDDD
Thanks, Cliff.
Yoyo: Thanks! Glad to hear you like them.
Hey all, I am going to comment back individually, but for now, I just wanted to say thank you for all the kind words. It’s great to hear from the fans, and I’m very glad that you enjoy the shots. I knew I had a big task ahead of me when I was about to shoot this show so I could deliver for you.
Thanks again.
Thank you Todd!!!! you did amazing. I really liked the photos. I’m also one of those “rabid” fans. and I hope you wouldn’t mind me saving some, for myself only. i won’t post them up anywhere on the net. I, like Melissa, love how these pictures make me feel like I’m back at their show again. I hope you can shoot them again. They’re my favourite people..especially Kyo. i love the emotion he puts into his songs and how he gets so into it during the shows. Can’t wait for the others.
Hillary
Hey Hillary,
I hope no one takes offense at the comment about the fans being “rabid” – I assure you, I mean it in the best sense. If all fans were as passionate about their favorite bands as Dir’s fans so plainly are, I think that would be great.
Thanks very much for the kind words, I’m happy to hear you enjoy the images and let you relive their show a little bit!
Looking at the shots as I was editing, I was shocked to see all the scars on Kyo – he’s really sacrificed his body for his art.
The portraits will hopefully be coming up late tonight or first thing next week. I shot group shots in two slightly different locations and did individual portraits of all the guys.
i think Kyo likes that.. there was some interview i read about that. and the interviewer asked him why he did. and he just said something about how he likes blood and just shrugged it off. but there’s a lot of stuff on him being a masochist. i dunno if it’s true or not(because he likes to lie in interviews) there used to be more of it when they were just begining. and there’s a lot of arguments [[between fans and such]] about it because he’s hurting himself.
.and thanks for replying btw :] oh. and there’s no offense taken to the “rabid” thing. lol
thanks again for the pictures
Hey Hillary,
I always try to comment back, and you’re at the end of a surge. I’m going to try and reply to everyone above you, but it will take a bit!
Thanks again.
Thank you so much for these photos. They are gorgeous. I am in awe! It feels so good to look at these photos, it makes me remeber the concerts I went to this tour. My adrenaline even gets rushing a little bit. Kyo wore that headband in Baltimore too.
I agree with the fans being rabid, but it’s good at concerts. Everyone really gets into it, I was so bruised up! But the band seems to feed off our energy, so I’m glad. I’m excited to see the photoshoot from before the show!
Hey Britt, thanks very much, glad to hear you enjoy the images. How many shows did you catch on this tour?
Yeah, the crowd was super into it at this show, even during the slower/quieter songs.
Dir en grey is most certainly all about effect… it makes sense that they’d be concerned about the flashes. As cameras and video recorders were allowed this tour, it seems they wanted to limit the extra lighting as much as possible.
Your shots are wonderful as always. You are certainly more than able to capture the impact, especially when it comes to Kyo…
Hi Todd,
that is the case actually. Bands (unless they play in full darkness) don’t even notice a flash pointed at them on stage during a son. The point is that they think they would and this is why flash is usually forbidden.
Probably the more of such occasion the more flashes will be allowed on the pit. It would be an advantage for us photographers, but even for picture’s quality and, in the end, bands interest.
ciao
Vale
PS-Great set, as usual I must admit!
Hey Brook,
The band was interested in preserving the stage ambience as much as possible, which is a natural reaction to hearing that someone wants to set up lights on stage. The funny realization of the band is how discrete, or at least how minimal, the use of flashes can be.
For the record, the band’s policy is first three songs, no flash.
Thanks for the comments, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this set. Kyo really made my job easy, I have to say. All I did was push the button, he was doing all the heavy lifting. :)
Hey Valerio,
With all the band’s with whom I’ve used flash on stage, there has never been a problem. In most cases, there are already lights blowing up all around them, or flashes from the audience, too.
Anyway, next time, flash won’t be a problem. :)
Thanks for the comment.
My sister and I made it to 3 in the same week. Baltimore, Philly and NYC. It was tiring but definitely worth it.
I want to thank you again for the photos. I do believe these are some of the best, if not the best live photos of Dir en grey I have seen.
Wow, that’s a nice little roadtrip catching all those shows.
Thanks very much for the kind words, I’m just glad to have done the band some justice for all their fans. :)
Good shots, these are the first photos I’ve ever seen from the angles you provided. They tend to lurk in shadows.
Hey Melvin, thanks. It’s funny you say that, you’re the second person to mention that about the angles. Thanks for the comment.
Looks like I might be shooting them next year, and that stage set up looks ace! Let’s hope it stays that way…
I imagine that they’ll be taking the riser and LED panel over to Europe, so I think you’re safe. Other than that, you should be set, there isn’t too much else to it!
Wow! I just saw one of these posted in an LJ group I’m a member of and had to come check out the rest. These are some of the best live shots I’ve ever seen.
Thank you so much for sharing them.
Hey Elsa,
I’m glad you found these images. Could you send me a link where you saw the image posted on LJ?
Thanks for commenting, I really appreciate it.
Hi again Todd,
It was posted at direngrey_daily here: http://community.livejournal.com/direngrey_daily/29872.html
but it’s a friends locked post.
Hey Elsa,
Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. Sounds like I won’t be able to see the post, but I am glad that a link is provided back here to the original set.
oh awesome pics again!
I love all the colours and the angle. It’s so pretty. I think it gives all the Dir en grey’s energy. It’s hard to explain (blame my awful english) but anyway i think your photos are dynamic!
It makes me so nostalgic, i’m so impatient to see them again but they don’t come often in France. (and it seems we don’t have photographer as good as you for taking some memory of their lives.)
The pictures are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing them! I was at this show, but I fail at taking pictures. So it’s nice to have these to look at; it helps keep the memory of the show fresh.
*-* Thank you so much Todd!!!
I like your job!!! You take good photos!
=) You have caught the esence of Dir en Grey in these photos!
And I’m so happy happy for that…Please, continue photographing to Dir en Grey!!
hi. i was wondering if i can use your shots for a dir en grey website i am building. I really adore your photography. I soon plan on doing shoots soon to :D
great work!
Wow these photos are so colorful and clear. Many great poses and angles~.
Also I saw the pictures you took of In Flames in another post. They were all just AMAZING <3 I wish you had been at my show in L.A to take pictures, hehe.
Thank you for posting these!
Thanks a lot for the pictures – they’re gorgeous! ?
Wow! Great shots. It’s shoots like these, and the ones before the performance that divert my attention from what I really want. If I could afford to have a job like this, I really would. The images are amazing, and I love this. Great job!!