DIR EN GREY return with first North American tour since 2015
Solo Headlining Tour, Tour19 This Way To Self-Destruction,
Kicks off Dec. 5th in Los Angeles and Ends Dec. 19th in Mexico City
New Single “The World of Mercy” out Now
Dir En Grey live (credit Masanori Fujikawa)
Click here to watch tour trailer
Click here to watch official video for new single “The World of Mercy”
Click here to watch official video for “Ranunculus” from latest album
Click here to download tour artwork and band photos
Japan's avant-garde metal phenomenon DIR EN GREY, masters of the bizarre, uncommon and uncanny, are returning to North America for the first time since 2015 with a headlining tour, TOUR19 This Way to Self-Destruction, consisting of eight dates in the U.S. and one in Mexico throughout December.
With three shows already sold out, the tour kicks off December 5th in Los Angeles (sold out) and goes onto visit Sacramento, Denver (sold out), Chicago, Cleveland, New York (sold out), Dallas, Houston, and Mexico City. Tour itinerary below. Tickets and VIP packages are available at DIR EN GREY’s official website.
For the uninitiated, the DIR EN GREY live show is a genuinely jaw-dropping experience. Well-worn phrases are often bandied about in promotional hyperbole, but in the case of this Japanese five-piece featuring vocalist Kyo, guitarists Kaoru and Die, bassist Toshiya, and drummer Shinya, the secretion of blood, sweat and tears is a real prospect, such is the emotion and soul poured into their shows. With their ability to alter the atmosphere and emotion in a second, DIR EN GREY’s renowned live performances yet again promise to be events of the obscure, extraordinary and a pinch of melancholia, feeding the hungry minds of the curious.
This run of dates is a comeback of sorts, given that since touring North America in 2015, the band released their tenth studio album The Insulated World (September, 2018), featuring singles "Utafumi" (詩踏み; "Poetry Trampling") and "Ningen wo Kaburu" (人間を被る; "Wearing Human Skin"), a compilation album Vestige of Scratches (January, 2018), and a live collection FROM DEPRESSION TO________ [mode of 16-17] (August, 2019). The North American dates proceed the rock legends returning to Europe and the UK with a tour run in early 2020, which includes stops in Russia, Finland, Germany, Poland and France, among others (full list of dates below).
The band is set on proving one more time that they can go even harder, facing stages and their fans head on with an energetic and powerful setlist. Whatever the upcoming setlists look like on this tour, undoubtedly the artistic fusion between hard new songs and all-time favorites, combined with the sheer power and emotion, will drag both old and new followers right back into the nonpareil, sombrous world of DIR EN GREY.
Rolling Stone Japan describes seeing DIR EN GREY live this past October: “DIR EN GREY’s intense performances, lively songs, and Kyo’s screams make you feel like you’re in the deep forest where it rains…the audience shouts like they’re being beaten by Kyo’s shouting. Of course, it’s just fans cheering but it feels like a leaking voice asking for something. And when those voices raise, you realize that people are alive and want to live…Kyo repeatedly provokes the audience with ‘Are you alive?’…Shinya's drumming swells violently, Toshiya's bass also has a heavy beat, Die's guitar is heavy, Kaoru's guitar is noisy and avant-garde, Kyo's death voice is tremendous, the performance was max tension, and as the audience’s emotions peak they shout out the words, screaming as if they’re about to collapse.”
The band’s newest single, "The World of Mercy," was released September 18th and hit #8 on the Japanese hit chart, the Oricon Chart. Click here to listen to the single and click here to read a recent (9/26) interview Kaoru gave to Rolling Stone Japan discussing the track.
Los Angeles-based electro-rock shoegaze duo BYSTS, blending darkwave, psychedelia and trip hop, are confirmed as the support for all U.S. dates.
Tour itinerary for TOUR19 This Way to Self-Destruction (North America):
December 5 — The Regent Theater, Los Angeles, CA SOLD OUT
December 6 — Ace of Spades, Sacramento, CA (Tickets)
December 8 — Marquis Theater, Denver, CO SOLD OUT
December 10 — House of Blues, Chicago, IL (Tickets)
December 11— House of Blues, Cleveland, OH (Tickets)
December 13 — The Gramercy Theater, New York, NY SOLD OUT
December 16 — House of Blues, Dallas, TX (Tickets)
December 17 — House of Blues, Houston, TX (Tickets)
December 19 — El Plaza Condesa, Mexico City, MX (Tickets)
Tour itinerary for TOUR20 This Way to Self-Destruction (Europe & UK):
January 25 — Glavclub, Moscow, Russia (Tickets)
January 26 — Aurora Hall, St. Petersburg, Russia (Tickets)
January 28 — The Circus, Helsinki, Finland (Tickets)
January 29 — Technikum, Munich, Germany (Tickets)
January 31 — FZW, Dortmund, Germany (Tickets)
February 1 — Astra Kulturhaus, Berlin, Germany (Tickets)
February 3 — Concert Center A2, Wroclaw, Poland (Tickets)
February 5 — Islington Assembly Hall, London, UK (Tickets)
February 7 — Le Rocher De Palmer, France (Tickets)
February 8 — Elysée Montmartre, Paris, France (Tickets)
Tickets and VIP packages are available at DIR EN GREY’s official website.
Note: VIP packages are only still available for the Mexico City show, for all North American and European shows they are sold out.
About DIR EN GREY:
DIR EN GREY – vocalist Kyo, guitarist Kaoru, guitarist Die, bassist Toshiya, and drummer Shinya -- was formed in 1997 with the intention of “introducing the various pain in people's minds caused by human beings inherent weakness, roughness and ego.” Their debut was marked by the simultaneous release of three singles in 1999, all of which reached the Top Ten.
Ten studio albums later the band is an international success due to their technical precision, Kyo’s voice (able to transition effortlessly from a deep growl to theatrical vocals that transcend language barrier), powerful live performances, and always evolving sound and visuals which transcend all genres and borders.
For more info, visit DIR EN GREY’s official website and follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, iTunes, and Spotify.
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