The Birthday Massacre, Dir En Gray, Sonar, Dec 10, 2011

My husband Eric discovered The Birthday Massacre on Last FM recently and we went to their show at the Sonar in Baltimore last Saturday night. They look like goths and the instrumental music sounds metal, but the female vocals are gorgeous and melodic. Eric also noted that most metal bands don't use synthesizers, and synth was a prominent element in their music. The sound mixing was perfect for the room - not ear splitting - and you could understand the vocals the majority of the time. The lead singer was fun and engaging. We were both incredibly impressed. I would say that this is an edgy pop band more than an actual metal band, and an extremely talented one at that. I highly recommend the show.

Dir En Gray is a Japanese metal band that apparently has quite a following, though I can't see why. I found the 2 songs we watched of their show to be comedic. They looked like style-challenged little teenage boys with dour facial expressions. The music sounded like noise - nothing interesting or special. The audience, though, was into them. There was a big mosh pit and plenty of head banging. I actually burst out laughing at a group of teen girls behind us who were moved to get down on their hands and knees to whip their hair around. Funniest part for me: many of those fans paid $150 for tickets to the pre-show meet and greet with Dir En Gray. Way to monetize a lack of talent, little
Japanese boys.

Sonar was about the same size as Black Cat inside, so roughly 800 or 1000 capacity. It was the gutted ground floor of an old office building, painted black. Cement floors and black fabric curtains against the walls and 2 bars that looked entirely portable, like they might have to take them down for a police
raid at any moment. The stage height was limited by the fairly low ceilings, so you could only see from the waist up of the performers. (Less for the short ones.) Parking was easy in the neighborhood and we found a free spot quickly. The line to get in was crazy long and slow-moving, though. We were waiting to get in for the better part of an hour in the cold. The bathrooms were pretty nice for a rock club, though. It was just a big dark room with a stage and some lights and a few small risers on one side. No food, no coat check that I could find.