新曲2
There are only five known live performances of this song: On August 8, October 28 and 30, 1997, as well as May 5 and August 3, 1998. The song is also mentioned in FOOL'S MATE #198 (April 1998), where Kyo explains that 新曲2 and 新曲5 were not finished and had yet to receive proper titles. 新曲5 would later be known as 藍紫色, but 新曲2 never received a proper title, as did 新曲6.
As 新曲2 was performed until August 1998, it's highly likely that it was also performed on the eleven dates spanning 「楓」～if trans…～ TOUR 1998 Mechanism For Leave-the scence of the tragedy- in February and March that year. It was eventually removed from the setlist after the first day of the in the secret cradle ～蝋蜥蜴と硝子蜂～ two-days live on August 3 and 4, 1998.
Based on the number of lives and the known and unknown setlists, 新曲2 was most likely not performed more than 20 times in total.
Trivia
Title
- Among some fans, this song is known as Re:birth. It is unknown where this title comes from, but it could have been inspired by "Rebirth", a song by the Japanese rock band Eliphas Levi. They were active during Dir En Grey's early days and released an album called リデルの赤い書物 (Rideru no Akai Makimono) on June 24, 1998. Rebirth is the fourth track on that album, you can listen to it here.
- In June 2023, Shinya took to Twitter to confirm that this song was never officially called "Re:birth".