ANVIL RECYCLED T SHIRTS

This is how X JAPAN opens. Yoshiki stands at his drum kit looking like a fucking BADASS for the entire duration of a pre-recorded orchestral intro.

Then he takes off his shirt. (Pictured here.)

--

"I believe in the madness called "NOW": time goes flowing, breaking my heart. I wanna live, can't let my heart kill myself; Still I haven't found what I'm looking for. Art of Life, I try to stop myself but my heart goes to destroy the truth. Tell me why I want the meaning of my life: Do I try to live? Do I try to love?" (X JAPAN)

Wow guys, I am pretty sure this is the most I've ever posted of a band. I guess I am sorry but this has to be one of the most special moments I've ever had in my life. I shared it with my best friend Felicity and I definitely wouldn't have it any other way.

Let me educate you for a moment. This is X JAPAN, they've been around for about 20 years and they are one of the biggest things to come out of Japan. I've heard them described as the "Nirvana of Japan". In the 90s, one of the members hide had passed away. It's still being speculated on whether it was suicide or accidental. (Sound familiar?) The death was so much for fans that some committed suicide when they heard the news. I cannot begin to describe how BIG this band is. The leader of the band, Yoshiki is bigger than any Mick Jagger, any Bono could ever be. They have sold out one of the biggest indoor venues in the world (The Tokyo Dome) which seats 50,000 people every time they have had a show there. After hide's death, the band took a hiatus but came back together. They still haven't dismissed hide in the band. In fact, to this day they use backing guitar recordings of hide's solos in their live sets. In the music video for "I.V.", you can see an empty spot on the stage with hide's old guitar on a stand with a lone mic stand.

This band had not toured to North America. Until this year. It was Yoshiki's dream to bring the band to North America and they fucking did it!

This is a big deal to me. When I discovered X Japan through the Internet in high school and learned of the hide tragedy, they had already disbanded and I never thought that today would happen. In a sense, I never really got to see X Japan live with hide, but Yoshiki made a special shout out that hide is still with us. We all shouted for hide and you could tell that it meant something to Yoshiki.

Felicity and I sat in the front row centre and it was perfect. Sure I sort of wish that I could see what the production looked like from further back because there were fucking PYROTECHNICS ***AND*** CRYROTECHNICS! Who uses CRYOTECHNICS?! X JAPAN DOES. In either case, I cried so much to "Rusty Nail", "I.V." and "Art of Life". Language is not a barrier in making music that people will take with for the rest of their lives. I don't speak any Japanese but these songs still hit me harder than anything.

The setlist:

JADE
RUSTY NAIL
SILENT JEALOUSY
DRAIN
KURENAI
BORN TO BE FREE
I.V.
X
-----------------------
ENDLESS RAIN
ART OF LIFE

It's just so amazing that a band that has been around for 20 years could still put so much heart and soul into their performance. There was a part where Toshi said, "who wants to hear Yoshiki's voice?". The crowd screamed and for a moment, Yoshiki grabbed the mic and screamed and chanted "WE ARE X!" over and over and over again. He was on his knees, then was on the floor and it was so angsty and SO "Kurt Cobain" (sorry I had to describe it like that). It was so exciting and I am still in disbelief that this happened.

I am going to remember this night for the rest of my life.

Doesn't matter what the names in the in front of me say, I'm still scoring. At the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan, 07/02/10.