They've sold 30-million records and DVDs, filled the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome a record-breaking 18 times, they pioneered "Visual-Kei," the Japanese music movement that helped spark the current world-wide Anime craze, and their leader has been referred to as "the Bono of Japan." But the one thing this Guns-N'-Roses-meets-Queen-meets-'The-Matrix' rock group has wanted to do for years but has never done, is tour America. That's about to change, as on September 25, X Japan will kick off a seven-city North American trek at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, with subsequent stops in Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver, Chicago, Toronto, and New York. Tickets go on sale today (8/16) and most can be purchased through ticketmaster[dot]com (go to etix[dot]com for the Chicago date) or at the venues' box office.
"We feel like a new band now, like we are going back to the beginning," said X Japan's leader/drummer/pianist/composer Yoshiki about the upcoming U.S. concerts, "and it's very, very exciting. We are looking forward to playing smaller venues here in the U.S., something we haven't been able to do in Japan since the very early days."
In Asia, X Japan plays arenas and stadiums, bringing in elaborate production including lasers, catwalks, and holograms. Comparably, the North American dates will be "back to basics," with pyrotechnics and some production, but with the band focusing primarily on the music. As Yoshiki told one reporter, "You don't see good rock shows anymore. Rock doesn't have enough drama now, rap, R&B, and dance music have taken care of that. We want to be part of bringing the drama back to rock."
While this will be X Japan's first U.S. tour, the band made its American concert debut on August 8, 2010 playing the Main Stage at Lollapalooza in Chicago in front of some 10,000 people. The Chicago Sun-Times called the band's set "a spectacular, almost operatic performance of big ballads and speed metal..." with new song "Jade," "...a rumbling guitar attack that would make Metallica take notice." Time Out Chicago's review thanked Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell for booking "the coup of the festival," and pointed out Toshi's "Steve-Perry-eat-your-heart-out-vocals," while USA Today wrote, "The metal-pop-punk was fast and furious," and described Yoshiki's drumming as "Keith-Moon-on-Red-Bull."
Clustered down front-and-center were some 1,000 staunch X Japan fans who had flown in from all over the world to witness this historic first. While these fans were decked out in full X Japan glam-Anime regalia, most in the audience were unfamiliar with the band when they first took the stage. But by the end of the 50-minute set, X Japan had converted them. As the Chicago Sun-Times reviewer noted, "Even the mildly curious were won over by the infectious rock drama. Fists were pumping, guys were playing air guitar, people were making the X Japan sign by crossing forearms in the air."
The members of X Japan have been writing and recording what will be their first album to be released in North America and to contain English lyrics. According to Yoshiki, about half of the album will feature some of the band's most popular songs from throughout their career, with all lyrics re-recorded in English, and the other half all brand-new songs. The album's first single will be "Jade," which was performed at Lollapalooza and will be on the North American dates' set list.
X Japan - Yoshiki (drums, piano), Toshi (vocals), Pata and Sugizo (guitars) and Heath (bass) - has its roots in the life-long friendship of Yoshiki and Toshi who met when they were four years old. While still in high school, they formed the band, known at the time simply as "X," and over the next 13 years, X Japan released five studio albums as well as six live albums, 10 compilation albums and 15 video albums, and attained iconic status in Japan. With the late-90s breakdown of Yoshiki and Toshi's friendship, combined by the sudden death of then-guitarist Hide, the band called it quits. It wasn't until 2007 that Toshi and Yoshiki reunited, that X Japan was reformed, and that the band put America back in its sights.
"While we are confident about coming to America," Yoshiki added, "I don't know if we are going to end up being successful or not. But what I do know is that music breaks down barriers, and it doesn't matter what country the music comes from. Good music is universal."
Dates for X Japan's North American concert tour debut are:
SEPTEMBER
25 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
28 Fox Theatre, Oakland, CA
OCTOBER
1 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
3 Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, BC CANADA
6 Riviera, Chicago, IL
7 Massey Hall, Toronto, ON CANADA
10 Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY
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