X JAPAN @ Summer Sonic

The perfect end for a perfect night was a perfect full moon over Tokyo bay, seen from the Chiba side, where Chiba Lotte baseball stadium, the main stage of SUMMER SONIC, is located. The stage X JAPAN played on today, as the first ever Japanese headliner - until this year, 2011, SUMMER SONIC has always been advertised as a Western bands venture - and for sure the biggest Japanese band to attend the event.

Before we saw that on our way home, we got to attend the first in a long time X JAPAN all members press conference, during which - I have to admit I'm more than a little pleased about that - it was during my turn to ask questions part that YOSHIKI made the announcements of the new South East Asian lives and reconfirmed their Latin American appearances. (More of that will come as soon as we'll get our transcript approved by JMA.)

We were lucky again when we happened to get seats with X JAPAN's - and Maximum the Hormone's - promoter for SUMMER SONIC on the shuttle bus between interview location and the main stage and that gentleman, after I casually mentioned in our - ENGLISH! Which is something rather rare here - chat that even after over 20 years in Japan, I can't get used to the high humidity of Kanto (Greater Tokyo Area) Summers, he offered us VIP room access. (Where there was air conditioning - THANK YOU SO MUCH!)

Please pardon me if I'll show off a little...


As for the stage, while it was "only" 70 minutes compared to X JAPAN's usual 3 hours and sometimes more, it was still an amazing performance and much appreciated by everybody there, not only X fans.

With everybody joining the "mokuto" minute of silence in remembrance of hide and Taiji and in remembrance and compassion for the victims of the Great Touhoku earthquake.

Everybody as well, during X JAPAN's last song, X, also making the X sign and joining the X jump.

They might not all have been X fans, but they all went along with the spirit.

That is

"We are X!"

And YOSHIKI got himself hoarse shouting that over and over and over again, as it turned out from his talking voice at another press event after the live.

Which is just so YOSHIKI.

Love it.