X Japan at the Riviera

I went to X Japan’s live in Chicago, and it was an amazing experience. Not being from Chicago, I had to take an 8-hour bus ride from Marquette to Milwaukee, and then an hour and half train ride into Union Station. After meeting my friends Becca and Beth, who I hadn’t seen in months, we proceeded to get lost trying to find the Riviera.

We got there around 2, and there was already a line, though it wasn’t very long. We talked with some of the other X fans, and were drawing attention because of our giant X banner!

As it got closer to the time when the doors were supposed to open, X Japan’s film crew interviewed Becca and myself. They asked us things like were we were from, what X meant to us, and what we wanted to say to the band. It was so exciting, even though I pretty much babbled non-stop.

Once the doors opened, every gathered in front of the two doors. We waited at least half an hour for the doors to open, and when they did, everything went insane. Everyone was trying to get through at the same time, and once we were through, it was a mad rush to the stage. We got separated, and I managed to get on the barricade on Heath’s side, which is where I wanted to be! Becca found me, and I hung out with these 3 women who were huge Heath fan, and got excited about my banner.

[Pic taken in my room, since I somehow deleted the pixx I had with it in line]

Soon afterwards, the lights dimmed, and Vampires Everywhere took the stage. They weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. However, the only part I liked was the intro where they used ‘Cry Little Sister’ from the Lost Boys. But they had good energy, and the crowd seemed somewhat receptive, and quite a few were headbanging. It was nice that no one booed them off the stage though.

VE left after 5 songs I think, and as the orchestral versions of ‘Without You’, ‘Say Anything’, and ‘Forever Love’ played, we waited for X Japan to take the stage.

Finally, the intro began playing to a darkened stage. Moments later, the band took the stage to the screams of the fans, silhouetted by the giant blazing X behind them.  From the opening notes of Jade onward, they band played with an incredible energy throughout the entire live. Personal highlights for me were the Yoshiki/Sugizo ‘Kurenai’ duet, the floor-shaking performance of ‘X’, the audience participation of ‘Endless Rain’,  where Toshi dropped out twice and let us sing [and cry, in my case], and Yoshiki’s epic solo during ‘Art of Life’. Yoshiki also hinted that they will be back, since he didn’t get to try pizza yet, and I can’t wait to see them again!

Toshi’s voice was fantastic; I couldn’t believe some of high notes he could hit, and how long he could hold them out for. His stage presence was excellent, from encouraging the fans to jump and scream and dropping out to let us sing. He also dumped a bottle of water of me.

Yoshiki was, of course, crazy! Going from beating the drums like a man possessed one song, to playing the beautiful piano intro to Silent Jealousy, he never seemed to run out of energy. And he stage-dived twice, once at the end of X, and again after the band had finished getting pictures taken.

Both Becca and myself adore Heath, so we were really excited to have him right in front of us. He played in his usual, reserved, quiet way, and at time would raise his arms to encourage the screaming crowd. One of the bests parts of the night for me was as he was leaving the stage, he pointed at me and the banner and gave me this huge smile. At which point I totally had a fangirl moment.

Pata was also in front of us, and he totally rocked out in his cool, laided back way. He seemed content just chillin’ on our side of the stage for most of the night.

Sugizo impressed me not just with his talent, but with his incredible showmanship.  His violin solos were breath-taking, and it was great to see him play the solo during Rusty Nail, instead of using the damn playback.

Set List:

Jade
Rusty Nail
Silent Jealousy
Drain
Violin Solo (w/ US National Anthem)
Violin & Piano Kurenai
Born To Be Free
I.V.
X
Encore:
Endless Rain
Art of Life

PiXX: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42045510@N04/sets/72157625123106498/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/HippieVampire69?feature=mhum