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I decided to post the concert report in sections due to majority vote (well, okay, I only got two votes, but I felt like posting something anyway XD"). I've finished writing up to the end of the 29th now, by the way, but since it's late and I'm still jetlagged, I'll post that part tomorrow. ^^"
Anyway...here's part 1 of my Japan Report! XD
March 26-27th
Flight/Hotel Arrival
So the flight to Japan from New York was about 13 hours long. It got delayed by about 30 minutes, but I still got there an hour early. o.o Also, since each seat had individual TV screens, I got to watch 2 in-flight movies. XD I saw "Martian Child" and "Michael Clayton", both of which were really good. ^^ I also slept a lot, and since the flight wasn't full, I had a whole row of seats all to myself so I didn't have to fall asleep sitting up. XD"
I arrived at the airport at around 2:30-ish, but by the time mom and I made it through customs, went to baggage claim, bought Suica cards, exchanged dollars for yen, and took the train to our hotel, it was about 6:00/6:30-ish I think. o.o I called Misha to let her know I'd arrived, and felt bad because I had to keep calling her back since she was on a train. XD" I also had some questions I wanted to ask her, and she told me to go to the staff room between 10 and 11-ish, but at around 10-ish I conked out and didn't wake up until 4 AM. XD" I managed to get back to sleep for a little longer after that (and after changing into my pajamas since I'd fallen asleep with my clothes on ^^"), but darn you, jet lag!
March 28th
Morning
After I got breakfast, I went to the staff room to ask them the questions I needed to ask the day before. Basically, I wanted to know when the mini-reception would be (since I couldn't be there in time for the full reception), and what time we'd be leaving for Tokyo Dome. They told me that there wasn't going to be a mini-reception, but the X Japan news from the reception was basically that Yoshiki was supposed to show up and meet us, but X Japan's rehearsal schedule got messed up, so he couldn't come because he needed to rest up for the concert. Which was fine because a) my primary concern was Yoshiki's health and safety and b) even though I've met him, I'd still be sad about missing a chance to see him. ;_;
Anyway, they also told me that at noon, there'd be a group going to Ueno Park to see the Sakura trees, and we'd be going to Tokyo Dome from there. Since it was still kind of early, mom and I tried going to Yokohama so I could check out Closet Child, but we didn't make it, because by the time we got to the Yokohama station, I was worried we wouldn't make it back to the hotel for the JRR group trip in time unless I left immediately. XD" So I went back and met some of the people in the tour group who were already waiting to go. ^^ Among them was my LJ buddy hakuen. XD She's awesome, by the way. ^_^
Ueno Park
So once the group was ready, we took the train to Ueno Park. I was psyched because for years, I'd been wanting to find an excuse to go to Japan in the Spring just so I could see Sakura blossoms. XD I'd heard that they weren't supposed to start blooming this year until the day I was supposed to leave, but I'd already seen a few on the train ride to my hotel the day before, so that made me confident that I'd see some at the park. ^^ Sure enough, there were Sakura trees in bloom EVERYWHERE. *_* It was really beautiful! Most of them were white, too. o.o I'm so used to seeing them look kind of pink-ish in photos and anime and such. XD" There were a few pink ones, but almost all of them were white. ^^
After about 30 minutes of looking at all the flowers, we decided to head over to Tokyo Dome. However, mom and I and a few other people got separated from the rest of the group somehow. o.o We knew how to get to the dome, though, so we took a train there and had lunch at the Baseball Cafe. XD
Tokyo Dome!
I went over to the Overseas Will Call booth to pick up my tickets and drop off the gift drawings I made for X Japan (and saw about a gazillion hide cosplayers on the way there XD). As I was signing "To: *insert band member name here* From: Becki *insert giant heart here*" on the back of each of my drawings, one of the staff members (who I later found out was Hikari) noticed my artwork. She could tell what materials I'd used to draw with just by looking at the pictures. O_O Like she knew that I'd used a #2 pencil, and that I used a ruler to make sure some parts turned out perfectly straight. So that was pretty awesome. XD
I also asked one of the staff members about where each of my seats were. He told me that Yoshiki himself had made sure the people in the tour group got excellent seats for the first night! O_O And believe me, they really were excellent. I'll tell you more about that when I get to the part where I'm inside the dome. XD" By the way, my seats for the second and third nights were FRONT ROW...in the first level above the floor seats. XD" Which is still pretty good. o.o My mom also had a seat in that area (she had a ticket for tonight since I had won the JRR ticket lottery XD").
Anyway, even though the gates were supposed to open at 4:30, we weren't let in until 6:30. Some time during the time I was waiting, I heard Art of Life coming from the Tokyo Dome. I thought maybe it was a CD playing, but I didn't hear any of it after the part where Yoshiki was supposed to start the piano solo. So then I thought "Hey, what if they're REHEARSING it? O_O But no way, that's not possible". XD
Once I was in the dome, I asked the guards for directions on how to get to my seats, since I knew they were somewhere on the floor level. I made it there, and was sitting in a seat that had my number on it that was kind of in the middle of the floor seat area. But when I saw the rest of the tour group sitting WAY ahead of me, I decided to go see if maybe I was sitting in the wrong spot. Turns out I was. XD" And my actual seat was in...get this...THE TENTH ROW! O_O I was STUNNED. Not to mention I couldn't get over how freaking awesome the set design was. *_* More and more, the concert was already starting to feel exactly like all of the dreams I'd had about it, except that this time, it was REAL. O_O
Of course, this also meant the anticipation was killing me. XD" Just like at the S.K.I.N. concert, I was having trouble breathing, and I was trying to eat a sandwich I'd packed for dinner, but every time I took a bite of it, it made my stomach hurt. @_@ But this all went away when the show started!
Night of Destruction!
Right before the show, there was a curtain set up that covered the stage, but it was sheer so you could see through it. And there was a huge cylinder hovering above the stage. Me and some of the other people in the tour group were trying to figure out what the heck it was for. It turns out that when the concert started, videos of hide were being shown on the cylinder! O_O They also had other videos of him on the regular video screens, including a "hide no heya" performance, and they even had a hologram of him near the end of the concert! *_* Which is especially awesome because strangely enough, I'd been telling people earlier in the day how awesome it would be if they somehow managed to have a hologram of hide. o.o
There were also lots of cute moments between Yoshiki and Toshi. At one point, Toshi wanted Yoshiki to talk into the mic, but Yo-chan didn't want to talk, so Toshi kept kind of poking him with the mic. XD Also, during Kurenai, Toshi was hitting the cymbals while Yoshiki played the rest of the drums. ^^ Which reminds me, I caught some of the confetti during Kurenai! I've always wanted to do that. XD
Oh, and early on, I think at the end of Silent Jealousy, Yoshiki was wrecking his drum kit, and he ended by BODY SLAMMING it! O_O I was torn between thinking "Hey, that's kind of awesome!" and "OMG THAT HAS TO HURT! @_@". Also, after he wrecked it, another one appeared in its place practically out of nowhere. XD And then another one replaced it later on in the show. o.o
Before debuting the vocal version of Without You (which is beautiful by the way *_*), Yoshiki played the chorus of Dahlia on the piano while Toshi was MCing. ^_^ And I reeeeeally wish I could have understood the MCs, but I’m nowhere near fluent enough in Japanese. ;_; I hope someone translates those. ^^
Also, the official lyrics for I.V. were finally released! XD X Japan had the lyrics shown on the video screens karaoke-style, so everyone could sing along. XD
And of the guest guitarists, the only one I saw on stage was Sugizo, so either the other guys played off-stage, or they weren't there, or I just didn't see them for some reason. XD"
Anyway, remember how I heard Art of Life coming from the dome earlier? They really were rehearsing then! O_O Which means...you guessed it...I GOT TO HEAR ART OF LIFE LIVE! *_* Or at least part of it. Unfortunately, right before the part where the piano solo was going to start, Yoshiki collapsed! ;___________; So of course I was worried sick when right after that, he was carried off of the stage and then everyone was being escorted out of the dome. X_x
On a lighter note, my mom told me that other than the fact that she was also worried about Yoshiki, she loved the show, and wanted to see them again! So I've officially converted her into an X Japan fan. XD
Night of Destruction- The Set List
Note- I was writing all of the set lists in a notebook as the songs were being played. XD I didn't think to include MCs or breaks as part of my set lists, though. ;_; But otherwise, these should be pretty accurate. XD
1. Last Song (Orchestra version) (SE, until Toshi sang near the end)
2. Rusty Nail
3. Weekend
4. Scars (the live intro, played on a video screen)
5. Silent Jealousy (featuring Sugizo)
6. Pose (video, but there were live dancers)
7. Say Anything (Acoustic version- Toshi, Pata, and Heath)
8. Without You (Vocal version)
9. I.V. (featuring Sugizo)
10. Kurenai
11. ART OF LIFE!!! O_O (Only up until right before the piano solo, though, since that's when Yoshiki collapsed. ;____;)
Anyway...here's part 1 of my Japan Report! XD
March 26-27th
Flight/Hotel Arrival
So the flight to Japan from New York was about 13 hours long. It got delayed by about 30 minutes, but I still got there an hour early. o.o Also, since each seat had individual TV screens, I got to watch 2 in-flight movies. XD I saw "Martian Child" and "Michael Clayton", both of which were really good. ^^ I also slept a lot, and since the flight wasn't full, I had a whole row of seats all to myself so I didn't have to fall asleep sitting up. XD"
I arrived at the airport at around 2:30-ish, but by the time mom and I made it through customs, went to baggage claim, bought Suica cards, exchanged dollars for yen, and took the train to our hotel, it was about 6:00/6:30-ish I think. o.o I called Misha to let her know I'd arrived, and felt bad because I had to keep calling her back since she was on a train. XD" I also had some questions I wanted to ask her, and she told me to go to the staff room between 10 and 11-ish, but at around 10-ish I conked out and didn't wake up until 4 AM. XD" I managed to get back to sleep for a little longer after that (and after changing into my pajamas since I'd fallen asleep with my clothes on ^^"), but darn you, jet lag!
March 28th
Morning
After I got breakfast, I went to the staff room to ask them the questions I needed to ask the day before. Basically, I wanted to know when the mini-reception would be (since I couldn't be there in time for the full reception), and what time we'd be leaving for Tokyo Dome. They told me that there wasn't going to be a mini-reception, but the X Japan news from the reception was basically that Yoshiki was supposed to show up and meet us, but X Japan's rehearsal schedule got messed up, so he couldn't come because he needed to rest up for the concert. Which was fine because a) my primary concern was Yoshiki's health and safety and b) even though I've met him, I'd still be sad about missing a chance to see him. ;_;
Anyway, they also told me that at noon, there'd be a group going to Ueno Park to see the Sakura trees, and we'd be going to Tokyo Dome from there. Since it was still kind of early, mom and I tried going to Yokohama so I could check out Closet Child, but we didn't make it, because by the time we got to the Yokohama station, I was worried we wouldn't make it back to the hotel for the JRR group trip in time unless I left immediately. XD" So I went back and met some of the people in the tour group who were already waiting to go. ^^ Among them was my LJ buddy hakuen. XD She's awesome, by the way. ^_^
Ueno Park
So once the group was ready, we took the train to Ueno Park. I was psyched because for years, I'd been wanting to find an excuse to go to Japan in the Spring just so I could see Sakura blossoms. XD I'd heard that they weren't supposed to start blooming this year until the day I was supposed to leave, but I'd already seen a few on the train ride to my hotel the day before, so that made me confident that I'd see some at the park. ^^ Sure enough, there were Sakura trees in bloom EVERYWHERE. *_* It was really beautiful! Most of them were white, too. o.o I'm so used to seeing them look kind of pink-ish in photos and anime and such. XD" There were a few pink ones, but almost all of them were white. ^^
After about 30 minutes of looking at all the flowers, we decided to head over to Tokyo Dome. However, mom and I and a few other people got separated from the rest of the group somehow. o.o We knew how to get to the dome, though, so we took a train there and had lunch at the Baseball Cafe. XD
Tokyo Dome!
I went over to the Overseas Will Call booth to pick up my tickets and drop off the gift drawings I made for X Japan (and saw about a gazillion hide cosplayers on the way there XD). As I was signing "To: *insert band member name here* From: Becki *insert giant heart here*" on the back of each of my drawings, one of the staff members (who I later found out was Hikari) noticed my artwork. She could tell what materials I'd used to draw with just by looking at the pictures. O_O Like she knew that I'd used a #2 pencil, and that I used a ruler to make sure some parts turned out perfectly straight. So that was pretty awesome. XD
I also asked one of the staff members about where each of my seats were. He told me that Yoshiki himself had made sure the people in the tour group got excellent seats for the first night! O_O And believe me, they really were excellent. I'll tell you more about that when I get to the part where I'm inside the dome. XD" By the way, my seats for the second and third nights were FRONT ROW...in the first level above the floor seats. XD" Which is still pretty good. o.o My mom also had a seat in that area (she had a ticket for tonight since I had won the JRR ticket lottery XD").
Anyway, even though the gates were supposed to open at 4:30, we weren't let in until 6:30. Some time during the time I was waiting, I heard Art of Life coming from the Tokyo Dome. I thought maybe it was a CD playing, but I didn't hear any of it after the part where Yoshiki was supposed to start the piano solo. So then I thought "Hey, what if they're REHEARSING it? O_O But no way, that's not possible". XD
Once I was in the dome, I asked the guards for directions on how to get to my seats, since I knew they were somewhere on the floor level. I made it there, and was sitting in a seat that had my number on it that was kind of in the middle of the floor seat area. But when I saw the rest of the tour group sitting WAY ahead of me, I decided to go see if maybe I was sitting in the wrong spot. Turns out I was. XD" And my actual seat was in...get this...THE TENTH ROW! O_O I was STUNNED. Not to mention I couldn't get over how freaking awesome the set design was. *_* More and more, the concert was already starting to feel exactly like all of the dreams I'd had about it, except that this time, it was REAL. O_O
Of course, this also meant the anticipation was killing me. XD" Just like at the S.K.I.N. concert, I was having trouble breathing, and I was trying to eat a sandwich I'd packed for dinner, but every time I took a bite of it, it made my stomach hurt. @_@ But this all went away when the show started!
Night of Destruction!
Right before the show, there was a curtain set up that covered the stage, but it was sheer so you could see through it. And there was a huge cylinder hovering above the stage. Me and some of the other people in the tour group were trying to figure out what the heck it was for. It turns out that when the concert started, videos of hide were being shown on the cylinder! O_O They also had other videos of him on the regular video screens, including a "hide no heya" performance, and they even had a hologram of him near the end of the concert! *_* Which is especially awesome because strangely enough, I'd been telling people earlier in the day how awesome it would be if they somehow managed to have a hologram of hide. o.o
There were also lots of cute moments between Yoshiki and Toshi. At one point, Toshi wanted Yoshiki to talk into the mic, but Yo-chan didn't want to talk, so Toshi kept kind of poking him with the mic. XD Also, during Kurenai, Toshi was hitting the cymbals while Yoshiki played the rest of the drums. ^^ Which reminds me, I caught some of the confetti during Kurenai! I've always wanted to do that. XD
Oh, and early on, I think at the end of Silent Jealousy, Yoshiki was wrecking his drum kit, and he ended by BODY SLAMMING it! O_O I was torn between thinking "Hey, that's kind of awesome!" and "OMG THAT HAS TO HURT! @_@". Also, after he wrecked it, another one appeared in its place practically out of nowhere. XD And then another one replaced it later on in the show. o.o
Before debuting the vocal version of Without You (which is beautiful by the way *_*), Yoshiki played the chorus of Dahlia on the piano while Toshi was MCing. ^_^ And I reeeeeally wish I could have understood the MCs, but I’m nowhere near fluent enough in Japanese. ;_; I hope someone translates those. ^^
Also, the official lyrics for I.V. were finally released! XD X Japan had the lyrics shown on the video screens karaoke-style, so everyone could sing along. XD
And of the guest guitarists, the only one I saw on stage was Sugizo, so either the other guys played off-stage, or they weren't there, or I just didn't see them for some reason. XD"
Anyway, remember how I heard Art of Life coming from the dome earlier? They really were rehearsing then! O_O Which means...you guessed it...I GOT TO HEAR ART OF LIFE LIVE! *_* Or at least part of it. Unfortunately, right before the part where the piano solo was going to start, Yoshiki collapsed! ;___________; So of course I was worried sick when right after that, he was carried off of the stage and then everyone was being escorted out of the dome. X_x
On a lighter note, my mom told me that other than the fact that she was also worried about Yoshiki, she loved the show, and wanted to see them again! So I've officially converted her into an X Japan fan. XD
Night of Destruction- The Set List
Note- I was writing all of the set lists in a notebook as the songs were being played. XD I didn't think to include MCs or breaks as part of my set lists, though. ;_; But otherwise, these should be pretty accurate. XD
1. Last Song (Orchestra version) (SE, until Toshi sang near the end)
2. Rusty Nail
3. Weekend
4. Scars (the live intro, played on a video screen)
5. Silent Jealousy (featuring Sugizo)
6. Pose (video, but there were live dancers)
7. Say Anything (Acoustic version- Toshi, Pata, and Heath)
8. Without You (Vocal version)
9. I.V. (featuring Sugizo)
10. Kurenai
11. ART OF LIFE!!! O_O (Only up until right before the piano solo, though, since that's when Yoshiki collapsed. ;____;)