( This is a bit out of place and unrelated to the blog's theme, but I just had to share it here as well.)
( Ok, this is a semi live report from the show, but in case someone starts saying "OMG LULZ this is not what a live report looks like" well it is because here I want to share my personal feelings and not exactly make a journalistic report. So bare with it ^^ )
From 10 am in the morning until 8pm I was standing together with approximetly 4000 X Japan fans outside Columbiahalle under the rain. My back and feet were on the verge of total destruction, my stomach was growling and the possibilty of catching pneumonia was reaching very high levels.
But my heart was pacing like crazy, and I bet everyone's was. The look on people's eyes was that of a human being just one step closer to grab his/her dream.
When the clock ticked 7pm, the doors opened and everybody was squeezed on the door in their attempt to get the best place possible in the arena. Through all the pushing and kicking and squeezing I finally managed to go though and reach the 2nd row ( there were two really shiorter girls than me in front so it was practically first row xD).
20 minutes passed until the lights suddlenly went down and the epic orchestral intro started playing. My eyes went wide open and I felt the music was reaching the biggest depths of my heart.
Then it happened.
Yoshiki appeared behind his drums, and everybody started screaming to the point I thought the apocalypse was coming. I couldn't blame them though. In the beginning, I thought I wasn't really experiencing this, and like a friend also said, I felt that maybe I'm watching a video. But no, Yoshiki was really standing there in flesh and blood.
Sugizo, Pata, Heath and finally Toshi appeared and after the infamous "Introducing X Japan, Japan, Japan..." ended, they started paying JADE. Everybody was screaming, pushing,and jumping up and down. And then there was the first hit.
This is X Japan, LIVE. In front of me. FOR REAL.
My eyes became watery and tears started running down my cheeks without even me realizing it. Every band member's aura and energy was peircing through me and I felt as if I was being injected with life force. When Rusty Nail and Silent Jealousy followed I was capturing each and every moment and essence of what I was watching.
I thought I was the only one who was really happy that they played Drain afterwards, but my thought was deleted when I was listening to the crowd singing the back up vocals of hide in his place. That moment made me smile with happiness and redemption.
And then there was the violin solo. Sugizo was playing and moving with such an elegance that could make one experience how it is to float in the sky without physically doing it. Yoshiki finally joined him with his piano, and they started playing Kurenai.
In born to be free, I could feel all the fans and the band's energy becoming one. This song is just so inspiring and makes one really feel alive.
But next was Yoshiki's drum and piano solo. At that point, I thought I was really watching something otherwordly. I just couldn't bring myself to catch up with his moves. He was overflowing with energy and passion. He also played the "Happy Birthday song" for a girl who had her birthday, told us how much he enjoyed eating curry wurst ( CURRY FUCKING WURST to be more exact xD ) his sad, happy and memorable experiences and how thankful he is towards us. I thought his throat would be completely destroyed because I can't count how many times he screamed "WE ARE X".
But the bottomline is that by watching him live, I am now 100% sure that he is the most inspiring person alive on earth. His self-sacrificing nature, his huge will to stick to his dream, his ability to move on and his incredible communication with his fans, was all incorporated in his aura and in one word he was just so damn radiant.
What followed though, was my own personal highlight of the show.
Toshi started singing "in the rain.." and what happened next was the classic karaoke between the fans and the band with those lyrics.
"In the rain, find the way"
And when they strated playing the song, something triggered in me. The lyrics of the song, their diversity, and all this sadness, pain, hope and melancholy that it holds within, made a voice in my head scream:
Let it go.
I saw my life during the past 3 years that I experienced so many emotions, betrayal, love, sadness, excitement, loss and pretty much everything running in front of my eyes as a trailer. And what was happening during those 3 minutes of this song was me being completely cleansed. Toshi's voice was singing inside my head, Yoshiki's drums were crushing the chains that kept inside all my misery, Sugizo's and Pata's guitars were triggering my new born motivation and Heath's bass was washing away all my anger.
But my tears did not include only all these. During I.V came the second hit.
hide was not on stage.
The realization of this fact completely crushed me for several seconds, before the words " In the rain...find the way" rang in my ears again, and I smiled with true happiness when Sugizo started playing hide's solo. HIDE was indeed there, all over the atmosphear, I could feel him, I could hear him, and I could sense him in the hearts of all these people around me together with X Japan's.
And here comes the part were the audience went crazy and will probably cause an erthquake in Germany. X!
That was the part were the lyrics english translation were miraculously poping up in my head and I felt at that right moment, that this event will be the evolvement of me. Never leaving my past from my heart, I will break every obstacle that comes in my way and all this energy that X Japan was filling me at that moment will make me move on.
Those three minutes I trully felt what was like to be alive and happy again. I will owe this gift to these people forever.
After the break that took place, Yoshiki appeared as if he spontaneously decided to play "Forever love" on piano and Toshi followed his action. This was also a very sweet and touching moment, because they had never played this song in any other concert of this tour.
And of course, "Endless Rain" followed, and I personally believe that 3/4 of the song were actually sang by the crowd. All X Japan members looked very moved by the audience's singing, and Yoshiki as always was playing the melody on the piano trying to match the crowd's tempo and rythm.
This concert closed with the second part of "Art of life". This song made my evolvement punctual. It was the point when I felt all the haunting memories finally leaving my head and heart, and my true soul awakening.
I can't exactly describe with words what this concert meant to me. And I can't thank X Japan enough. You are my saviors, my heroes, my inspiration, my cure and the keys to my future.
In approximetly 2 hours and 30 minutes my dreams and life did become one. You really lived up for that phrase. I thank you and love you deeply.
Random trivia:
1) Yoshiki stage dived two times on me!
2) Sugizo stared at me, pointed at me and waved at me. So glad he actually remembers me!
3) The crowd was just so damn awesome, that even HEATH was smiling and got of stage to the front to greet us!
4) Pata actually did some really extarvagant poses xD
5) Toshi was smiling too much sometimes xD
6) Someone retarted was farting all the time
7) The motherfucker behind me that was was hitting my head with his hand, got threated by a security guard. TAKE THAT BITCH.
8) Yoshiki's god damn eyeliner/shadow/whatever is still on my hands. Also he pulls people'd hair accidentally ( hopefully accidentally). But oh well he is a sweetheart, and gave us an amazing performance!!
9) My back and legs hurt like crazy
10 ) Before the concert, they was a playback of Aerosmith's "Love in an elevator" and Faith no more's " Falling to pieces". HELL YEAH.
11) I FUCKING LOVE X JAPAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
