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Toshi / ToshI Last Concert: The Talks (2nd half updated)

« on: April 10, 2010, 07:49:01 AM »

The talk between songs (the first half, from the beginning to Amaoto)
Old stuff, but I'd like to post it because it's so interesting!
Will finish the second half soon if I have time...


01 Made In Heaven

T: I missed you all!!! Finally, I'm back!!!
I'm back!!!
Today, here with you, and those who can't come, the teahouses (*)…
TEAHOUSES FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY!!! Will also receive our love!!!!
(*Teahouses: those people who participated casually by watching online broadcast, drinking tea at home.)
Are you ready? Are you ready?
I'm so happy!!
So, together with you, I wanna mark the end of (my solo) perfectly. Today a special backband is coming… They said anyhow they'd like to be my backband, so I have to let them come... (Laughs)
So... the top batter is – SUGIZO!!!
(SUGIZO appears on the stage.)
S: I wanna be your back band! (Laughs)
T: (Laughs) And the first song will be done by us, me and SUGIZO.
S: Just sing it!
T: SUGIZO, what's the title of this song?
S: Dear life. This is – I wrote the song for life. I'm sure it will be wonderful if Toshi sing it, please (sing it).
T: You're giving me a challenge at the beginning!

02 Dear Life

T: Thank you very much!
And the next who said he was dying to be my back band – is PATA!
(PATA appears.)
P: But I've never said such things!
T: Because PATA said that he wanna come as my back band...
P: I didn't say that!
T: (To the audience) Don't become such adult like him!
OK, the next song is from my new CD.
SUGIZO played guitar during the recording, but PATA didn't! （←joking）

03 Haru no Ibuki

T: Well, SUGIZO, you have to leave for a while...
SUGIZO, thanks a lot!
So the next one that said he wanna be my back band is... HEATH!!
(HEATH appears.)
T: Now, HEATH the bassist... Didn’t you say that you would do this (performance) casually? But still in pretty make-up!
H: No, no, I was just drinking tea there just now.
T: So this song is PATA's. PATA's solo work... Story of A Young Boy.

04 Story of A Young Boy

T: Thanks very much!! THE NEXT SONG IS!! – Ah, it's not appropriate to shout so hard (Laughs) – HEATH's song.
The song is originally heavy rock, I tried to do some programming for it today. It’s called Eagle Sniper. One two three four –

05 Eagle Sniper

T: We will add SUGIZO again.
(SUGIZO appears.)
T: This song is also from my new CD "Samurai JAPAN"… Airport.

06 Airport

T: Thank you very much!!!!
T: And, the title song of my new CD. (To the audience) It's your turn now!
Samurai JAPAN, let's go!!!!!!!

07 Samurai JAPAN

T: THANK YOU!!!
PATA, thank you! And SUGIZO... HEATH...
Well, the one that’s going to come onto the stage... is the person who said he would play the piano for me in any case.
Though I've told him that "you don't need to do that, we all know you play better than me". (Laughs)
Hi YOSHIKI!!!
(YOSHIKI appears.)

T: YOSHIKI's voice is too soft, if you want to hear – Shhhh!
Y: Not soft! (Laughs)
I was listening to the performance from backstage. You were so quiet!
T: Yes. (We performed) quietly.
Y: Why not do your utmost?
T: Ah, yes, I forgot. (Laughs) DO YOUR UTMOST!!!
Y: The following song is ballad…
T: Yeah.
(SUGIZO appears.)
S: I was right, we’re actually performing quietly! (Laughs)
Y: Yes you're right.
T: But why not get closer to our beloved fans?
Y: TOSHI. Announce "producer by YOSHIKI". (Laughs)
T: Ah yes! LET ME INTRODUCE OUR PRODUCER!!!YOSHIKI!!!
Y: Well, let's do this song first?
T: OK.
Y: I was wondering…
T: What?
Y: Is it all right to perform this song?
T: Please do it.
Y: Right.
On the whole, I'm the back band, this time…
T: The most expensive back band in the world.
Y: Is this song all right? Is it all right? It's difficult to play…
T: Yes, difficult… By the way, it was the day before yesterday that YOSHIKI suggested to perform this song!

08 Unnamed Song

Y: I was so nervous!
T: Sorry I made a mistake...
Y: No, no, I almost (made a mistake too).
T: (Now it's) A conversation between schoolmates!
Y: Do you know, that TOSHI was not the vocalist at first? He was the guitarist. But the vocalist quit the band.
T: The vocalist quit the band because YOSHIKI...
Y: No, no, no. I mean, at that time, when our school was divided in two parts, I changed from No.2 to No.3 Middle School...
T: Ha? You're talking about that in here?
Y: Our school broke in two parts!
T: Broke in two parts! The fact is, our school merged with another school and became a new one.
Y: Yes, that's right. Well, that guy, Kura-chin...
T: Kura-chin! Kura-chin was our vocalist! Are we going to talk about him? He -
Y: Kurada-san.
T: The orthopedist in Tateyama. (Laughs)
Y: He is orthopedist, yeah.
T: Why didn't YOSHIKI ask him to make a diagnosis (about his neck)?
Y: It was already delayed…
T: Delayed?
Y: Not that extent… Well Kura-chin's quit, who would be our vocalist? Everyone sang a song, including me. And TOSHI was the best.
T: I was, a little bit better than YOSHIKI.
Y: My voice was in a high pitch.
T: We didn't have a microphone stand. So YOSHIKI made a substitude by the telescope stand…
Y: Telescope.
T: Using the telescope stand!
Y: My voice hadn't changed at that age.
T: A high voice, so cute!
Everyone, haven't seen such side of YOSHIKI? It was very, very cute…
Y: I was shorter than TOSHI.
T: Yes, though he's now 10 or 15 cm taller than me…
Y: Not so much! (Laughs)
T: Thin and weak, just like a bean sprout…
Y: They called me little chick.
T: Is it appropriate to disclose so much?
Y: OK, stop it.
T: It seems YOSHIKI's true colors are revealed now… which was not mentioned in the book "YOSHIKI/佳樹".
Y: No problem. There are only 1000 people here.
T: 1000? No, there are large crowds in their living room, the teahouses! Hundreds of thousand people!
Y: Yes, yes… (Laughs) Please, keep my secret…
And the following – TOSHI's song. We decided to perform this also in a hurry.
T: No, no, no! I sent the song to you, to LA, one months ago!
Y: (Laughs).
T: Well, when we met the day before yesterday, I asked him "have you heard the song?" He repied, "not yet." (Imitating YOSHIKI)
Saying "Not yet", at the same time, "Let's sing this (Unnamed Song)!!' (Laughs) Really great, that song (Unnamed Song).
Y: Not bad.
T: I really dislike this word! The recording of Art Of Life lasted for three years, including about two years of vocal recording. When we finished at last, members were cheering "we made it!!”"But YOSHIKI was saying: "not bad."
Y: Haha.
T: Then, we destroyed YOSHIKI's studio happily!
Y: We didn't know how to express except destroying.
T: He said "I bought the studio for this [recording]!"
Y: I've never said that.
T: You've said!
Y: Maybe.
T: You were drunk and couldn't remember.
Y: Yes.
Well, I played this song with TOSHI during yesterday's rehearsal. I was deeply touched.
T: Thank you! For the first time in these 40 years, I got praised by YOSHIKI!
Y: No, I praised you once in a while…! The vocal is great today! (Laughs)
T: Ah, once in a while... "The vocal is great today" – sounds mechanical!
Y: I don’t know how to express…
T: No problem, we're close to each other!
Y: *shy* Well, let's begin.

T: Actually… It's because of YOSHIKI that I can still sing on the stage. And, because of your support, that I can carry on. I'm really... grateful...
And I wanna convey this gratitude with YOSHIKI...

09 Amaoto

T: Thanks very much...
See you...

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Toshi / 2/24 ToshI Last Concert Location and other info

« on: February 10, 2010, 03:35:48 PM »

AKASAKA BLITZ!!! 

Source: http://toshi-samuraijapan.com/
↑The site is down again now...

The concert is supported by DMM - I think that means the concert will be broadcasted online.

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News / Yoshiki talked about Toshi & Without You in FOOL'S MATE

« on: August 02, 2007, 03:24:55 PM »

It is in FOOL'S MATE interview on July 28th.
Here's a part of it in which he talked about Toshi and Without You. I can't translate it well. But I really want someone to discuss with...Here's a rough translation.


......

Yoshiki: Last year, Toshi suddenly made a phone call to my studio in LA....I also knew someone else who named Toshi, so I asked the staff in my studio, "Which Toshi is it? THAT Toshi?! It's impossible!" I phoned back and found it was really that Toshi. So I talked to him like "How are you? And what are you doing now?"....We had't talked to each other for 7 or 8 years at that time. And I suddenly felt very sad.


-- 7 or 8 years?

Yoshiki: Yeah. We didn't talk to each other after hide's funeral. And I had nothing to talk to him.

--.....Does it matter if I write the sentence originally as you said just now?

Yoshiki: It doesn't matter. At that time I just talked to him and suddenly felt so sad. Then I met him during my short visit to Japan. I was really busy but I tried to spare some time. We talked about X JAPAN's live but we didn't consider more. After that, we made phone calls again. I found that - as a matter fact, Toshi knew that I wrote a song for hide.

-- You mean Without You, isn't it?

Yoshiki: Yes. But I have so many things to do. So he told me through his manager that he might come to LA. I thought that I would spare him a day if he really comes here. But when he came here, I found it difficult to understand his opinion, even though we talked a lot...But I still wanted him to sing that song. He agreed instantly. So he sang it along the piano but....His voice was so nice, of course...But at that moment, I heard him singing, thinking of X, I wondered whether I should release this song or not....

-- ......(Sigh)

.......

-- You met Toshi again after 7 or 8 years...How did it feel when you heard him singing Without You?

Yoshiki: Very beautiful. He has a really good voice.

--But you felt it difficult to understand him....?

Yoshiki: You mean the Toshi at present? In fact, I don't know. (Or "I can hardly discribe my feelings clearly". Don't know how to translate it... )

.......




*******

IMO, it seems to be quite different from what Toshi said in his interview. For example, Toshi told us, during his Shanghai concert, that he and Yoshiki were in agreement (or had the same opinion) on Without You. But Yoshiki said he couldn't understand Toshi....In the "Love With You" interview, Toshi said that it was Yoshiki who wanted to talk to him. But in FOOL'S MATE interview....
Ah.......I'm so confused.  :?

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News / [Interview] TOSHI: Love With You

« on: July 06, 2007, 02:58:06 PM »

The interview is from a Chinese magazine called Cool Music, which is my (and my roomates') favourite magazine. Here's the translation. (If there's anything confusing in it, please tell me. :wink: )


TOSHI: Love With You….




Happy With You…

It’s the second time you come to China. Do you have any different feelings?
TOSHI: This time I found the food here more delicious. When I came here last year, this guy (pointed at the staff beside him) took me to a lot of restaurants, but nothing was delicious there. When I came to Shanghai the first time, I thought that there must be a lot of delicious foods, and I wanted to try all of them. But I was disappointed at last. This year the food tastes much better. And I asked someone else to guide me, of course. (laugh)

Did you eat Xiaolongbao?
TOSHI: Xiaolongbao….No. I only ate that in Japan.

But during last year’s concert, a fan asked you the same question, you said yes…
TOSHI: Ah, I lied! Ha ha ha ha……In fact I didn’t. Hmmm….did we really eat that last year? (asking the staff beside him) Oh…during the first visit to Shanghai, we ate Xiaolongbao in the first restaurant we chose. I expected it to be very delicious, but it was so-so…

Xiaolongbao is a kind of traditional Chinese food:



You have been to Shanghai twice. What’s your impression about Shanghai?
TOSHI: As a matter of fact, I don’t have any special impression. Shanghai, and even Korea, is not far from Japan. The journey takes only 3 hours. So I don’t feel that I’m in another country.

I’ve been looking through the photos of you. I found that you took many photos with toy bears. Do you like toy bears very much?
TOSHI: Oh, really? Yeah, I like toy bears very much. But I don’t like real bears. If there was a real one, I must be the first to run for my life! (laugh) Or I would be eaten. That’s really a serious matter between life and death! Ha ha ha ha ha…



X With You…

Many people are paying attention to X JAPAN reunion. How is everything going on now?
TOSHI: The details haven’t been announced yet.

You visited LA and met YOSHIKI just a few months ago. Can you tell us something about that?
TOSHI: After I arrived in LA, I went to YOSHIKI’s studio. We talked quite a lot there. In the studio I listened to the song “Without You”. It’s a very excellent song. I had never listened to it before. The song we heard at that time was temporarily recorded with another vocalist. After reading the lyric, I found the lyric very great, too. And then YOSHIKI played the piano and I sang along it. I was deeply touched when singing the song. I think YOSHIKI was also touched. This song was written by him right after hide’s death, which came out from an extreme of despair and sadness. The theme of the song is about the attitude towards death, with a strong will to express that “I want to live”. And during these 10 years I myself sang songs to heal other people’s hearts in a simplest way, telling people that no matter how difficult it is, we must live on bravely. I was simply touched by Without You, and I wanted to send this song to others. YOSHIKI thinks so, too. So we decided to do it together.

How did you have the chance to go to LA?
TOSHI: As there were so many things to do before, my friends told me that “YOSHIKI wanted to talk to you”. Then we talked on the phone and we met each other during his visit to Japan. At that time we appointed that “let’s meet in LA next time”, so I went there.

Will the reunited X JAPAN remain active after Without You?
TOSHI: I don’t think so. In fact, I don’t know. But it seems to be impossible. This time we just suddenly wanted to do something together and didn’t think about how long it will last. I’m not sure whether we will keep it on or not.

Is Without You being produced now?
TOSHI: We haven’t started recording yet. And I don’t know when it will be released, either.

If you sing X JAPAN songs again, will you adapt to that?
TOSHI: I haven’t tried so I’m not sure. I don’t think I can sing the violent songs now. But as for the ballads full of love, I’ll always be glad to sing them, no matter when or where.

It has been 10 years since X JAPAN broke up. Both YOSHIKI and you change a lot.
TOSHI: Yeah, 10 years have passed, and I’m 10 years older than that time. Maybe the biggest change is that I’m an old man now. (laugh) During these years I experienced many things, especially the past decade, because I’ve been living a different new life. When I was in X JAPAN, I had been trying my best to get higher and higher. This struggle seemed to be endless. And I found myself lost and empty. So I gave myself a graduation, and started to take a lower and lower attitude. In my opinion, the lower I get, the higher I’ll reach. Maybe it’s difficult to understand, but to me “a graduation” means that I’m going to seek after a higher place. The decade is very happy indeed. It is like a very precious journey with tears and learning.

As for TOSHI, what do X JAPAN times mean to you?
TOSHI: Ah, this is a difficult question…As we (YOSHIKI and I) started the band since we were very young, X JAPAN filled quite a big part of my life. It used to make me empty and depressed, but now I think it is a very, very precious memory.

Do you know about YOSHIKI’s band with Gackt, SUGIZO and Miyavi?
TOSHI: Yeah. But I’m not interested in it. (laugh) In fact I really don’t know much about that. I know that he has a variety of projects, and it is just one of them.



http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/goney13/IMG_0005.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/goney13/IMG_0012.jpg

And this is what Toshi was reading, in the picture above.
http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/goney13/IMG_0002.jpg

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hide / hide's diary about Vanishing Tour, 1988

« on: July 06, 2007, 02:37:58 PM »

I found it very interesting. If there's anything confusing in the translation, please tell me.
I think it's from an X-press.



July 15th.
We didn’t have any work to do about X, live or fans. So we stayed in the room. Ken, YOSHIKI and I….Ken and I took a very comfortable bath. But suddenly cockroaches appeared!!! There were five of them!!! I felt so terrible!!! We tried our best to kill them but failed. I think it’s the biggest disadvantage of living in the countryside. On the other hand, it’s a kind of training.
PS: YO said he always felt hungry when he saw the cockroaches. But I can’t stand seeing them flying here and there at all. I’m going to sleep now. Good night.


July 16th.
I woke up at half past nine, still in the goddamn cockroach room. YO catches a cold. I don’t feel very well either…We kept the air conditioner on for a whole night to cool off the room. It was a big mistake! The medical staff came and asked us if we were feeling better. You can take a steam bath here! It’s so good that I feel like I’m in the paradise. Now I’m so hungry.


July 17th.
There were so many people in front of the Woddy Concert Hall. How can we put on the live? There were about 200 people in the hall when we started performing the first song. But suddenly all the lights went out!!! We had to stop until the problem was fixed. Just as we started the second time, the lights went out again!!!
Woddy Concert Hall is a nice place for live shows. But this time someone said, “Fuck you!” I want to kill them! Next time if we perform at Woddy again, they may say that in front of us. I admit that we had been cursed by the audience before. But now I hope everyone to be honest…

[It is said that there were so many people in the live house that it was lack of oxygen. When they were performing Orgasm, TAIJI suddenly rushed out of the live house for some fresh air, shouting "let me go out!!!!!"]

July 18th.
We arrived at the hotel in Sendai. All of us rushed into the bathroom at once. TOSHI had been complaining about the terrible smell from my and TAIJI’s clothes!! TAIJI even threw his belt into the washing machine. Now we’re not in a bad smell any more. And we decide to sell 250 tickets tomorrow. Common rockers don’t smell so terrible like that, but we are of a new kind!!


July 19th.
Today we performed in a live house gig located in a shopping centre. There were some girls from Tokyo in front of TAIJI. In front of TOSHI were also girls from cities. But the girls in front of me were from the countryside!!! I think the girls from Tokyo know how to act during a live very well, but the ones from the countryside don’t know what to do at all. So they looked quite different. But they finally looked the same….Today is the day for Karaoke! Though we’re rock artists, we all love Karaoke like many people do. I don’t feel comfortable to be stared at when I’m singing Karaoke. If I imitate PATA, I will certainly be stared at. We have to wake up at seven tomorrow morning.


July 20th.
One o’clock, we reached Free Space. I always thought that Aomori was a small town in the countryside, but I was wrong. In fact it looks like we’re in the suburb of Tokyo. Even the old look so cool. During the MC time TOSHI introduced us to the audience. They called TOSHI “TOSUI”, called me “SHIDEI”. YOSHIKI was called “YOSUIKI”!!
We’ll go to Hokkaido tomorrow.


July 21st.
It took us four hours to get to Hokkaido. Thank goodness, we reached there eventually. It was because X’s car broke down halfway. We had to get off to push the car. The passers-by were so surprised to find some men with strange hair on their heads pushing a car on the road!!! Well, today I have to wash my clothes, too...

6

Toshi / About The Shanghai Concerts

« on: June 10, 2007, 08:07:54 AM »

I didn't go to his concert. (I'm living in Nanning, which is far from Shanghai.) The fans who went to see him said that Toshi sang Tears in Shanghai - he didn't sang the whole song, just a little part of it. That makes me excited!

It's said that Toshi looked better than before. Yesterday afternoon he was wearing a pink shirt when he appeared at first, and then a green one when the concert began. :wink:

And of course, he talked about Without You and X JAPAN reunion - just like what PN wrote on Jun 8th.

Toshi seemed to be a little uncomfortable when he was singing, because - he said - his lips hurt. I hope he's better now. *worried*

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Pictures/Galleries / Toshi (working in the studio in 1992)

« on: March 04, 2007, 01:57:03 AM »

I love these pics!Hope you enjoy them~~~
Toshi was working for his 1st solo album MADE IN HEAVEN in 1992.
Hide was in the last pic.... :wink:

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Pictures/Galleries / Toshi with some men on the beach...

« on: February 24, 2007, 01:53:56 PM »

I don't know whether you have seen these pics or not...But I think Toshi was so cool!!!The pics were taken in 1994.