X Freaks Forum
The band => The Concerts => Topic started by: Teemeah on April 07, 2018, 07:25:32 AM
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So, Coachella is coming and here's a thread to discuss it afterwards. And before that, here in this article Yoshiki is quoted saying they have surprises in the set list.
“X Japan is very eclectic, we kept mixing up any kind of genre which interested us,” Yoshiki says. “And we have a few huge surprises, so we may blow people’s minds away.
“I hope if everything goes well everybody is talking about our set the next day at Coachella. I don’t know if it’s going to work or not but we’re definitely planning something big.”
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/04/05/coachella-2018-yoshiki-talks-about-x-japan-and-the-trek-from-tokyo-to-the-desert-for-a-hard-rockin-set/
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Another surprise. A bad one: Sugizo's visa issuance is late and he may not play at Coachella.
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180407-00000746-bark-musi
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180406-00000384-oric-ent
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/6278189
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Sugizo, bro, why haven't you applied for that visa earlier? :o
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can we please get Richard Fortus
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How the fuck does this even happen? What kind of clowns are involved in planning and management of this band? An X Japan without Sugizo would be a sub-par experience and not even remotely one I'd want to have on display at one of the biggest festivals in America. What the fuck.
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Lol are you kidding?
Fortus could do it. GNR won't start rehearsals this early
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I read Sugizo might be able to play on the 21st, I hope he does. I don't understand how something like this always happens...
Lol are you kidding?
Fortus could do it. GNR won't start rehearsals this early
I was kidding because I know some people would hate that but I'd actually wouldn't mind, I like Fortus very much.
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I read Sugizo might be able to play on the 21st, I hope he does. I don't understand how something like this always happens...
Lol are you kidding?
Fortus could do it. GNR won't start rehearsals this early
I was kidding because I know some people would hate that but I'd actually wouldn't mind, I like Fortus very much.
Fortus is great. Ive seen him many times and met him once. Great guitarist
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I meant "are you kidding?" I'm regards to the bands ridicolous position again
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I meant "are you kidding?" I'm regards to the bands ridicolous position again
I figured that later. But really, I agree that Fortus is great and I think it'd be very cool
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Another surprise. A bad one: Sugizo's visa issuance is late and he may not play at Coachella.
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180407-00000746-bark-musi
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180406-00000384-oric-ent
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/6278189
Wow...he should get a new assistant, or whoever is supposed to take care of that visa. I mean, many bands tour 10+ countries in like 2, 3 months.
And I would love the surprise to be them playing in full-fledged visual kei looks ;D
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While Richard is a workhorse and got the skills to play their songs I'm not sure if there would be enough time for him to learn the songs.
Hopefully Sugizo's visa issues got resolved and he's able to perform. Would be a huge let down to have them play without him.
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How the fuck does this even happen? What kind of clowns are involved in planning and management of this band? An X Japan without Sugizo would be a sub-par experience and not even remotely one I'd want to have on display at one of the biggest festivals in America. What the fuck.
That can happen even if the management is the best in the world. You know, visas are not given by management. And there can be hiccups at the other end, or things that get scrutinized by the visa giving officials. This has happened to other artists several times, and not just in the US, in Europe as well. One Chinese member of a Korean band touring Europe had to remain at home because he didn't get the visa, unlike the other members of the band. Simply wasn't allowed in Europe, that's it.
The management can't do much about influencing the visa process. Also, I believe that X Japan members are managed separately, and it is not unimaginable at all, that the members' visa processes were started by the individual management agencies of the members. In any case, a lot of things could have happened, late paperwork, whatever. Thing is, we don't know, so let's not start blaming people for stuff we have no insight into. Especially that US visa processing has notoriously been ridiculous for years now and a LOT of performers have suffered because of it. Even Boy George was once denied visa to the US. :)
http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/sxsw-all-the-musicians-who-cant-perform-visa-issues.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/arts/us-visa-rules-frustrate-foreign-performers.html
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Is it possible that maybe his previous entries to Syria is what prompted the US officials to deny his visa? The urrent political climate doesn't really welcome people who advocate for the Middle East...
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While Richard is a workhorse and got the skills to play their songs I'm not sure if there would be enough time for him to learn the songs.
Hopefully Sugizo's visa issues got resolved and he's able to perform. Would be a huge let down to have them play without him.
He could learn the set the day of and be fine. I agree itd suck to not have Sugizo, but Richard would be a solid backup
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Is it possible that maybe his previous entries to Syria is what prompted the US officials to deny his visa? The urrent political climate doesn't really welcome people who advocate for the Middle East...
It makes sense.
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Could this new banner on the X Japan facebook page be promising? https://imgur.com/a/UgX8t yes, you could argue that they'd show Sugizo's image because he's part of the band but you could also argue they'd opt for another design or perhaps just the X JAPAN and coachella logos with the dates? Hoping they resolved the visa issue.
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Could this new banner on the X Japan facebook page be promising? https://imgur.com/a/UgX8t yes, you could argue that they'd show Sugizo's image because he's part of the band but you could also argue they'd opt for another design or perhaps just the X JAPAN and coachella logos with the dates? Hoping they resolved the visa issue.
He appears because he is still part of the band. In the interviews he says that they are still working and trying to get the visa on time, the guest guitarist isn't even confirmed yet.
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Oh hell! Why didn't he get his ass in gear and get on that visa, immediately?!?! I bet Yoshiki is fuming. This is just not going to work without Sugizo. He is a key member of the band, now, and it won't be the same without him. He has brought so much to X. Damn!!
This is probably a dumb question but why was he going to Syria? Does he have a residency there? If not, and he is only or solely a citizen of Japan, I don't know why this should pose such a problem.
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Oh hell! Why didn't he get his ass in gear and get on that visa, immediately?!?! I bet Yoshiki is fuming. This is just not going to work without Sugizo. He is a key member of the band, now, and it won't be the same without him. He has brought so much to X. Damn!!
This is probably a dumb question but why was he going to Syria? Does he have a residency there? If not, and he is only or solely a citizen of Japan, I don't know why this should pose such a problem.
Because Syria is in war, and the USA has its interest in there. And Sugizo visited Syrian refugees and actively campaigns against war and for refugees. Under Trump administratio that's more than enough to deny a visa to any national. Thy have denied visas for lesser stuff before. I don't think they applied late, it's more likely his political views influence the outcome. See the links I posted above, a BUNCH of foreign bands have been denied visas for less.
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Oh hell! Why didn't he get his ass in gear and get on that visa, immediately?!?! I bet Yoshiki is fuming. This is just not going to work without Sugizo. He is a key member of the band, now, and it won't be the same without him. He has brought so much to X. Damn!!
This is probably a dumb question but why was he going to Syria? Does he have a residency there? If not, and he is only or solely a citizen of Japan, I don't know why this should pose such a problem.
Because Syria is in war, and the USA has its interest in there. And Sugizo visited Syrian refugees and actively campaigns against war and for refugees. Under Trump administratio that's more than enough to deny a visa to any national. Thy have denied visas for lesser stuff before. I don't think they applied late, it's more likely his political views influence the outcome. See the links I posted above, a BUNCH of foreign bands have been denied visas for less.
Ahh yes, I see, now. This could be the reason for sure. What a terrible shame if he can't play. He is such a good guitarist and performer and I just don't see it being the same with a substitute guitarist taking his place. :(
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(https://i.imgur.com/Ky8EDce.jpg)
On Twitter, Yoshiki announced the substitute member was decided. And he said that they would start rehearsing on April 7th. I think Yoshiki forgot to write this mention in English. In his interview, Yoshiki said there may be two substitute guitarists in place of Sugizo. I don't know if Yoshiki arranged for one guitarist or two guitarists this time. Anyway I feel so relieved that they could find the guitarist quickly.
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I bet Yoshiki is fuming.
The smoke is visible from miles away actually! ;D
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I bet Yoshiki is fuming.
The smoke is visible from miles away actually! ;D
Hahahahaha! I bet!
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(https://i.imgur.com/Ky8EDce.jpg)
On Twitter, Yoshiki announced the substitute member was decided. And he said that they would start rehearsing on April 7th. I think Yoshiki forgot to write this mention in English. In his interview, Yoshiki said there may be two substitute guitarists in place of Sugizo. I don't know if Yoshiki arranged for one guitarist or two guitarists this time. Anyway I feel so relieved that they could find the guitarist quickly.
I'm glad they have found a substitute so quickly and I'm curious whom it might be...
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Coachella will livestream the X Japan show on the 14th! Time to be announced later. https://www.youtube.com/user/coachella
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Will definitely be watching the livestream as long as it's not at like 2am or something in my time lol. Can't wait to see how they perform live, but I'm worried about Sugizo not being able to make it. It would be such a huge let down for one of the members to not be there at one of the biggest music festivals in the world. :-\
edit: Just read the news about Sugizo. It's very disappointing that he can't perform, especially at such an important event... :'(
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Will definitely be watching the livestream as long as it's not at like 2am or something in my time lol. Can't wait to see how they perform live, but I'm worried about Sugizo not being able to make it. It would be such a huge let down for one of the members to not be there at one of the biggest music festivals in the world. :-\
edit: Just read the news about Sugizo. It's very disappointing that he can't perform, especially at such an important event... :'(
Yeah. A concert without Sugizo will be weird. Since the 2011 tour I see him growing into the band, getting his space and even technically improved a lot. Being out of such an important event for them is bad.
I really hope everything goes smooth and he could play at least the second concert.
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Found this on Yahoo.jp for what it's worth. And of course google translated it but I'll leave the link as well.
X JAPAN, SUGIZO not going to visit the US festival of this month too difficult to apply for visa "Bet on opportunity until the end"
X JAPAN · SUGIZO (right end), possibility of not going to festival in the US
It is highly likely that X JAPAN guitarist · SUGIZO will not be able to appear in the large-scale rice festival "Coachella Music and Arts Festival" that the band will participate in on the 14th (local time) I understood that on the 6th. SUGIZO and leader YOSHIKI explained on the same day, according to the interview of ORICON NEWS, the circumstances of the situation to the fans because processing of visa application is difficult.
10th and 11th out of sunglasses playing on the piano it is said to be the outpost of the same festival "Resurrection 10th anniversary celebration X JAPAN LIVE 2018 US Festival just before the event PREMIUM GIGS ~ YOSHIKI Night of resurrection ~ "Will be held at Tokyo · Zepp DiverCity. Yoshiki, who overcame last year's cervical spinal injury, played a full stage drum revival, was supposed to get on California with five members.
Interview at the beginning "Suspected that there is a possibility that Coachella will not be in time for a visa application in the absence of processing," SUGIZO said. Although the procedure will proceed until the date of departure from 12th to 13th, the possibility that the appearance on the 14th will not be over has increased.
It is said that Yoshiki had grasped this problem the day before, and we will hold an urgent meeting on the 7th today to discuss countermeasures with other members. Regarding the stage where SUGIZO can not appear, YOSHIKI said, "Because performance is not a twin guitar, I think that the worst will be supporting guitarists."
SUGIZO for the fans waiting at the site "I myself have not given up yet on the way to the United States, so I am trying to bet on the opportunity to the end, but since the only part of the visa problem is that this thing does not progress so much ..." Explicitly explain the situation. "In the case of asking for a support guitar at the worst possible time, if you think positively, I think that there is also a part saying" I can see a special X JAPAN that can only be seen on that day ", so I'm happy if you can positively consider it. Well, I will do my best as a current X JAPAN. "
Meanwhile, YOSHIKI bitterly smiles "It is lightly panicking" to this problem that occurred as much as he could with his body for returning to the drum. "Since SUGIZO's existence is really big, if you come to support, you will need a huge amount of work to tell (support members) the fine nuance of his performance.The maximum is also cooperating with SUGIZO as much as possible I want to receive it. "
Also, when you ask about the state of recovery of the anxious body, "It is not in a state that you can hit the drum perfectly yet, so it's harder than thinking how far you can drive yourself in the past few days. I can not do any rhythm by moving it, so it's like I'm doing a completely different musical instrument, "he confessed. Still, "In terms of the stage overseas, Coachella is the biggest opportunity given to the band, so if it does it is going to raise a whirlwind in the field," he said, looking at the big stage in the world with undestroyed words.
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180406-00000384-oric-ent
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I'm glad they have found a substitute so quickly and I'm curious whom it might be...
I just read on a Japanese community that Miyavi will be the guest guitarist in Coachella. I hope he rocks.
https://youtu.be/xHhmS0ysEH8
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I'm glad they have found a substitute so quickly and I'm curious whom it might be...
I just read on a Japanese community that Miyavi will be the guest guitarist in Coachella. I hope he rocks.
https://youtu.be/xHhmS0ysEH8
Well...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ
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I doubt that. Miyavi is on his own world tour at the moment, so I pretty much doubt he will have time and energy to learn to play X songs in a few days.
edit: I think you meant Miya from MUCC, seeing your link, lakeisle. He was at the Tokyo concert today as well, as guest guitarist.
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Ahhhhhh, I am an idiot. I thought Miya is a nickname of Miyavi, and he is the member of Mucc. Actually I know nothing about Miyavi except for that he was the member of S.K.I.N.
You are right, Teemeah. They say Miya will play in place of Sugizo. But I am not sure. Let's wait for the official announcement. Sorry about the misinformation. :-X :-X Thank you for clarifying, Teemeah. :D
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Well...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ
I'm sorry to upset you with my false information. But the video is so funny. I laughed so hard.
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It's okay :D I'm a big Miyavi fan, so I was kind of like... no way he would play there :) he's been doing solo stuff for long years now.
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Confirmed. Miya played today on Zepp. Seems like he will play Sugizo's part on Coachella.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhZJWeZlFVw/
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Well...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ
My thoughts exactly, glad it was a false alarm! I don't know Miya nor MUCC (except that they've got a creepy as heck looking vocalist), but I hope he's good.
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Good on them for solving the issue
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http://loudwire.com/x-japan-guitarist-sugizo-fears-missing-coachella-over-visa-issue/
Wes Borland will also play at Coachella if Sugizo can't go.
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WHERE will this be livestreamed? What platform? Youtube? Pericope? Something else? Can someone post the link as soon as they have it? tyvm
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WHERE will this be livestreamed? What platform? Youtube? Pericope? Something else? Can someone post the link as soon as they have it? tyvm
I already posted the link on the previous page :P https://www.youtube.com/user/coachella
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I heard from X fans that Miya is a member of X Suginami.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArErEVLc5NE
ㄴ The guy dressed up as Pata in the video is Miya. X Suginami is a copy band of X Japan. Therefore Miya is familiar with all X songs. I don't know if Miya will participate in Coachella Fes or not, but if he does, it can be a good alternative.
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WHERE will this be livestreamed? What platform? Youtube? Pericope? Something else? Can someone post the link as soon as they have it? tyvm
I already posted the link on the previous page :P https://www.youtube.com/user/coachella
Thanks! LOL! I am really busy and go flying through here like a jet plane and right on past I missed seeing it. LOL. Thanks, again! 8)
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I heard from X fans that Miya is a member of X Suginami.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArErEVLc5NE
ㄴ The guy dressed up as Pata in the video is Miya. X Suginami is a copy band of X Japan. Therefore Miya is familiar with all X songs. I don't know if Miya will participate in Coachella Fes or not, but if he does, it can be a good alternative.
That is definitely a wise decision if they chose him to temporarily cover for Sugizo. he is well-known enough in J-rock circles and knows how to play the songs. From Instagram it looks like Fortus and Borland will join Coachella too, because the caption under one of their posts was something like "4 X Japan concerts, 3 more to go"
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According to this schedule, X Japan is due at 11:10 pm (if I understand it right because why can't they fucking write the am and pm on this schedule properly?)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhbCUD9AurI/?hl=en&taken-by=yoshikiofficial
For me in Central Europe that would mean the live stream starts at 8:10 am Sunday morning. You can use https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html to convert the time, Coachella is near Palm Springs so that is PDT (UTC-7).
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I take it that's Pacific Time as well? Arrgh.
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X Japan (11:10 p.m., Mojave)
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Probably PM, if it's in Palm Springs it'll be at 8 am on Sunday here in Paris as well. Looks like somebody's gonna get her ass out of bed early this weekend. 8)
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Yes, it's PM. I posted that above, taken from the schedule I found.
https://pitchfork.com/news/coachella-2018-lineup-and-schedule-all-the-set-times-you-need-to-know/
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WELP it starts at 7:10am for me... Guess I'll have to set my alarm ;)
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I saw the concert through the liveviewing and just got out of the theater. Good news! Yoshiki said that Sugizo can go to the US. Guys, don't worry any more. (But I think I worried alone, in vain ;D)
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Wow, can't believe my schedule actually lines up perfectly to watch this! It will be a bit later for me here in Texas... 1 am lol. But I should be up anyway so party party!
Btw, did anyone else notice they're performing at the same time as Beyonce? I wonder if they will be heard from all the way over at her stage lol
Edit: I'm really glad Sugizo will be performing at Coachella. It's not the same without him and it really would have been a bummer to kind of present X Japan to America without him. Definitely would have been an incomplete band. He's really become X, I would have been super sad and a little pissed! Haha
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Agh, I'm so relieved that Sugizo can play at Coachella. ;D As Joker said, a concert without Sugizo would just be weird and it probably wouldn't make a good impression to perform at such a big event like Coachella with a member missing.
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Holograms of hide and Taiji confirmed....
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I like Sugizo a lot. One sad thing about no new record is it cements him less in the band. At least they have some singles with him so he is more than a session musician
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Holograms of hide and Taiji confirmed....
Ugh... Not looking forward to this at all. I wonder how Heath feels about that. I love Taiji and will always prefer him as a basist over Heath (sorry Heath) but Taiji is not the current band. He will always be X but not X as it is today, you know? And that's ok!
I know hide wanted to renew X Japan but... I mean. Maybe it's best I just remain quiet in this one. Yoshiki wants to do it so he's going to do it. It's his band. We're just the fans of it. And Sugizo will never repace hide but he IS our lead guitarist now! That's why we would all be upset if he really wasn't going to be able to make the Coachella show! He's not just a replacement or session guitarist. The fandom considers him theband and I'm sure X does at this point too..
But... I mean... The holograms... Idk... Maybe it will just be for the song X? In that case it could be pretty cool. It is the band's celebration (no pun intended) song.
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Holograms of hide and Taiji confirmed....
Ugh... Not looking forward to this at all. I wonder how Heath feels about that. I love Taiji and will always prefer him as a basist over Heath (sorry Heath) but Taiji is not the current band. He will always be X but not X as it is today, you know? And that's ok!
I know hide wanted to renew X Japan but... I mean. Maybe it's best I just remain quiet in this one. Yoshiki wants to do it so he's going to do it. It's his band. We're just the fans of it. And Sugizo will never repace hide but he IS our lead guitarist now! That's why we would all be upset if he really wasn't going to be able to make the Coachella show! He's not just a replacement or session guitarist. The fandom considers him theband and I'm sure X does at this point too..
But... I mean... The holograms... Idk... Maybe it will just be for the song X? In that case it could be pretty cool. It is the band's celebration (no pun intended) song.
They're seriously bringing back the hologram?? :-\ Any link to where this has been confirmed? Can't find any news on it anywhere.
edit: NEVERMIND! Found it. I thought this was a joke at first to be honest... :-X
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The hide hologram was great, as was using hisbrecordings and images on the screens at first. It's long yme to move on, though. They did a great job honoring his memory during the first yeara of the reunion and Taijis guest appearences in 2010 was good closure
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Holograms of hide and Taiji confirmed....
:o
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I saw the concert through the liveviewing and just got out of the theater. Good news! Yoshiki said that Sugizo can go to the US. Guys, don't worry any more. (But I think I worried alone, in vain ;D)
Thank you so much, lakeisle, for posting this about Sugizo!! I am soooooo glad he is going to be able to play. it is going to be a real treat for me to get to see him live, even though it's via the internet. I can't wait!
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Wow, can't believe my schedule actually lines up perfectly to watch this! It will be a bit later for me here in Texas... 1 am lol. But I should be up anyway so party party!
Btw, did anyone else notice they're performing at the same time as Beyonce? I wonder if they will be heard from all the way over at her stage lol
Edit: I'm really glad Sugizo will be performing at Coachella. It's not the same without him and it really would have been a bummer to kind of present X Japan to America without him. Definitely would have been an incomplete band. He's really become X, I would have been super sad and a little pissed! Haha
Here are the various stages and their layout for the festival. I haven't been able to find out what the distance between stages is, yet, however.
(https://coachella-2014-site.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/10213442/C18map_Global_Parking_venue-WATER-STATIONS.png)
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Argh! I’ll miss this :( can anyone imagine being kind enough to record the live streaming? :D <3
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Argh! I’ll miss this :( can anyone imagine being kind enough to record the live streaming? :D <3
I'll be recording. I'm not sure where to upload it, though. I recorded Queen at Rock In Rio and the advertisers were all over me on quite a few videos and youtube pulled them down. Not sure who is responsible for the adverts at Coachella or who is paying for what but i'll have it. Perhaps making it private will work? I've never done that before then given the link to specific people but I can try.
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youtube has mechanisms to detect, so whether it is private or not, they will catch it if they want to. Maybe you can try to upload to Mega or another such storage site? That's how I could share the acoustic back then, as well.
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youtube has mechanisms to detect, so whether it is private or not, they will catch it if they want to. Maybe you can try to upload to Mega or another such storage site? That's how I could share the acoustic back then, as well.
Well yea, if people want to download it rather than just watch it. It depends on who broadcasts it or that's the way it was for Rock In Rio because the TV station that broadcast it was the entity that went after my Queen videos when they played, there.
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Thank you so much, lakeisle, for posting this about Sugizo!! I am soooooo glad he is going to be able to play. it is going to be a real treat for me to get to see him live, even though it's via the internet. I can't wait!
Sugizo slayed yesterday. All the fans who watched the concert are praising him now. I hope yesterday's concert be released on DVD. Considering zepp is a kind of rehearsal for Coacella, the upcoming performance will be great, I hope so.
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Here are the various stages and their layout for the festival. I haven't been able to find out what the distance between stages is, yet, however.
Thank you for posting the map. Seeing these photos of MOJAVE, the place doesn't look so big.
(https://i.imgur.com/YH0VaZQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/vi4mMQe.jpg)
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Okay, I have to admit the hologram wasn't THAT bad. Perhaps it could be better if they use something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx6g-VSJnM8 this time.
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Thank you for posting the map. Seeing these photos of MOJAVE, the place doesn't look so big.
(https://i.imgur.com/YH0VaZQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/vi4mMQe.jpg)
I went to Coachella a few years ago and this stage/tent actually is a good size (edit: close to the floor seating of the Paramount Theater in Seattle, where X performed at during the American tour). Beirut played there before. Back then he had a huge cult following so I would say the Mojave stage is perfect for cult groups. They might not necessarily be Beyonce level but they're famous enough to have a significant following around the world and the capacity allowance reflects that.
I do know that X is a lot more famous and successful than a chunk of bands playing at Coachella lol. They also apparently have a good agent for this event because they got a night time slot (Murder City Devil's played during the day. That kind of aggression and loudness just feels better at night than in the middle of a sunbleached afternoon, especially with stage lights and pyro lol). They're also performing at the same time as the headliner so the grounds will be at peak capacity. I'm sure there will be plenty of drunk hipsters who hate Beyonce lol.
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https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/04/x-japans-2018-coachella-performance-to-feature-holograms/
Yeah, Taiji and hide holograms confirmed. Fortus, Wes and Miya also there.
I watched the Zepp concert broadcast on WOWOW and is quite interesting how this time the guest guitarist were more "integrated", and were actually playing the songs. Each one played one song, and even played its solos. I remember reading somewhere that this was the original idea behind the 2008 concerts, but so many things happened and they didn't have enough time to rehearse.
Looking forward to Coachella concert, curious on how the holograms will be used.
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I went to Coachella a few years ago and this stage/tent actually is a good size (edit: close to the floor seating of the Paramount Theater in Seattle, where X performed at during the American tour). Beirut played there before. Back then he had a huge cult following so I would say the Mojave stage is perfect for cult groups. They might not necessarily be Beyonce level but they're famous enough to have a significant following around the world and the capacity allowance reflects that.
Thank you for sharing your experience, returner. Yeah~ In a few days, the place will be full of heat.
X!
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Alright, this is damned confusing. Please don't make fun. lol
Over here in the USA, if it's any time after midnight or 12:05am, that's the NEXT day. That would make the concert at 12:05am, Saturday morning which for me on Central time, would be 2:05am Saturday morning. In just a few hours. But according to this schedule, it looks like it would really be SUNDAY as far as the USA goes, but of course, California, being California, who knows what they are doing. Since all these other bands are scheduled to play first, this looks like it won't be for another 26 hours or thereabouts.
HELP!!! lol
Saturday, April 14th:
03:35 – Marian Hill (1)
03:35 – Declan McKenna (2)
03:35 – WizKid (3)
03:35 – WizKid (VR)
04:15 – Nile Rodgers and Chic (1)
04:15 – Chloe x Halle (2)
04:20 – Ekali (3)
04:20 – Ekali (VR)
04:45 – Django Django (2)
05:10 – Nile Rodgers and Chic (VR)
05:15 – Flatbush Zombies (3)
05:20 – First Aid Kit (1)
05:30 – Angel Olsen (2)
06:05 – Party Favor (3)
06:05 – Party Favor (VR)
06:10 – BØRNS (1)
06:15 – BROCKHAMPTON (2)
07:00 – Snakehips (3)
07:05 – Chromeo (1)
07:05 – Chromeo (VR)
07:10 – MØ
08:00 – Tash Sultana (2)
08:00 – Alina Baraz (3)
08:05 – Tyler the Creator (1)
08:45 – Louis the Child (3)
08:50 – Benjamin Booker (2)
09:15 – HAIM (1)
09:35 – Alvvays (2)
09:40 – Blackbear (3)
10:10 – Post Malone (1)
10:10 – Post Malone (VR)
10:20 – David Byrne (2)
10:25 – Jungle (3)
11:10 – Beyoncé (1)
11:10 – Fleet Foxes (2)
11:20 – Highly Suspect (3)
12:05 – alt-J (2)
12:05 – X Japan (3)
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Yea, looked up David Byrne's schedule as he plays a few hours before X does and it says Chanel 2, Saturday, 10:20 – David Byrne so that's tomorrow night, BEFORE X plays. I wish they would not screw around like this out there. Not Yoshiki or X but Coachella. Damn, gimme a heart attack.
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This seems to be X Japan's lineup
https://www.coachella.com/lineup/#/artist/x-japan
IF - a big IF ;D - I understand it right, they are playing today 11.10 PM (= 23.10) which in Europe should be tomorrow morning at 08.10 A.M.
The confusion between p.m. and a.m. (not clearly specified till the end) has driven me mad :o
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Alright, this is damned confusing. Please don't make fun. lol
Over here in the USA, if it's any time after midnight or 12:05am, that's the NEXT day. That would make the concert at 12:05am, Saturday morning which for me on Central time, would be 2:05am Saturday morning. In just a few hours. But according to this schedule, it looks like it would really be SUNDAY as far as the USA goes, but of course, California, being California, who knows what they are doing. Since all these other bands are scheduled to play first, this looks like it won't be for another 26 hours or thereabouts.
HELP!!! lol
Thank You LEMONedMe and- yes, it'all awfully confusing :P
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This seems to be X Japan's lineup
https://www.coachella.com/lineup/#/artist/x-japan
IF - a big IF ;D - I understand it right, they are playing today 11.10 PM (= 23.10) which in Europe should be tomorrow morning at 08.10 A.M.
The confusion between p.m. and a.m. (not clearly specified till the end) has driven me mad :o
Hi helenmoon,
Yea, it is very confusing but by going through all of the schedules of the other bands and looking at who is actually playing right now and being broadcast, it's as I suspected. It's for me, Sunday morning at 1:10am or 1 hour after midnight. Not right now as far as I know because I've checked all 4 streams and they're not playing and they would be if it was today - last night, California time. These time zones are really confusing as I deal a lot with Mountain Time and Eastern Time. But this is Pacific Time for the concert, then I have to convert it. I hope that helps you, too. Probably made things worse. :(
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yeah it is 23:10 or 11:10 pm, Sugizo just posted on Instagram that it is 23:10. I hate when Americans do this with am and pm. :D And also, they are headlining the stage, so makes sense they would be last to perform on it.
It will be on Channel 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyh9blvR54Q
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The X Japan part of the stream will be on this part of channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyh9blvR54Q
(I'm still super salty that I couldn't go. I heard that one of my favorite artists was totally killing it on Friday! Everybody better bring their A game today, that's all I'm saying.)
EDIT: Yoshiki confirmed on Instagram that they'll be playing at 11:10 PM (Good. I just saw SUGIZO post earlier in the hour that he just touched down in Cali & is now heading to desert territory.)
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BhjKzRbgCnt
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Sugizo posted a heartfelt ENGLISH language message on his Facebook. i'm so happy he is also communicating in English with the fans, unlike Toshi who cannot be bothered, even though his English is better than Sugizo's...
https://www.facebook.com/notes/sugizo/im-in-la/1661266697276298/
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The X Japan part of the stream will be on this part of channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyh9blvR54Q
(I'm still super salty that I couldn't go. I heard that one of my favorite artists was totally killing it on Friday! Everybody better bring their A game today, that's all I'm saying.)
EDIT: Yoshiki confirmed on Instagram that they'll be playing at 11:10 PM (Good. I just saw SUGIZO post earlier in the hour that he just touched down in Cali & is now heading to desert territory.)
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BhjKzRbgCnt
atm its 20:39 aka 8:39pm in my timezone. so in PDT it's 11:39am... damn, they are playing tomorrow morning.
(btw. who is this girl in her bra on the stage? besides she is half naked her music is really good)
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(btw. who is this girl in her bra on the stage? besides he is half naked her music is really good)
Lol the girl in all white (in the bra) is elohim & she is so legit. Her 2nd album is being released next week too (I'm actually gonna go see her that Friday for her concert in L.A.). Give her a listen when you get a chance
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So, who else is super hyped about this? 8)
Shall we discuss the thing in real time here like back in the good ol' days or shall we create a Discord group?
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I'm cool with a discord group. Anyone else?
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Hey guys, had probably half a years mini break from the forum, just decided to come back on and coincidently landed right on a live show day, so easily could've missed that. Excited to see the Coachella live show (that's 6 1/2 hours from now I believe), from what I've seen of the other acts so far (only a couple) I'm very curious as to how X is going to go down with their 80's metal and very sad ballads amongst a modern crowd of dubstep fans. Right now I'm going to watch the Zepp gig show, wonder how X's songs sound tuned a step down.
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I'm cool with a discord group. Anyone else?
I think having an instant chat would be easier and probably more fun too.
Also, welcome back Ulquiorra4th! Talk about good timing for you to come back.
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Great to to speak to you again too. Yep, was both relieved and panicked, just barely making this and almost missing it. Just got to the end of Rusty Nail on the Zepp gig video from a couple days ago, and I thought Sugizo's guitar died on him during the last chorus, but I think it's actually the sound mixing, Heath's bass is louder than usual, and I'm hearing bass notes I usually don't and I can barely hear the guitar, I thought Sugizo hit a bum note and the guitar just shut down on him or something lmao.
Also from Zepp gig, "alright you motherf***ers WE ARE X!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-lalalalalalala I'm walking in the rain"
What the hell lol.
Sorry to talk about an unrelated gig in this thread, but idk gotta talk about something while waiting for this live. I like the new down tuned sound, I think there's a couple of notes in Kurenai where Sugizo and Pata could play it with a bit more exitement (Toshi as well) even if it is down tuned, but for some reason the new tone has given the songs their unique sound back a little more, in some ways it feels more like the albums/ hide's live sound to me, don't know if I'm crazy or just haven't watched a vid of Sugizo playing them in the original tuning in a while, but I always felt even though he mostly replicated hide's sound correctly during the songs, the way they sound now (if they keep it that way) feels a little closer imo, even if it's a step down.
Toshi was awesome, he was acting really hype, even more than usual frontman wise, great mix between raspy and clean vocals, he was mostly very clever on when he held back and sang in a different style for some of the high notes, he lost it pretty badly on X though, he could've controlled himself there, bah! Last chorus was great though.
Anyway can't wait for this show, it's four hours away now.
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Great to to speak to you again too. Yep, it felt both relief and panic, just barely making this and almost missing it. Just got to the end of Rusty Nail on the Zepp gig video from a couple days ago, and I thought Sugizo's guitar died on him during the last chorus, but I think it's actually the sound mixing, Heath's bass is louder than usual, and I'm hearing bass notes I usually don't and I can barely hear the guitar, I thought Sugizo hit a bum note and the guitar just shut down on him or something lmao.
The sound mixing on these TV broadcasts are always awful. They get the sound directly from the soundboard, which is tuned to the acoustic of the livehouse.
When the concerts are released on DVD/Blu-Ray, they do some re-mixing, so the quality overall is better as the levels of each instrument is adjusted to the recording.
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So, who else is super hyped about this? 8)
Shall we discuss the thing in real time here like back in the good ol' days or shall we create a Discord group?
I am super hyped! I can't move from the screen, though, as I will be recording full screen with my recording software. Damn, y'all have fun. I wish I could chat with you all but it's impossible with this program.
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So, who else is super hyped about this? 8)
Shall we discuss the thing in real time here like back in the good ol' days or shall we create a Discord group?
I am super hyped! I can't move from the screen, though, as I will be recording full screen with my recording software. Damn, y'all have fun. I wish I could chat with you all but it's impossible with this program.
Do you have a tablet or phone you could post here from?
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So, who else is super hyped about this? 8)
Shall we discuss the thing in real time here like back in the good ol' days or shall we create a Discord group?
I am super hyped! I can't move from the screen, though, as I will be recording full screen with my recording software. Damn, y'all have fun. I wish I could chat with you all but it's impossible with this program.
Do you have a tablet or phone you could post here from?
I could probably use my phone. I've posted some places with them before but just got this one a week ago and have not accessed the net with it so far. I'll probably screw up royally. Hahahaha!
Oh and I will probably be shooting photos as well. 8)
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Sooooo did we decide on a place to chat or what? I don't mind starting a discord group just for this/these Coachella shows.
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Sooooo did we decide on a place to chat or what? I don't mind starting a discord group just for this/these Coachella shows.
Where would you have the discord group?
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Where would you have the discord group?
"Where"? On the app (?) Discord also has a phone app too, if that's an issue
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https://discord.gg/dQRwqu
Here guys, join in.
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I'm ready!
BTW, has anyone noticed that the time changed for X Japan's set on the official Coachella?? Yoshiki keeps saying that it's 11 or so, but the 3rd channel says 12:05 AM (midnight basically).
Coachella 3rd channel (check the tab for the set times & you'll see it too) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyh9blvR54Q
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I'm ready!
BTW, has anyone noticed that the time changed for X Japan's set on the official Coachella?? Yoshiki keeps saying that it's 11 or so, but the 3rd channel says 12:05 AM (midnight basically).
Coachella 3rd channel (check the tab for the set times & you'll see it too) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyh9blvR54Q (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyh9blvR54Q)
I think they ran out of spots for the livestreaming, looks like we'll only see half of X's show :(
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(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/896/26596142587_8e9feb2ae6_b.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/785/26596142337_b248130117_b.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/817/40574784725_e37c23e033_b.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/790/40754061344_523154b3e2_b.jpg)
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(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/807/26596141877_8d9db9200a_b.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/813/40575018755_c137854b47_b.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/810/27596930318_6ab957795b_b.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/818/40754374264_e0c6291e5f_b.jpg)
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Link to the concert uploaded on Mega.
If you have any problems downloading please let me know. Format is MP4
https://mega.nz/#!6S4UVCLC!lBS7IrS5YN4FBwJWYRzTeP4_r3O0jCfCsXsnftZrtO8
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It worked perfectly, thank you! 8)
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Thanks for recording the concert ;D
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Thank you, LEMONedME. Nice screenshots.
BTW, they say that the second stage isn't broadcast. So sad.
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(btw. who is this girl in her bra on the stage? besides he is half naked her music is really good)
Lol the girl in all white (in the bra) is elohim & she is so legit. Her 2nd album is being released next week too (I'm actually gonna go see her that Friday for her concert in L.A.). Give her a listen when you get a chance
thank you so much! I've listened to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WlzWbMrbjQ
How impressive is it when someone stands on stage and makes the electronic music "live" and sings it in such a beautiful way...
Do you have a link to her first album? Maybe Amazon or so? I've preordered her second album https://www.amazon.de/Elohim/dp/B07B5WCXT6/
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Massive thanks for the recording!
Thoughts on the show? Only watched Jade so far. Awesome to see Yoshiki actually drumming. Toshi is struggling a lot, looks like he's got serious issues with his voice, sounded almost sick? From the whole band, a Very cold and detached performance for an opening number, either stressed out or the imagine they were going for? Could be the late time, jetlag.. But they looked very much in their bubble for lack of better words. Very sober and stoic.
And those LED strips in the drum set lol :)
Maybe the energy kicks in later on.
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I couldn't be awake to see the livestreaming of Coachella. Due do the timezone differences, it started about 3AM here.
Waiting to see if someone recorded it and will upload anywhere. Based on what I saw on Instagram, the holograms were used on X, to show the "7 members" on stage. It was reasonable. X and Kurenai remain a key lower, as I suspected.
But I am curious to see how they performed the whole concert, and the reaction of the crowd. Sugizo posted on Twitter that they had some problems with the sound equipments.
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I couldn't be awake to see the livestreaming of Coachella. Due do the timezone differences, it started about 3AM here.
Waiting to see if someone recorded it and will upload anywhere. Based on what I saw on Instagram, the holograms were used on X, to show the "7 members" on stage. It was reasonable. X and Kurenai remain a key lower, as I suspected.
But I am curious to see how they performed the whole concert, and the reaction of the crowd. Sugizo posted on Twitter that they had some problems with the sound equipments.
LOL. Joker, look UP about 5 or 6 posts. The link is there for the download. Enjoy! 8)
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Despite the sound issues it was really a great concert. :) Toshi really did his best. Sugizo had a lot of issues with his guitar sound. He wasn't pleased. :)
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And those LED strips in the drum set lol :)
he had that too at the last performances in japan
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I couldn't be awake to see the livestreaming of Coachella. Due do the timezone differences, it started about 3AM here.
Waiting to see if someone recorded it and will upload anywhere. Based on what I saw on Instagram, the holograms were used on X, to show the "7 members" on stage. It was reasonable. X and Kurenai remain a key lower, as I suspected.
But I am curious to see how they performed the whole concert, and the reaction of the crowd. Sugizo posted on Twitter that they had some problems with the sound equipments.
LOL. Joker, look UP about 5 or 6 posts. The link is there for the download. Enjoy! 8)
Wow, didn't notice it. Thanks!
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And those LED strips in the drum set lol :)
he had that too at the last performances in japan
I think the colorful leds looked awesome in the dark.
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Glad they were able to perform as a full band with Sugizo but that wasn't one of their best shows by far....where to begin...
I think showing the clips from We Are X and old concerts on the screen has its place in Japan where the fans KNOW the background but it probably confused a lot of people at Coachella. Also, complete respect for hide and Taiji but to literally turn on the holograms for a few moments of X? Again, super confusing and weird for potential new fans.
Sugizo had major guitar issues which sucks but it kind of also highlighted how weak Pata's playing has become. I could hear him lagging behind Sugizo at times..they were not tight. Lowered key of Kurenai and X sounds like garbage and I'm not convinced it's for Toshi 100%, I mean he's singing quite normally in my opinion on other songs. These 2 classics now sound like demo tracks and the solos just sound neutered.
Entire band was probably pretty jet lagged and tired, hopefully the 2nd show in a week is tighter. Interested to hear reviews from those who attended.
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I think they had technical issues that were not their fault, but Coachella's. And this could be the reason for the holograms, as well, they only switched it on for a couple of seconds, i hardly think that was the original intention. Sugizo complained that he couldn't hear the notes, maybe Pata also had issues with his earpiece? A few times Toshi also looked like he lost the sound in his earpiece. These are hardly the fault of the band, who played two near-perfect shows a few days before with the same setlist :)
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Yepp, they obviously had major technical issues, and they all feel really bad about it. It was weird for me as well, that I couldn't hear Sugizo from the very beginning to the end, but looks like, he couldn't hear himself either. Which sucks. For the holograms, come on, look at the Hide one. It was almost all black... And one of the keys of Yoshiki's piano was vibrating and sounded like trash all the time, I had no idea what happened there. But I feel really bad for them. :( Some people on Twitter said, that Yoshiki even regretteg doing the show. I don't know if it's true, I'm still waiting for that Yoshiki Channel, which was after their performance. But I can imagine how dissapointed they are. I hope they can fix things for the next performance.
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I think they had technical issues that were not their fault, but Coachella's.
The sound issues were on the Coachella's side, Sugizo said on Twitter something about "I hope Coachella staff can make the sound better on the next concert". Still didn't watch the video, but by Sugizo twitter I noticed that he had some serious issues with the sound on the stage.
Glad they were able to perform as a full band with Sugizo but that wasn't one of their best shows by far....where to begin...
I think showing the clips from We Are X and old concerts on the screen has its place in Japan where the fans KNOW the background but it probably confused a lot of people at Coachella. Also, complete respect for hide and Taiji but to literally turn on the holograms for a few moments of X? Again, super confusing and weird for potential new fans.
Sugizo had major guitar issues which sucks but it kind of also highlighted how weak Pata's playing has become. I could hear him lagging behind Sugizo at times..they were not tight. Lowered key of Kurenai and X sounds like garbage and I'm not convinced it's for Toshi 100%, I mean he's singing quite normally in my opinion on other songs. These 2 classics now sound like demo tracks and the solos just sound neutered.
Entire band was probably pretty jet lagged and tired, hopefully the 2nd show in a week is tighter. Interested to hear reviews from those who attended.
I think it would be better to use the holograms on Japan concerts, not on Coachella, where most people didn't know them. It would be better to show "what is X now" to people who don't know them.
They can be really tired due to the schedule and jet lag, mainly Sugizo, which had all the visa issues and was the last one to arrive. Pata lagging behind Sugizo isn't something new, since the 2015 concerts yoy can notice it, mainly on X solo. While I see the whole band improving, Pata unfortunately seems to getting worse. Even Yoshiki playing "weaker" now sound great, he played very well on Zepp concerts. Toshi is singing quite well most songs, but Kurenai and X are quite harder than the other ones (so is Drain, which he couldn't sing properly for years).
But something that was TOTALLY UNNECESSARY was the Yoshiki on wheelchair videos.
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Yeah the wheelchair video was cringeworthy. I think Yoshiki wanted the holograms because he promised that since hide and taiji wanted so bad to perform overseas and get the band known overseas, he sees it as an obligation to pursue their dreams and to make their name known. At least one promise he acts upon ;)
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Alright, done watchign the whole thing - once again, major thanks to LEMONedMe.
So... the good news to me was that Toshi's voice did improve dramatically (almost odd) after Jade and while he did struggle in some parts, he did pretty well all things considered.
Another very positive element was Yoshiki's drumming. Truly impressive to see him on this level after the surgery. Different style but as others have said, it sounds good. Very happy for him!
That being said, the whole band felt really disconnected, I think it's the worst I've seen/heard in a very long time if not ever. Major sounds issues seemed to have plagues Sugizo but everyone else as well (Toshi constantly tapping on his monitor etc..). Sound was abysmal and they obviously knew it which is really awful and unfair to them.
The guitar solos sounded disastrous (Endless rain anyone ? Ugh.. cringe worthy). How much of it was to be blamed on technicalities vs actual performance, I don't know. I never really noticed Pata's skills going downhill like that.. must be my total denial about the issue I guess. This is really odd though isn't it ? Skilled musicians don't become terrible with age.. generally speaking, they constantly improve (I can think of numerous examples as most of my favorite bands are getting in the pretty damn old territory lol) Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, hell even Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer....just to name a few.
The setlist was typical and I guess I'll just have to accept and shut up about it but man are their newer songs not as good as their old stuff.. no way around it. Too bad... On the bright side, I do appreciate full Japanese lyrics where warranted as opposed to forced translations (I think they dropped those a while back but still, good stuff).
One last thing that really puzzled me - The holograms, the wheelchair video clip, the vintage style overdone extreme extended "We are, we are" and "Endless rain fall on my heart rinse and repeat", the " WWOooooooooo Woooo wo wooooo for kiss the sky years down the road", the failed attempts at getting the crowd to fill in the chorus.. - Who the hell thought for one second these were good ideas, appropriate for an American festival (not related to their music style on top of it) ? Can you imagine being the random curious Coachella concert goer witnessing all this ? Out of a 50 minutes or so prestation, 10 minutes were at least 'wasted' on what probably made no sense at all to most people. What an odd choice. On one end they move their style to a more pop friendly sound with all English lyrics and attend random festivals for the sake of "Rocking America" and on the other they chose to overdo their already tired theatricals with this new audience. Weird..
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Theatricals have always been part of X. Why expect them to drop it? They were very reserved and conservative with it comapred to their Japanese shows, though. It was toned down a LOT. Yoshiki kept his speech to a very minimum, he didn't faint nor did he do any weird drum smashing. He did a little here and there, but that's part of what they are. Why should they totally become something different for the sake of a festival? I think Toshi was pretty successful with the Kiss the sky crowd singing considering all things, and there were still X fans in the audience, as well. You can make people sing if you want to, I've seen other unknown artists do that at festivals. It's called interaction. If they totally subdue their true selves, they would give a different picture to potential new fans. I don't see the benefit in that. If someone likes their shit, they will like the real X Japan, and if it is notup someone's alley, they won't like the subdued version, either. They are cray Japanese dudes, everyone knows that Japanese are crazy, I don't think anyone in that audience expected anything else. :D The technical issues did leave a bad taste in the band's mouth for sure, but Toshi really tried his best to overcome these and he was smiling and warm and hyping up the crowd. Considering all the issues that were not their fault, I think this was a pretty good show.
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I havent watched, yet. I still REALLY want to see them again, and I'm sure they are still good live, but I have to say I am glad I saw them in 2010. Their energy was still close to the old days and that USA theater tour was fantastic. No weird videos, Sugizo was coming into his own and playing way more live, the setlist was really good with almost no extended breaks or interuptions...
The "We are..." chants, Endless Rain crowd participation, etc are trademark parts of X shows, now, but they have always struggled with excess junk during their sets... Theatrics in an X show are a must, but it's always important to have good balance. The fashion shows, indulgent solo portions, speeches and intermissions at inappropriate times, etc
could be way overbored at times. Even in the old days. They were always one of the best live bands imo, and they were at their best when they just played ferociously combined with some theatrics that fed of their energy (crazy costumes, a Yoshiki solo or two, some stage diving, lights and pyro, and some of the audience call and response stuff like in Endless Rain, IV, Orgasm) its just important to keep momentum going imo. I loved the theatrics during the 2010-2011 tours because they weren't over done and added to the shows.
Having some weird wheelchair video (come on, Yoshiki...) as part of a short, USA festival set sounds like a terrible idea. Kiss The Sky also seems like a wasted section of the set. It isnt even a song, right now.
Sound issues suck, and there is no way around that. I feel bad they had technical issues. Ill try and watch and actually judge, later.
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Yeah, see for yourself, I don't think the theatrics were overdone. Yoshiki had a 1 minute speech, really, seriously, nothing longer, and he hit the gong at the end and shouted we are x a few times and went to the crowd as he usually does. That wa sit. 5 minutes maximum.
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Yeah, see for yourself, I don't think the theatrics were overdone. Yoshiki had a 1 minute speech, really, seriously, nothing longer, and he hit the gong at the end and shouted we are x a few times and went to the crowd as he usually does. That wa sit. 5 minutes maximum.
Fair enough. They certainly were tame compared to what they've done in the past, that's for sure. But I still felt some moments were odd considering the general concept of them attending an event such as Coachella. Maybe theatrics wasn't the appropriate term in this case but Kiss the sky out of a short show and some attempts at crowd interaction just didn't work for me. Probably because the band didn't appear to be enjoying themselves and play as a band. Technical issues compounded with jetlag probably explains all this but you have to admit, there was little chemistry between themselves and the crowd. Toshi did try hard to overcome those issues and warmed up pretty nicely through the prestation. Yoshiki never had any issues with his stage presence, lets just put it that way ;)
I've been following these guys for over 20 years now and thought their MSG show was pretty damn awesome all things considered so I have hope they keep going for the right reasons. Let's see what the next one looks like.
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Just watched the Coachella video and the theatrical part was OK. Kiss the Sky could be scrapped from the setlist, it was weird to see them expecting the crowd to sing the "wowow" part while the song isn't even finished yet, and not even all the fans know it.
And I hope Coachella staff can make it better on the next concert. The concert sounded awful due to the technical issues. I.V. started without the P.A., Wes and Sugizo lost too much time trying to fix their sound issues and looked like everyone had issues with their earpieces.
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So... the good news to me was that Toshi's voice did improve dramatically (almost odd) after Jade and while he did struggle in some parts, he did pretty well all things considered.
It almost seems as if he would not sing in ... I also noticed it at the Japan gig on 12th of april...
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Yeah, see for yourself, I don't think the theatrics were overdone. Yoshiki had a 1 minute speech, really, seriously, nothing longer, and he hit the gong at the end and shouted we are x a few times and went to the crowd as he usually does. That wa sit. 5 minutes maximum.
Ill definitely watch soon. That doesnt sound bad. Still hoping its a decent show
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It is a decent show. I really liked it.
It's interesting to see the American audience. Especially those who do not know X
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I enjoyed it. This said, I listened a second time the whole live without watching it on purpose to concentrate on sound. Toshi always needs to warm up, it's kind of self confidence problem. Apart from earpieces and guitars, and Sugizo's singing in I.V. - what was wrong with his microphone? - the global gig's issue was interaction between the band and the context. The weelchair was obviously out of place, mostly with people who doesn't know X Japan's aesthetics. They should have conceived this live for that kind of audience, without choirs and with more coordination between themselves, but with those technical problems I think it was almost impossible, you lose it.
You know, I really think that they could solve 50% of their issues should they manage to start with a good performance of Jade, because is a marvellous song that could give them confidence and boost.
All things considered, they did more than I would expect in that condition. Toshi did his best and I think somehow the public felt it. BTBF helped to find some connection.
Let's see the next one. BTW, lakeisle did you say they won't broadcast it?
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Toshi always needs to warm up, it's kind of self confidence problem.
I don't think so, Yoshiki said Toshi couldn't hear anything from his monitor, so it was like he was singing acapella the entire time. I think he did really good given all the circumstances.
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It's interesting to see the American audience. Especially those who do not know X
Yes, some of them looked very interested and involved.
I always wonder which obstacle makes it difficult for western people to listen to j-rock... Is it a different way of feeling, or of singing, or both, or the unusual mixture of styles? Or the fact that we instinctively associate any japanese musical performance with pop manga soundtracks and not with rock?
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I think he did really good given all the circumstances.
I think so.
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Given all the problems it was a really good concert imo. Toshi was marvelous until X, where he lost his voice. The guitars were definitely messed up.. the timing issue on the double guitar solo during Endless Rain was definitely not lost by the band. Sugizo's face expression during his violin solo for Kurenai said it all...the violin tuning or SOMETHING was messed up. Then hide's hologram wasn't working even when Taiji's was... And the overall quality of the hologram just wasn't good. IV backtrack also started before Yoshiki got back to his drum.
I know that sounds like a lot of problems.. tbf, the night had a handful of them. But I have to say, even with all that it was a great concert! Everyone was in good shape to me. Yoshiki's new technique sounds great, Toshi's voice was beautiful and full of trill and clarity (his pronunication during Kiss the Sky was the best yet). Speaking of Kiss the Sky, I actually thought it was a great addition to the setlist. It was beautiful and the "woah woah woah's" actually worked better than I thought they would.. it was hard to watch at first but X stuck with it and won them over! Toshi even said "thank you" afterwards. It was a good monent. It made me happy as a fan.
BTBF was a hilight for me. Good for the audience. I personally think they need to bring the English version of Kurenai back... Maybe tweaked a bit but it would connect them to the audience so much more. I actually feel bad bc when they reunited I hated the idea of X rewriting their songs in English... Haaated it. But now... I'm finally seeing it the way I think Yoshiki was and have come around to it. I even think it's necessary. Plus it would be cool to get a different perspective lyrically instead of just hearing the same older songs the same way over and over.
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Given all the problems it was a really good concert imo. Toshi was marvelous until X, where he lost his voice. The guitars were definitely messed up.. the timing issue on the double guitar solo during Endless Rain was definitely not lost by the band. Sugizo's face expression during his violin solo for Kurenai said it all...the violin tuning or SOMETHING was messed up. Then hide's hologram wasn't working even when Taiji's was... And the overall quality of the hologram just wasn't good. IV backtrack also started before Yoshiki got back to his drum.
I know that sounds like a lot of problems.. tbf, the night had a handful of them. But I have to say, even with all that it was a great concert! Everyone was in good shape to me. Yoshiki's new technique sounds great, Toshi's voice was beautiful and full of trill and clarity (his pronunication during Kiss the Sky was the best yet). Speaking of Kiss the Sky, I actually thought it was a great addition to the setlist. It was beautiful and the "woah woah woah's" actually worked better than I thought they would.. it was hard to watch at first but X stuck with it and won them over! Toshi even said "thank you" afterwards. It was a good monent. It made me happy as a fan.
BTBF was a hilight for me. Good for the audience. I personally think they need to bring the English version of Kurenai back... Maybe tweaked a bit but it would connect them to the audience so much more. I actually feel bad bc when they reunited I hated the idea of X rewriting their songs in English... Haaated it. But now... I'm finally seeing it the way I think Yoshiki was and have come around to it. I even think it's necessary. Plus it would be cool to get a different perspective lyrically instead of just hearing the same older songs the same way over and over.
I still think rewriting the old songs in english is a terrible idea. So did they, who got back to japanese. It feels more "authentic". Let the new songs be in english and the classic songs be classic. They are trying to get new fans overseas, but Yoshiki himself said that they can't lose their japanese roots.
And the concert overall was good. The band itself was in a good shape, even looking nervous. The main issue was on Coachella structure, there were too many technical problems, not only in the audio, and even the hologram failed. I really hope the second concert is better.
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Wow, so much I want to say and I don't know I can even get it all into one post.
My feelings on the concert are that it was a great success in many ways. It finally brought them to the American public, even though the audience wasn't the best type to try to get out there and be known, with. I am not a Beyonce fan but I will say this. X Japan is real music. Beyonce is a bunch of women dancing around the stage in the same way that they and others have for the past 20 or so years and it's old, to me. I am not interested in watching that sort of crap at all. I AM, interested in all of the members of X and their well being. I love them, all.
I think other than the people who were there to see X from the get-go, the rest of the crowd never saw visual kei before and were probably confused by what they did see in the video going behind the band and the holograms. They may have been confused by the holograms and not even realized that hide and Taiji were no longer alive and that's why there were holograms going on either side of the band, if only for a moment. I am pretty confident they also had no idea how much hide and Taiji wanted X to perform in the US and what that meant to them. So this whole thing may have been confusing to them. They'll get over it if they were confused. Hopefully, they'll remember it and want more!
However, the band did a teriffic job, despite all the equipment malfunctions and what appears to be Toshi's stage fright on Jade. And I think that's basically what it was for him - stage fright. IMHO, of course. But as soon as he got past Jade, knew he could do it, he opened up and let loose with some fantastic singing all the way up until X where his voice started cracking, again. I felt awful for him at that point. I think if Jade had gone bad for him and his voice cracked during the opening song, that would have been a disaster for the rest of the concert. Once he got through it and did such a marvelous job, his confidence came back.
I don't think the theatricals were overdone, either. I do think, maybe, Yoshiki should have cut the "We Are" part shorter when he realized his voice was gone or he'd lost it. Those people in the audience probably had no clue what that was about but then that's the kind of audience they were playing to. To me, those were just a bunch of kids out to party, get drunk, do drugs, etc, etc, etc.
I am in total agreement about the wheelchair footage. That was just unnessicary and the crowd, for the most part, wouldn't even understand what that was about.
A few people, helenmoon, included, have asked about why Americans may not be interested in J-Rock, etc. I think the answer is simply that they don't know the Japanese language at all, don't understand what they are hearing or the meaning of it nor the pronunciation of the words being sung. I really think that may be the only barrier. They need more exposure and to jump right in there and find out what the lyrics are, translate them if they want to and try to sing along. Just enjoy it because the music is so excellent.
I have several aquaintences who can't speak or understand a word of Japanese but once I exposed them to X, they really are getting into them, or at least two of them are. One guy was already a fan of Baby Metal so I'm not sure if he just wasn't paying attention to other J-rock bands in general or what. He likes another young girl band from Japan, though. Maybe he wants to watch females instead of males? IDK. The other main guy works in the music industry, apparently. He may work at a record shop of a sort. Not sure as he's never said but he keeps close track of charts such as Billboard and others and can pull up stats in a heartbeat. I know he was excited about watching them at Coachella and had told me after I was posting videos all the time, that he was going to buy Blue Blood as soon as he got the chance and that was a few months ago. He said he had never heard of them before I started posting their videos on a certain forum we both belong to and that he really liked them. He also said he wished they also would sing in English more often. If he would LISTEN, he might realize a lot more of what he hears Toshi sing, is actually in English, not Japanese. The 3rd guy heard Scars and that was the first time he had ever heard X. He said he really liked it. And that's saying something for an older Stones fan! So they have a chance. They just need more promotion and exposure, I think.
As far as me recording. I am more than happy to have done it for the fans, here. And of course, I have my own copy as well. :) I am just happy that I could make my fellow X fans happy.
That's all for now but I am sure more will come up later on.
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Sugizo posted on his Twitter earlier in japanese about the technical issues, he now posted the same messages in English.
The 1st day at COACHELLA is over somehow. However, due to the worst technical trouble ever, I was not able to play my sound in a right way. So frustrated!! It was beyond my control, but I have to investigate the cause and solve it completely for future. I am really frustrated!
However, more than anything else, I deeply appreciate to everyone that I could play on that stage here in the US. Thank you so much. And I'm so sorry. I promise w'll get our revenge next week. X JAPAN's potential is not fully shown yet. Please look forward to the next time. SGZ
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thank you so much! I've listened to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WlzWbMrbjQ
How impressive is it when someone stands on stage and makes the electronic music "live" and sings it in such a beautiful way...
Do you have a link to her first album? Maybe Amazon or so? I've preordered her second album https://www.amazon.de/Elohim/dp/B07B5WCXT6/
Over here on her website ~ https://elohimstore.com/collections/music/products/elohim-cd
Told ya she was legit~ (0 w <)
**Note: I'll give my thoughts on the show a little on. I kinda need a bit to process it.
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(https://imgur.com/w3OfXmWl.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/w3OfXmW.png)
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BTBF was a hilight for me. Good for the audience. I personally think they need to bring the English version of Kurenai back... Maybe tweaked a bit but it would connect them to the audience so much more. I actually feel bad bc when they reunited I hated the idea of X rewriting their songs in English... Haaated it. But now... I'm finally seeing it the way I think Yoshiki was and have come around to it. I even think it's necessary. Plus it would be cool to get a different perspective lyrically instead of just hearing the same older songs the same way over and over.
I totally disagree here. Or maybe not totally, but I liked X not only for their music (instrumental) but also for the reason that it's not one of this 54984651378 english (symphonic) Metalbands. ... . Why I'm not totally disagree in this case is the reason that Kurenei had an english version back in the 80s.
But besides that ... Rusty Nail sounds awful (to my ears) in english. But I also have to say this about the Loudness album "Disillusion". There is an entire english version of the record. I don't think that the translation in another language is possible everytime. There is a german song called "99 Luftballons" from Nena. "99 Redballoons" also didn't work at all... But it's just my opinion.
For me I like the japanese language very much. It has a lovely tone. And that's basically the thing why I've started listen to X and other japanese bands. I'm over bored with always hearing the same language... (and as you remember you and I connected to X's music although we can't speak japanese)
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I just want to put it out there, that Yoshiki said, Toshi couldn't hear himself the entire Time, and he was singing like that. No wonder he touched his earpiece all the time. And no wonder Jade was weaker than the other songs. Singing like yoi can't hear yourself, is a huge challenge so seriously kudos for him. And Sugizo too. You know I also play in a band, and when yoi can't hear yourself that is a huuuge problem. It makes the songs fall apart. So regarding these circumstances, they held it together very well. Good job! And good luck for the revenge! Anyone knows if it's gonna be broadcasted somewhere?
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I still haven't watched it and I can't wait to get home from work to do so! Thank you so much guys for recording and uploading! :-*
TL;DR: ate some (really) bad lasagna, landed in the hospital, then passed out. Kids, don't eat bad lasagna. It can kill you. Or worse, keep you from watching X live at Coachella.
Judging only from I've read on the internet so far, this seems to be a typical case of terrible planning at a management/creative level. Echoing pretty much what you guys said before: it was not the right moment to evoke X's long and tragic history - and yet, can X exist and connect with an audience beyond that very history? Or have we all just realized that no, they actually can't pass for a palatable and easy to explain festival act? How do you zip-file their existence since 1982 and showcase it in under an hour? Maybe you can't and playing at Coachella really was a huge mistake.
I always wonder which obstacle makes it difficult for western people to listen to j-rock... Is it a different way of feeling, or of singing, or both, or the unusual mixture of styles? Or the fact that we instinctively associate any japanese musical performance with pop manga soundtracks and not with rock?
This is an extremely interesting question. I would go with a mix of language barrier (and the incorrect assumption that you absolutely need to understand the lyrics to feel a song), unusual looks and a generalized gender-fluidity phobia in the West (how many times have you introduced awesome Jrock bands to your friends only to have them debate if that guy in the frilly outfit is male or female?) and most Jrock bands being rather reluctant about intracting with western audiences.
X Japan is an exception here and I see Yoshiki's efforts to establish a connection with the West with great, great respect. You can question his methods, but you can't deny that it takes some serious balls to do what he's trying to do and brush off the backslash. Then look at his fellow bandmembers: few have a presence on mainstream Western social media (Pata, Heath) and those who do (Toshi, Sugizo) hardly even bother to translate their posts for the international fanbase. Of all, Yoshiki is also the only one who bothers to fly here and there to meet fans in Europe and America - correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he ever brought a fellow bandmate along to his We Are X "premieres", conventions and whatnot. Again, language barrier is a thing, but Toshi and Sugizo sound decent enough in English to do the job. So why don't they? Maybe because being a superstar in Japan is already a full-time job!
In terms of music, X is always a good example of a band that's very palatable for Western audiences. The base of their sound is very classical and the structure of their ballads evokes well-known acts like the Guns, the Scorpions, Led Zep, Metallica, etc. If you like classic rock, you like X. But you need a very open mind.
Then there's a few bands that are very typically Jrock but that somehow have a je ne sais quoi that just works in the West. Dir en Grey, for example. Not my favourite band ever, but I felt a connection with their music from the start. Tracks like Ain't afraid to die are, by all standards, amazing pieces of music that break the language bareer quite easily and that I never bothered to Google Translate. Their looks are still pretty shocking and can elicit a very loud WTF?! if you don't know them, but they soon become captivating. Malice Mizer is another example. If you like metal, you like these guys. But again, you need to broaden your horizons.
Then you've got other bands that are just as awesome, but that don't work in the West and never will. Say Buck-Tick. (Not they they ever tried to leave their comfort zone, anyway.) For once, the looks and stage acts are quite tame, but their lyrics are cryptic, their feel is somehow a dozen shades darker than Bauhaus. To enjoy Buck-Tick, you can't just be a new wave fan. You really need to be living deep in a bat-infested cave!
Bottom line is, of all Jap bands, X is still the one with the biggest potential to succeed overseas. They have the sound quality, the experience, the connections and one hell of a story to tell. But they need to make serious efforts to pass for world citizens and break the "typical cray Jap" stereotype. Coachella is not the right place to start.
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Just mirroring some things others have said, the theatrics related to things that people there would've had no idea about were unnecessary and would've been a turn off, it's just as much of a problem as when they did it at the Lolapalooza show, no one's going to get it, and if you want new people to see a show where some of this info can be presented in a way that they can take it all in/understand the history, do it at shows that will either be broadcasted worldwide or get released in some form, big shows like MGS, Wembley, or the Olympics if they end up performing there. This is also a case of just trying to load new peoples minds with too much info at once instead of playing the songs and letting people concentrate on the music.
However, it being X they of course didn't fail on bringing top moments where they get their most crazy with Toshi shouting "we are, we are", then Toshi playing on the drums while Yoshiki's shouting, and yo's final drumrolls with Toshi shouting and all that, while it's definitely very confusing to that kind of crowd who's never heard them before, it's no doubt exciting, infact not knowing what's going on in the moment could make it more exciting in a way.
Big question imo is, does all that at the end make those people forget about Sugizo's terrible sound during the solos and toshi's constant cracking during 'X' that came before the "we are, we are" crazy stuff? I think Toshi carried the show before 'X' when a lot of their things were going to sh**, despite apparently not being able to hear himself through the whole thing, he was singing extremely well (I thought his vibrato sounded different than usual though, maybe not hearing himself explains it), barely a crack from his voice before 'X', and even though some of the crowd participation in songs like Kiss the Sky was too much for that crowd (only the third song in? Really guys?), I think Toshi led those people well into understanding what to do, from what I could hear it sounded like a lot more then the three rows of X-Japan fans at the front who were singing the "woah woah woahs", at least it sounded like they were trying to remember what toshi sang and give it a go.
It's hard to tell which side the people there leaned towards, either 'confusion/terrible guitar sound' or 'some excitingly paced songs with a great singer (except the end gulp) who's good at entertaining them and getting them interacting'. It's like a confusing mix of both which could make people think "I didn't like a lot of the things they did, but they're very entertaining and wierdly interesting and I'll probably ckeck them out next weekend, hope that singer doesn't crack as much".
But there will also undoubtably be people there who are only into the rap, rnb, dubstep, chill thing and couldn't give two flying f**** about guitars and structured songs like that, or anything before the 2000's, and don't want to hear anything emotional either, that was a given from the off though.
Overall it all probably turned out okay reception wise, and X-Japan will be there next week and hopefully show them more of what they're like performance wise. Yoshiki keeping his speech to one minute and saying some basic things was probably the most wisely restricted and 'presenting themselves as a new band to new people' thing they did the whole show.
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X Japan is now a legacy band, and there is nothing wrong with that. To think they can "make it" in the West/ U.S. is simply foolish. If Yoshiki realized this 10 years ago, I feel as though they'd be in a much better creative space, now
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ack
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X Japan is now a legacy band, and there is nothing wrong with that. To think they can "make it" in the West/ U.S. is simply foolish. If Yoshiki realized this 10 years ago, I feel as though they'd be in a much better creative space, now
As for nowadays, I still don't think it's impossible, but extremely unlikely now unless they get moving, have this album out within a couple of years, or do a glorious show at the Olympics, infact album in the West + Olympics would do the trick, but depends on how Yoshiki's physical/mental health improve from here, it's still possible they can do it.
I reckon they definitely could've made it ten years ago quite easily, and sticking with the old album plan of lots of the old songs redone with english lyrics mixed with new songs would've gone down a storm (I think Scars for example would be a well loved song, and it has a modern Muse era type rock feeling to it). the old songs weren't popular because of the language, they're unique compared to any other band I've heard, even the songs most comparable to other metal bands, I understand Yoshiki not wanting to be stuck in the past and have "look at us Westerners look how popular we were with this style in the 90's" as their selling point, but at the same time, their songs are timeless in a way and Yoshiki would never have needed to advertise at all that "half the songs in this album are old ones btw", just release them plus some new songs under the banner of a new album, first introduction to the band in the west and it would've turned out great imo.
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Big question imo is, does all that at the end make those people forget about Sugizo's terrible sound during the solos and toshi's constant cracking during 'X' that came before the "we are, we are" crazy stuff? I think Toshi carried the show before 'X' when a lot of their things were going to sh**, despite apparently not being able to hear himself through the whole thing, (...)
GOOD POINT! I watched part of it during lunch break and damn, kudos for Toshi! His singing was very decent for a guy who's tapping his ear monitor every 3 seconds. And without Yoshiki stumbling around stirring the drama, you can tell what an awesome stage presence he has. Kudos for Toshi, for the impressive damage control!
I also found that the guitars didn't sound half as bad as I feared they would. And kudos for Sugizo, too. He was certainly aware of the sound issues but kept his cool like a pro.
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I just relistened to Jade and I think this is one of Toshi's better versions of it, I'm not sure what people mean here when they say it wasn't great and he picked up after that.
Btw, I hate when they essentially stop the song after Toshi finishes singing the bridge, I've always way preferrered the first two years they performed it, where Toshi's singing in the bridge was an epic build up to the last chorus repeating again. It's always been crap since then when they decided to stop the song after that to get the crowd to sing it back to them when imo the chorus doesn't fit that kind of crowd interaction, and then they go back to the chorus, it weakens that moment when it used to blast into the last chorus, it used to feel powerful.
I though performing to a whole crowd who's never heard them before, they'd stop doing that for this one show and go back to the old way they did that section, but nope, they really confuse me sometimes lol.
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Y does noone mentions Kurenai? :D
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You know what, I have seen a lot of comments from non-fans that saw them live and on the stream and they have all been saying how awesome X Japan was LOL I have a friend that saw the stream and she thought they were incredible and she loved it, I mention the things that went wrong and she said she didn't notice anything too bad. I guess *we* know it wasn't supposed to be like this because we are very familiar with the band but maybe someone else might not pay so much attention to details or even notice what was wrong. I think, all and all, the reception was positive.
EDIT: When Kurenai started, the deeper sound really threw me off because it was so unexpected, I heard the version from the Zepp Tokyo concert and it didn't sound so different to me as this one, might be related to all the problems they had who knows. I think the performance was going pretty well until the 2nd solo. oh well.
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Y does noone mentions Kurenai? :D
When I and others here have mentioned Sugizo's guitar sound problems I think we're mainly refering to the kurenai gutar solo, at least I am, are we missing something else? the only other thing to mention I guess is Toshi's voice, but it was just the same/as good as on the other songs.
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Honestly I didn't care for Kurenai this time around :-[
Not only the guitar solo problem bit the violin sounded screechy. I guess it was in a lower key too? I didn't even notice, but maybe that explains why I wasn't as interested in it at this concert. Kurenai was my least favorite song performed this time.
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Kurenai has his violin start back and TOSHIS VOICE!
Yes, it was a bit lower, but he sang most of the song. Mostly he screams in at the part where you can only hear the voice and the fans sing the part. I can't remember any concert in the past 25 years where he actually sings this part. Anf his voice was really really good at it. I think that was amazing :D
btw. there is another reason for Toshis constant hand-to-ear maneuver. If you press your hand or your finger against your ear, then you hear yourself clearly. So I do not think he just did it to get the in-ear listeners right ...
Did I mentioned that I luv the violin beginning? ;)
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Did I mentioned that I luv the violin beginning? ;)
I do love the addition of Sugizo's violin to Kurenai, just not this time :-[ I actually love allllll of Sugizo's violin input... It's literally always only added to and made a song better. It kind of makes me sad Sugizo and Yoshiki never collaborated before!
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Did I mentioned that I luv the violin beginning? ;)
I do love the addition of Sugizo's violin to Kurenai, just not this time :-[ I actually love allllll of Sugizo's violin input... It's literally always only added to and made a song better. It kind of makes me sad Sugizo and Yoshiki never collaborated before!
Oh yes, it's a shame!
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Sugizo's violin is so great it actually makes me sad. I would have loved for it to be incorporated more on actual newly recorded songs
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Yeah I think we forget that people who don't know the songs wouldn't even realize rhe mistakes because they don't have the melodies in their ears like we do. We notice if Toshi sings lower or if Sugizo is playing the guitar solo wrong because we know these songs inside out. New people won't notice such details. So far I only read very positive reviews of the show! It is awesome, and whatever people think about Coahella nit being the right place for X, it is exposure. Sometimes you need to go into the pop lion's cave and ramble there with some japanese metal to catch attention.
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I went on the Coachella subreddit and outside of one X fan who made a thread and got literally one reply, I couldn't find a single thread or discussion on X, so I wonder how much people noticed them, it's not just them, I'm guessing it's the same for every new act who's played at the festival and people there have never heard before, people mainly want to talk about acts they're already a fan of and for nostalgia purposes. They definitely got a good reception/reputation from this though, and next weekend will most likely be better for them.
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There was a thread on Reddit. Few comments, but people seem to like it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/8cdsdd/holograms_return_to_coachella_x_japan/
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So the "surprise" Yoshiki had in store for next Saturday is.... Marylin Manson. Thoughts?
I'm not much of a Manson fan, but I'm curious to see what it will be like. I can't quite imagine Manson singing with Toshi, so I suppose he'll have his own solo moment?
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here what RollingStone wrote about X Japan performance at Coachella ("The 18 best things we saw...")
"X Japan
While Beyoncé delivered the epic performance of her career across the field, X Japan landed in the Mojave Tent to deliver on the flash and melodrama that has made them hugely popular across the globe. They played to a modest but excited crowd, the front rows packed with true believers singing and weeping along. There were hard rock explosions and teary ballads, and cameos by Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit and Richard Fortus of Guns N' Roses. "Jade" began with a speed metal riff and geysers of pyro, then shifted into an emotional glam melody and lyrics sung in English. The star behind the drums and piano was band mastermind Yoshiki, shirtless and wearing a leather neck brace. He ended the night with the band's traditional show of unity, shouting "We are! We Are!" and their followers responding with a rousing "X! X!"
P.S. "mastermind Yoshiki shirtless" eheh ;)
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shirtless - this is the important thing! ;D
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There was a thread on Reddit. Few comments, but people seem to like it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/8cdsdd/holograms_return_to_coachella_x_japan/
Those are really some great comments on there. And they recognized Sugzio's guitar issues, too. Most if not all said they enjoyed X a LOT more than Beyonce. Yay!!! That makes me feel great and I bet the band thinks so, too. Relieved. Those are the only comments I've seen posted at all and I didn't know where else to look but twitter and Facebook.
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here what RollingStone wrote about X Japan performance at Coachella ("The 18 best things we saw...")
"X Japan
While Beyoncé delivered the epic performance of her career across the field, X Japan landed in the Mojave Tent to deliver on the flash and melodrama that has made them hugely popular across the globe. They played to a modest but excited crowd, the front rows packed with true believers singing and weeping along. There were hard rock explosions and teary ballads, and cameos by Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit and Richard Fortus of Guns N' Roses. "Jade" began with a speed metal riff and geysers of pyro, then shifted into an emotional glam melody and lyrics sung in English. The star behind the drums and piano was band mastermind Yoshiki, shirtless and wearing a leather neck brace. He ended the night with the band's traditional show of unity, shouting "We are! We Are!" and their followers responding with a rousing "X! X!"
P.S. "mastermind Yoshiki shirtless" eheh ;)
And this is very good as well. I am glad it was published in Rolling Stone. I feel great, now! :D
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So the "surprise" Yoshiki had in store for next Saturday is.... Marylin Manson. Thoughts?
I'm not much of a Manson fan, but I'm curious to see what it will be like. I can't quite imagine Manson singing with Toshi, so I suppose he'll have his own solo moment?
I thought Yoshiki would do this... it seems that working with the Reverend gives him some new creative inspiration... I am not a Manson's fan either, anyway I listened an italian interview and have to say that, when offstage, he is quite witty and even somehow nice. I think Yoshiki's enigmatic gut feelings and taste for transformation meet more easily that I imagined with Manson's extreme performances. I'm really curious.
P.S. thanx a lot for discord chat link!
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And this is very good as well. I am glad it was published in Rolling Stone. I feel great, now! :D
Yeah, I'm so happy for them, they really deserved it!!
I realized I saw the whole live unconsciously placing myself in new western listeners' shoes... so I was a little upset about how they could experience that... but playing it back (thanx a lot LEMONedMe) I more and more appreciate Yoshiki's new drumming, the band's skill to countebalance technical issues and Toshi's voice that supported the gig almost untill the end and he's being so empathic with the audience despite his difficult situation with earphones...!
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Yoshiki's interview on Jonesy's Jukebox after Coachella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRAAsay8AJU
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Hey are you guys downloading the file on Mega or just watching it there. Just curious.
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downloading
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Good! That's why I put it up there. LOL
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Hey are you guys downloading the file on Mega or just watching it there. Just curious.
LEMONedMe, I downloaded it. Thank you! Can I link the address to the another X fan community?
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Hey are you guys downloading the file on Mega or just watching it there. Just curious.
LEMONedMe, I downloaded it. Thank you! Can I link the address to the another X fan community?
Yes, go ahead and link to another fan community. I don't know how long I will keep it up, though. I think it expires 30 days after I uploaded it, though. Tell them to hurry! LOL
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We're...we're back! Thanks whoever got that all sorted out. And thanks for the interview, I like how confident Yoshiki is here.
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(Oh thank gah, the board is back.)
I know I was gonna say my piece on the show, but my thoughts are pretty much like everyone else's. Technical crap made things bleah, most of the crowd was fish eyed & bleah, poor ToshI & his stage fright (no, srsly, poor ToshI), etc.
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Not the biggest Manson Fan, but I like some of this songs + a duet with him and Toshi could turn out good. A couple of times he played with the Pumpkins and it wasn't bad at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B-EjdJsR2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC6SOVMrEzk
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I'm a fan of Manson so I'm really looking forward to this. I think it will be edgy. I feel like Manson and VUK Yoshiki could have looooots of fun. But I'm really looking forward to what he's going to do on stage with X... So far since X's reunion, Toshi hasn't sung with guests before, has he?
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I finally listened. Not a great show, but bad shows happen to any band
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Am I the only one who hates Marilyn Manson here?
I even liked the last Wes and Fortus appearances, but... Marilyn Fucking Manson? Why?
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A fan informed me a livestreaming channel for the second X Japan gig at Coachella.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RFxoTzu9AQ&feature=youtu.be
It is not the official channel for Coachella. I can not guarantee that the information is accurate.
I hope we can see X Japan in real time on there or other channels.
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YÖS!
thx lakeisle
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Am I the only one who hates Marilyn Manson here?
I even liked the last Wes and Fortus appearances, but... Marilyn Fucking Manson? Why?
Risen Christ versus Antichrist... "There can only be one" :P
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A fan informed me a livestreaming channel for the second X Japan gig at Coachella.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RFxoTzu9AQ&feature=youtu.be
It is not the official channel for Coachella. I can not guarantee that the information is accurate.
I hope we can see X Japan in real time on there or other channels.
Ohhhhhhhh!!!!! This is great! I hope it will be good enough to record. I was just thinking about 30 minutes ago, we should tweet Coachella with all our might and beg, beg, beg them to stream the next concert, (especially since the equipment malfunctions were their fault :-X ) No I don't mean really say that to them about the malfunctions but we could sure try tweeting them! A LOT!
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Am I the only one who hates Marilyn Manson here?
I even liked the last Wes and Fortus appearances, but... Marilyn Fucking Manson? Why?
No, you are not the only one. I guess we'll have to sit together. Hahahahaha!
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Hey, that link for streaming this next show goes to a channel who appear to be visual kei fans that stream bands like X and many others. Here's their video and they've got a Facebook page. They may do a very decent job of streaming this show! FB link or name is in the comment section below the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDAidnLL4qw
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Risen Christ versus Antichrist... "There can only be one" :P
Hahaha! (featuring masaya)
It's off topic. But I wonder why Yoshiki wears a crucifix around his neck. At first, I thought he is a Catholic. But now I bet he is not a religious person. Sometimes he hangs sunglasses on his crucifix necklace.
Is it just a fashion item? Is it a symbol of anti-Christ?
LOL. I have a lot of unnecessary curiosity.
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YÖS!
thx lakeisle
nb, you don't need livestreaming because you will sleep late and will not be able to come on time. >:( >:( >:(
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The time and the stage for the concert this weekend are the same as last weekend.
https://www.coachella.com/lineup/#/artist/x-japan
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Hahaha! (featuring masaya)
It's off topic. But I wonder why Yoshiki wears a crucifix around his neck. At first, I thought he is a Catholic. But now I bet he is not a religious person. Sometimes he hangs sunglasses on his crucifix necklace.
Is it just a fashion item? Is it a symbol of anti-Christ?
LOL. I have a lot of unnecessary curiosity.
Someone once asked him that question during a Q&A session I attended here in France. He said he wore it simply because he thinks it's cool. I think the person also asked him if he was religious, he said something like "You know in Japan we have this Buddhist thing?". So... I guess he's probably a lowkey buddhist.
As for Christian-inspired paraphernalia, most Jrock bands seem rather obsessed with it. The Jealousy album (IRCC) has a picture of a Christian cross in lieu of Yoshiki's picture in the bandmembers section. Hide used to wear long coats with crosses on the back in the early 1990s as well. He once said in an interview that he attended Sunday school briefly as a child and really liked the aesthetics, but didn't understand the spiritual part. I guess our typical western symbols don't translate quite the same in the East. If you dig deep enough, you'll also find a lot of cringy outfits and salutes (examples: Hide wore the Nazi armband in the Saver Tiger days, there was a popular band called The Stalin in the 80s, Yoshiki posed in an erotic photoshoot with a guy wearing a Nazi-esque uniform, etc.) A lot of Western folks are shocked by this, but the truth is that Eastern folks don't associate these visuals with the same connotation as we do, or so it seems. They wear stuff because they think it looks cool, and that's about it.
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Toshi has won a large cross, too. I believe he is also Buddhist.
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Yoshiki does talk about God in his lyrics. He might have said it was cool to wear the cross when asked about it but I can guarantee he didn't say he "simply wore it because it was cool."
Blind dance: Leave me in the place where I belong... On the other side, where God lead me.
Jade: Will God break my fall? And "makes me wanna dive in the color of Heaven"
Blue Butterfly: I cast my shadow into the will of God.
La Venus- Til we fly from here to Heaven
He has a song called Sex and Religion, Angel, and VUK-R's other title is God Bless You All.
Those are just some examples. Even if Angel and heaven can be used symbolically they show up too much and in conjunction with his use of God to simply be that.
It's not really fair to ask celebrities about their religion unless they make it obvious they already are something... He does often say he's praying for victims of natural disasters and such via Twitter, too.
Edit: Nazi symbols are not as easily used even in Asia these days. To say it flat out means a different thing over there is an antiquated view. Back in the 80s it was more ok, and it definitely still isn't as offensive as it is in the west, but a kpop member would be eaten alive by netizens for wearing a Nazi uniform nowadays, for example.
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I think he did say in that Q&A that he wore it because it’s cool but he also said he does believe in God and the person that asked the question was like “Well, I’m an atheist” lol but he has said before he doesn’t have an specific religion but he does believe in god and he also said he does some buddist rituals sometimes.
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Edit: Nazi symbols are not as easily used even in Asia these days. To say it flat out means a different thing over there is an antiquated view. Back in the 80s it was more ok, and it definitely still isn't as offensive as it is in the west, but a kpop member would be eaten alive by netizens for wearing a Nazi uniform nowadays, for example.
Agree. Right now we live in a moment in history where East and West aren't blindly poking at each other anymore. It all gets way more real when it happens right next to you, but people know where the boundaries are. Back then, without the internet and without a certain level of cultural rapprochement, I can see why kids thought the Nazis and Stalin were cool stuff to throw into the mix. Pretty much like the West has long glamourized the samurai, geishas, the Russian tzar, Rasputin...
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Edit: Nazi symbols are not as easily used even in Asia these days. To say it flat out means a different thing over there is an antiquated view. Back in the 80s it was more ok, and it definitely still isn't as offensive as it is in the west, but a kpop member would be eaten alive by netizens for wearing a Nazi uniform nowadays, for example.
Agree. Right now we live in a moment in history where East and West aren't blindly poking at each other anymore. It all gets way more real when it happens right next to you, but people know where the boundaries are. Back then, without the internet and without a certain level of cultural rapprochement, I can see why kids thought the Nazis and Stalin were cool stuff to throw into the mix. Pretty much like the West has long glamourized the samurai, geishas, the Russian tzar, Rasputin...
Yup, exactly. The internet has done amazing things. The east looks more closely at western entertainment (thus society) now more than ever, and visa versa and, culturally, the two are growing more and more alike in the youth ranks. We will only continue to merge as time goes on.
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a little bit of. but i'm very happy that x has no Hakenkreuze in it's history.
But look at these guys. Actually there are TWO ex-X Japan members in it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZ6Y6APUPQ
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I wanted to ask exactly that question. Thank you French fan! And thank you for letting me know about it, matsumoto.
As for Western folks and Eastern folks, I don't know much about Japanese entertainment industry because X Japan is the first and the only band I'm into(I'm learning Jrock and Jpop little by little though). But as a Korean, I'm very familiar with Korean entertainment industry. I agree with returner. If a kpop member wears Hakenkreuz, they would be harshly criticized. We learn about Nazism not only at school but also through books, movies and other media("The Diary of Anne Frank" is a must-read book. "La vita è bella" and "Schindler's List" are super famous).
However, the level of criticism due to wearing Hakenkreuz is nothing compared to the one they will receive when they wear "Rising Sun Flag". When a member of SNSD posted a Rising Sun Flag emoji on her snapchat, she was almost trampled by angry netizens. We have our own historical issues and respond right away to the stuffs directly related to our history. I mean, we understand the meaning of Nazi symbol over the head, but cannot feel it from the heart unlike the symbols that are related to our history directly.
Nevertheless, the Nazi symbol is a kind of taboo in our society as well.
Back to religion topic, last year, cheap comedy tv series were broadcast in Korea. The synopsis is that a man went to the Middle East and became a wealthy Count, and one day he happen to know that he had a daughter... such a story. The drama didn't get any attention until one day they announced the official apology. It's because they received tremendous protests from Muslims for the reason they made a joke about Islamic culture. They apologized in English and Arabic and deleted the footage from the VOD services, but anger of Muslims lasted long. Some people even went to the station and threatened that they could be terrorized if they do this again.
It was a shock to me. And I first learned the word "cultural appropriation". There is no Korean word for "cultural appropriation". We lack education and awareness about such things mainly because our society is not multicultural. I searched for English posts on "cultural appropriation" and found that many kpop idols were being blamed for dreadlocks, and the use of some Indian or Arabic images in their music videos. At first, it was very difficult for me to understand. But now, I'm kind of educated in some way.
We can say crucifix is a symbol of Catholic or Orthodox, right? But no one blames Yoshiki for using the necklaces as a fashion item. What if he used the symbol of Islam as an accessory? It's hard to imagine.
I still can't understand it. "cultural appropriation" does not apply to Christianity?
I'm not blaming Yoshiki. I just can't understand the meaning of "cultural appropriation" perfectly.
+ I have a photo of Sugizo wearing a Nazi armband(holding a whip). But I am sure that Sugizo is very far from Nazism. Some people even call him "the left" because of his actions or remarks. Yes, Japanese rockstars do not seem to read much into the Western symbols.
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lakeisle, are you positive that Sugzio is wearing a swastika? Are you sure it's not a cross in the old fashion of many countries? I ask because as soon as I saw this all brought up in the topic, I remembered that the Nazi's butchered the meaning of the swastika and made it their symbol but it was not always just theirs. In fact, it is an ancient symbol for many religions and cultures and I just read it is also used by Buddhists.
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See what I mean?
"Swastika
The swastika (卐) is a symbol that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross, with its four arms bent at 90 degrees. The earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization as well as the Mediterranean Classical Antiquity and paleolithic Europe. Swastikas have also been used in various other ancient civilizations around the world including Turkic, India, Iran, Nepal, China, Japan, Korea and Europe. It remains widely used in Indian religions, specifically in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism, primarily as a tantric symbol that invokes Lakshmi - the Vedic goddess of wealth, prosperity and auspiciousness.
The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" (meaning "good" or "auspicious") combined with "asti" (meaning "it is"), along with the diminutive suffix "ka." The swastika literally means "it is good." It is a common practice for Hindus to draw Swastika symbol on the doors and entrances to their houses during festivals, which is believed to symbolize an invitation to goddess Lakshmi. The name "sauwastika" is sometimes given to the left-facing arms symbol, which is a mirror image of swastika (卍)."
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-RKWUOENSNo/S1HXWvYHmnI/AAAAAAAACiE/H26mXP-Jzyg/s320/swastika4.gif)
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Well, it sounds like you are correct about Sugzio's outfit in the photo you have. I wonder whatever possessed him to wear that? LOL
I really don't take it very seriously either. What got me interested in all of this symbolism was that among my grandfather's belongings (he died years before I was born), I found a beaded belt with what I called swastikas going all the way around it and it shocked me. I started doing some research on it because he was Slovak and immigrated to the USA before WWI ! So it couldn't have been Nazi, I think. But what was it, then? Then I found out, Christians used the symbol as well but the cross arms go the opposite direction. I was relieved when I looked at his belt and compared it to a Nazi swastika. Hahahahaha!
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:o Where did your post go? lololololol
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Well, it sounds like you are correct about Sugzio's outfit in the photo you have. I wonder whatever possessed him to wear that? LOL
I remember reading an article about nazi symbols in visual kei bands. From what I remember, until mid 90's japanese poeple didn't have too much information about what nazism really was and some bands used swastikas just to "appear rebel", like if it was some kind of "punk" stuff.
Nowadays, we're living in a more "connected" world, information is more widespread and for years no visual kei band used nazi symbols anymore. I remember on XRD, another X-related site which received much contribution from Jun, they said Jun didn't like Rommel stuff to be shared because he didn't want to be seen as a nazi. I think same thing happened to Sugizo, who shows himself totally diferent from what a neonazi would be, often tweeting against wars, composing songs like "No More Machineguns" and "Enola gay", and even spending some time in Jordan helping Syrian refugees.
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That's really informative info as well as what lakeisle posted, Joker. Thanks! :)
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Yeah, bunch of visual key artists dressed up sort of in a tweeked nazi uniform. It was apparently chic back in the day. Nowadays I think they would be publically executed for that by fans and non-fans alike.
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Well, it sounds like you are correct about Sugzio's outfit in the photo you have. I wonder whatever possessed him to wear that? LOL
I remember reading an article about nazi symbols in visual kei bands. From what I remember, until mid 90's japanese poeple didn't have too much information about what nazism really was and some bands used swastikas just to "appear rebel", like if it was some kind of "punk" stuff.
I'm German. So there are no excuses and Germany was guilty of the massacre of the Jews and war with the whole world. We Germans know that very well and are very ashamed of it. Even though we had nothing to do with it, often not even our grandparents, but only our great-grandparents. But it has changed Germany a lot. We have been a Pacific nation ever since and are largely out of every war.
Now to Japan. Japan was an ally of Germany and thus fought for fascism, etc. The problem was the atomic bomb. Perpetrators suddenly became victims. Because Hiroshima and Nagasaki were so terrible that it was quickly forgotten what Japan actually did everything bad in World War II.
We know what we did. Therefore swastikas are completely forbidden in Germany and you get a lot trouble if you have a flag, even if you only have them in the drawer at home.
The Japanese never really had to deal with their Nazi past. And as is often the case, if you do not work your past, then you can not learn from it.
I think that's why Japanese bands in the 80s just chose the most provocative icons. Even now, there are still SS patches in regular T-shirt stores alongside Black Flag and Sex Pistols. And there are many stores that sell German militaria from the World War II in Japan.
This is probably more due to ignorance and not really because so many Japanese really found what Germany has initiated. I mean, there was fascism everywhere. Italy, Spain etc.
All the more I am glad that X did not commit this mistake. Otherwise they would never have had a chance in the West. At least not in Europe.
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But look at these guys. Actually there are TWO ex-X Japan members in it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZ6Y6APUPQ
Ouch, those guys. This made me cringe so hard. I'm not the easily offended type, but my stomach acidity levels just went through the roof. ???
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:o Where did your post go? lololololol
LEMONedMe,
sorry. I thought I deleted the post before someone read it. Hahahaha.
It was because of the problem that I talked to you before. 8)
(English)
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As regards nazi symbols of course I think as well they were not used for their political meaning, but because their sadomasochistic implications met somehow with some bands's topics (for exemple "Sadistic desire").
I was wondering whether Yoshiki and the band ever watched the so called german trilogy by director Liliana Cavani. One of those films is "The night porter". If we look at some Charlotte Ramplig's shots
here
https://www.megamodo.com/200949066-liliana-cavani-torna-a-parlare-de-il-portiere-di-notte/
we could find some similarities with Yoshiki's androginous look in the shots with Sakurai Atsushi we were just talking about .
The film was released in 1975 also in Japan
https://www.discogs.com/Daniele-Paris-%E6%84%9B%E3%81%AE%E5%B5%90-The-Night-Porter-Il-Portiere-Di-Notte-Original-Soundtrack/release/8888402
and one of the other three films of german trilogy was "The Berlin affair" which was released in 1985 and was based on novel "The Buddhist Cross" of japanese writer Tanizaki, which makes me think that - perhaps - at that time these films could be quite known in Japan.
It's only a hypothesis, but could be...
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I remember reading an article about nazi symbols in visual kei bands. From what I remember, until mid 90's japanese poeple didn't have too much information about what nazism really was and some bands used swastikas just to "appear rebel", like if it was some kind of "punk" stuff.
That will never make sense to me. The Japanese were directly involved with Germany in WWII. That to me just shows that they were so ashamed of their past that they chose to leave it out of the history books as time went forward.
We choose to give Japan a pass saying they were ignorant but how?? However... I will say, that those following the war (40s Japan, 50s Japan) are the ones responisble for the ignorance of those following, up to today.
I love the country of Japan and Japanese culture but it has a habit of doing that.... Like what they did with S. Korea's comfort women. They won't acknowledge what they did. Only very few soldiers who carry their shame will openly apologize.
They could learn a lesson from Germany in regards to their involvement with WWII, but I guess that will be up to the younger generation opening their ears to the world more so than anything else at this point.
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Just in:
Get ready. I'll be answering your questions on Twitter tomorrow at 3-4pm PDT for #CoachellaQs
#AskYoshiki from #XJapan #Coachella @TwitterMusic @Coachella
https://twitter.com/YoshikiOfficial
https://www.facebook.com/YoshikiOfficial/photos/a.368480926524228.85046.148183251887331/1742401402465500/?type=3&theater
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I was wondering whether Yoshiki and the band ever watched the so called german trilogy by director Liliana Cavani. One of those films is "The night porter". If we look at some Charlotte Ramplig's shots
here
https://www.megamodo.com/200949066-liliana-cavani-torna-a-parlare-de-il-portiere-di-notte/
The Night Porter was hugely popular in Japan back in the day, or so it seems. I've seen Japanese artists quote it as one of their inspirations for songwriting and aesthetics multiple times over the years. In the Jrock scene you've got Buck-Tick's guitarist Imai, who is seemingly a big fan of the film. One of his songs in their latest album opens just like this: The night porter, he gazed upon the gigantic tooth-edged gears (...) So I believe your hunch is more than correct!
They could learn a lesson from Germany in regards to their involvement with WWII, but I guess that will be up to the younger generation opening their ears to the world more so than anything else at this point.
Couldn't agree more with your entire post!
Funny how distance can influence things. Here in central Europe we're extremely cautious when we talk about all things WW2-related. Here in France, for instance, talking about the Occupation is okay, but mentioning that Vichy France was once aligned with Nazi Germany is kind of taboo. Saying things like "grammar nazi" out loud might be okay elsewhere, but it might just as well earn you an uncomfotable laugh from your German friends. Likewise, communist jokes and "in Soviet Russia" jokes are widely tolerated over here, which is not the case at all in Eastern Europe. Call a Russian bro a commie if he disagrees with the lastest liberal trend and he'll likely give you an awkward side-eye.
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The Japanese deny much of their wrongdoings in the past and not just WWI. If you look at the occupation of Korea between 1910 and 1945, they did horrible things there... Not just practically trying to erase Korean culture by japanifying the whole penninsula (forbiding to use Korean language in newspapers/media/textbooks, mandatory Japanese name for everyone, demolishing historical buildings and artifacts etc), they had labor camps and there is the issue of comfort women, women who were practically abducted or lured into military camps with promises of "work" and kept there against their will to serve Japanese soldiers as prostitutes. Japan has not admitted to any of these publically, even though there is significant historical evidence of what they had done, it's all documented and even filmed in a lot of cases... They live in denial, so I am not surprised that WWII nazi symbols are freely used. To the majority of the younger generation, these things are never properly taught, out of "national pride".
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When asked if X Japan will do another American tour, Yoshiki replies: "Depends on the reactions from tomorrow night's #XJapan performance at @Coachella. Thanx for your support. Come see us!"
(https://twitter.com/YoshikiOfficial/status/987461012847652865)
lol pretty frustrating answer. I mean, you aren't going to naturally find a lot of fans at that festival for multiple reasons (completely different genre/musical offering/different scene, the cost just to attend, etc). I hope he's not serious. I think they should reflect on the turnout for 2010 and they'll see they nearly filled 1,500-2,000 capacity theatres around North America. With more promotion and the launch of the new album, that should be no issue to do again.
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Yea they need a new album out for people to buy and they need to market the hell out of it with a lot of radio play if possible. At least on itunes, etc. Push, push, push! Do not rely on Coachella, FFS!!!
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As regards nazi symbols of course I think as well they were not used for their political meaning, but because their sadomasochistic implications met somehow with some bands's topics (for exemple "Sadistic desire").
I was wondering whether Yoshiki and the band ever watched the so called german trilogy by director Liliana Cavani. One of those films is "The night porter". If we look at some Charlotte Ramplig's shots
As you know, "Sadistic Desire" was composed by HIDE, but the lyrics were written by Yoshiki. The lyrics are really sadomasochistic as well as that of "Rose of Pain".
Yoshiki said in his interview that he was impressed with the movie "Blue Velvet", and wrote the lyrics to "Sadistic Desire".
http://www.xjapantranslations.com/rockinf-1988-june-issue
ㄴ Here is the interview translated into English.
Yoshiki seems to have been fascinated by David Lynch. He even asked David Lynch to direct his music video for "Longing". I speculate David Lynch was one of Yoshiki's idols like KISS, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, etc. When I first heard that David Lynch directed the MV "Longing", I screamed... Wow! Yoshiki met his hero again? He is a successful fan. How wonderful his life is!
But, apparently, the MV was not released officially for unknown reasons. And Yoshiki never mentions David Lynch. It's a bit odd given that how much he boasts his relationship with celebrities like Marilyn Manson or KISS, and even brief encounters with Michael Jackson or Bill Gates. I speculate something happened between him and the director. Haha!
Anyway, you can see the MV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxx4Dzb3YB8
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When asked if X Japan will do another American tour, Yoshiki replies: "Depends on the reactions from tomorrow night's #XJapan performance at @Coachella. Thanx for your support. Come see us!"
(https://twitter.com/YoshikiOfficial/status/987461012847652865)
lol pretty frustrating answer. I mean, you aren't going to naturally find a lot of fans at that festival for multiple reasons (completely different genre/musical offering/different scene, the cost just to attend, etc). I hope he's not serious. I think they should reflect on the turnout for 2010 and they'll see they nearly filled 1,500-2,000 capacity theatres around North America. With more promotion and the launch of the new album, that should be no issue to do again.
I don't think he's serious. I think he's just trying to hype the show he's already got coming up instead of committing to one that's not even on the table yet.
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Guys, I read your opinions on war crimes very interestingly. I have tons of things I want to add but holding back, I'd like to post just one thing. It's not very widely known even to Korean fans. I learned it a few days ago.
In 2006, Toshl performed for the comfort women in Korea. The link to the related article is not found because it is outdated, but there are screenshots of it. In the article, it is written that some of the performance's profit will be donated to the comfort women's community.
And a clip of the performance remains. Toshl sang a traditional Korean song called "The Spring of Home" playing the piano. He sang in Korean and you can hear the audience(comfort women) sang along. Here is the link.
https://tv.kakao.com/channel/9262/cliplink/384750012
Thank you, Toshl. Korean fans love you.
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This is interesting. 30 minute video interview, as well.
On "Jonesy's Jukebox"
The X Japan drummer discusses playing the popular SoCal festival at the same time as Beyoncé, his band's new documentary and his love for David Bowie
NATE HERTWECK GRAMMYS APR 18, 2018 - 8:42 AM
X Japan made their big Coachella debut this past weekend in Indio, Calif. On April 17, the band's drummer, Yoshiki, was the featured guest on Steve Jones' KLOS-FM radio show "Jonesy's Jukebox," where the two discussed everything from favorite rock bands, to X Japan's history, to what it was like going on stage the same time as Beyoncé's instant classic set.
https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/yoshiki-talks-x-japan-coachella-david-bowie-more-jonesys-jukebox
ETA: Another interview, short one, different person with Yoshiki. It's down at the bottom of the page.
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Guys, I read your opinions on war crimes very interestingly. I have tons of things I want to add but holding back, I'd like to post just one thing. It's not very widely known even to Korean fans. I learned it a few days ago.
In 2006, Toshl performed for the comfort women in Korea. The link to the related article is not found because it is outdated, but there are screenshots of it. In the article, it is written that some of the performance's profit will be donated to the comfort women's community.
And a clip of the performance remains. Toshl sang a traditional Korean song called "The Spring of Home" playing the piano. He sang in Korean and you can hear the audience(comfort women) sang along. Here is the link.
https://tv.kakao.com/channel/9262/cliplink/384750012
Thank you, Toshl. Korean fans love you.
wow that is very interesting! Though I have mixed feelings about this because this was under Masaya's influence...
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Sugizo jumps on the bandwagon to say the album is 99.9% done. ;D
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhzm0kxl51-/
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Guys, I read your opinions on war crimes very interestingly. I have tons of things I want to add but holding back, I'd like to post just one thing. It's not very widely known even to Korean fans. I learned it a few days ago.
In 2006, Toshl performed for the comfort women in Korea. The link to the related article is not found because it is outdated, but there are screenshots of it. In the article, it is written that some of the performance's profit will be donated to the comfort women's community.
And a clip of the performance remains. Toshl sang a traditional Korean song called "The Spring of Home" playing the piano. He sang in Korean and you can hear the audience(comfort women) sang along. Here is the link.
https://tv.kakao.com/channel/9262/cliplink/384750012
Thank you, Toshl. Korean fans love you.
Thank you for posting this. Our connection has been very bad tonight so I don't know if I was able to see the whole performance that was on that page but it was nice.
I remember hearing about the Comfort Girls or Comfort Women, before. I just knew what that meant but after reading your post, I went in search of information about these girls and women. It's just terrible. It seems that in every single war and even before this time, way back in history, men have abused women for one reason or another.
It always makes me wonder why they had to do that. Why they had to abuse or torture or even kill women and sometimes men, too. It's sad and it makes me angry because I know of some Vietnam atrocities that I can't locate in any searches but I know what I saw in some videos that were shown at my university and they outraged and saddened me. I wonder if it's PTSD that makes these people do such things to others, the things they have to go through in their own minds and how horribly it may affect them that they have to turn on others and commit these crimes. I wonder if we will ever know why these things are done. Just sad. :'(
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A fan informed me a livestreaming channel for the second X Japan gig at Coachella.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RFxoTzu9AQ&feature=youtu.be
It is not the official channel for Coachella. I can not guarantee that the information is accurate.
I hope we can see X Japan in real time on there or other channels.
Sorry guys,
It is unlikely that the channel will broadcast the second gig at Coachella.
I was mistaken. Sorry again. I'll never post any information other than official information from now on.
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naaa, it's ok. dont be so harsh with yourself
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Sugizo jumps on the bandwagon to say the album is 99.9% done. ;D
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhzm0kxl51-/
Oh... that's intresting. Why is he doing this? ^^°
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Sugizo jumps on the bandwagon to say the album is 99.9% done. ;D
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhzm0kxl51-/
Oh... that's intresting. Why is he doing this? ^^°
LOL
Even Yoshiki jokes about it saying that 'if Sugizo says people will believe'.
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Sugizo jumps on the bandwagon to say the album is 99.9% done. ;D
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhzm0kxl51-/
Oh... that's intresting. Why is he doing this? ^^°
Yoshiki is right though. When Sugizo says it's 99% done, I believe him! xD Now let's see how long the mixing takes...
Yoshiki mentioned in a recent interview they are going to release the new album either summer or early autumn this year but then again he keeps announcing release dates which then get postponed.
I wish he would stop making empty promises, take as much time as he wants and then just let us know when it's actually going to be released!
On the other hand every single time, no matter how often he changes his mind, I believe him when he announces a new date xD It's so frustrating but I can't help it!
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When I used to play in a band the mixing was always the hardest. one week for recording and 6 weeks for mixing/mastering....
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When I used to play in a band the mixing was always the hardest. one week for recording and 6 weeks for mixing/mastering....
Let's just assume we are waiting for the new album for 4 years by now (and that's a very generous reduction) if we multiply it by 6 for the mixing and mastering we are looking at 24 years - sounds about right!
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I think part of the problem is that people keep asking the question (of course), so he feels he needs to give them an answer, instead of just saying "I have no idea". Most reporters would not accept that answer and ask futher questions. I think he is just trying to ditch this with giving a timeframe that of course he cannot keep (for whatever reason, we don't know what is happening behind the scenes).
I also think it is mostly due to this Asian habit of "keeping face" in front of western media, who honestly have no clue about X Japan's history most of the time. To these reporters, "this summer" is a good enough response, if he'd say "well we have been working on it for 20 years and I have no clue when it comes out" would probably sound really really awkward to say to a western journalist you try to get to promote you. You want to break into the west, would you admit to Rolling Stone magazine that your album gets postponed every 2 years? Probably not.... Not very smart way to promote you. Back home he is more open about this, see his own yoshikichannel piece where he basically admitted he is fed up with this question. He would never admit that in front of English speaking journalists. I think this is the reason for the discrepancy in his style of communication. He wants to appeal to western jouralists.
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Are we positive there will be no streams broadcast by anyone, tonight? This doesn't sound right to me. Why stream 24/7 last weekend and nothing this weekend?
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Sugizo jumps on the bandwagon to say the album is 99.9% done. ;D
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhzm0kxl51-/
Oh... that's intresting. Why is he doing this? ^^°
Sugizo has been doing this for years too. In 2015 he was asked about the X japan album and he said it was “99% done, almost ready”, he does those comments a couple of time a year but they get less publicity than Yoshiki’s lol
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Are we positive there will be no streams broadcast by anyone, tonight? This doesn't sound right to me. Why stream 24/7 last weekend and nothing this weekend?
yes it was not broadcast. The second weekend had the same lineup, so.... probably they thought why broadcast it again?
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Manson's appearance: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh3Qkoehkhj/?taken-by=esteruchan This account has a few more fancams.
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Are we positive there will be no streams broadcast by anyone, tonight? This doesn't sound right to me. Why stream 24/7 last weekend and nothing this weekend?
yes it was not broadcast. The second weekend had the same lineup, so.... probably they thought why broadcast it again?
I didn't mean Coachella's personnel or whomever was responsible for the broadcasts last week. I meant private companies or even individuals who broadcast on their own via platforms such as Periscope or stream directly to Facebook or through their own youtube channels. Many of these people will announce, in advance, usually on twitter, that they are going to broadcast and give the link so that people will know in advance and have the stream up and running in advance so they can watch the show via the streamer's channel. There is also an audio only platform called mixlr where people will broadcast audio the same way. Those often have a chatroom connected with them, like the ones on certain youtube channels and people can join in chatting together if they wish. Or, others can just have the channel open and listen to the concert.
I checked off and on, all platforms I know of and searched for streams on twitter but found none.
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Seems like the Marilyn Manson appearance was only to sing Sweet Dreams with Yoshiki on Piano. He didn't destroy any X song.
From what I see on Instagram, everything went well. Sugizo posted that "we got our revenge". Toshi's voice wasn't so good as it was on the first concert, but the concert overall was way better than the first weekend. They looked more energic, the sound was good, the holograms worked. Everything right.
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I prefer Tainted Love from Soft Cell ._.
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my first thinking was "is he drunk?" ;D
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my first thinking was "is he drunk?" ;D
lolololol
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my first thinking was "is he drunk?" ;D
LOL yeah. What the hell, Yoshiki.
That aside... He talks about going to do something very "shocking" with MM as a guest and than he does the most unsurprising and unshocking thing, by just playing one of his songs? I was hoping for a bit more...
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my first thinking was "is he drunk?" ;D
The answer is yes. Dude has the funniest screaming voice :o
That aside... He talks about going to do something very "shocking" with MM as a guest and than he does the most unsurprising and unshocking thing, by just playing one of his songs? I was hoping for a bit more...
I had imagined all kinds of "shocking" things, from fake blood to Dir en Grey-ish stage antics and all I got was a pretty nice ballad, sang by a very tame Manson. He only even dropped the F bomb once.
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It's amazing in a way that when Yoshiki is talking, he has a very soft, gentle voice but when he screams, he sounds like a banshee. ;D Doesn't quite make sense to me. One is faked, I think. Which one? When he's pissed off, he can curse up a storm, apparently from what I've heard.
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I think both are his "real" voice. The high-pitched girly one and the screaming voice. But he strains his voice a lot when screaming... I don't like it. I like his cute voice better. ^.^
btw... a little bit disappointed by his performance with MM. Nothing special to see or hear here. It was nice and all. But nice is not what I was expecting.
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I sure do agree with your last part, there. For me, it was a let down. I was expecting so much more and I don't even like Manson. I don't like his voice and I really don't like how he looks or his makeup. Yech. LOL
Maybe that soft voice is the most normal for him and screaming is forced therefore, he sounds hoarse. How can he be hoarse like that without even singing? Yeah. I think the screaming is forced and so much so that it sounds like he's lost his voice.
Oh I found a great, very old video of Yoshiki and Toshi plus other X members and I do think it's probably X and not X Japan. It's hilarious but I don't know where to put it. I'll look around and find somewhere on here. LOL
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Anyway... Yoshiki's "We are X"
https://twitter.com/y_m_y_m_y_/status/987992057095442432
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Some videos from the 2nd week. The band sounds great and Toshi and Sugizo are both having a blast, love it.
Jade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B64B-oeYHa4
Rusty Nail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfJBYV-bG4Q
I.V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYqheWdEBWA
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This looks awesome, thank you! I'm sure they got a few new fans there and whatever our expectations first were, with many criticizing Yoshiki for this move, I think it was a good decision to play there. Despite the first weekend technical fiasco. they got tons of publicity from major newspapers/magazines and they got nothing else but praise. They became THE BAND that played opposite Beyonce. If you really want to break into Western music scenes, you need to get out there and play major festivals. They should go on to play other festivals, also in Europe. I'd love to see them at Sziget Festival :)
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They should play on RockHarz... Dir en Grey and Luna Sea was there years ago afair
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Why not Hellfest? Their BFFs Marylin Manson and Wes Broland play there all the time. Reeks of moldy cheese and tasteless beer but still a very decent festival.
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Those clips were great! From what I could hear, as I can't turn the sound up loud right now, they sounded better on this show than the last one for sure. I wish they would have streamed this one, too - soooooo much!
Here's another one I saw with a montage of different songs, ending with Tears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWbdZOh68uQ
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They should play on RockHarz... Dir en Grey and Luna Sea was there years ago afair
Dir en Grey were performing at Wacken 2011.
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That Rusty nail video was great, toshi sang that as well as he did at Lolapalooza, it's great hearing he can still sing that strongly. I.V was great too. Jade was alright, for me it just shows he sings too high sometimes and his voice sounds very thin, his vibrato was sounding gappy, that Rusty Nail video is where his basic tone should be, pretty much for all songs.
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That Rusty nail video was great, toshi sang that as well as he did at Lolapalooza, it's great hearing he can still sing that strongly. I.V was great too. Jade was alright, for me it just shows he sings too high sometimes and his voice sounds very thin, his vibrato was sounding gappy, that Rusty Nail video is where his basic tone should be, pretty much for all songs.
This.
Rusty Nail on this concert was amazing. It was a long time since we heard Toshi's voice so amazing like this.
But is weird like X Japan social media became Marilyn Manson social media since this concert. Marilyn Manson himself tweeted a total of zero times about Coachella, while X JAPAN official twitter posted ELEVEN different articles about Marilyn Manson playing with them. Not about the concert, not about the public positive reviews of the concert... Just about Marilyn Manson.
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But is weird like X Japan social media became Marilyn Manson social media since this concert. Marilyn Manson himself tweeted a total of zero times about Coachella, while X JAPAN official twitter posted ELEVEN different articles about Marilyn Manson playing with them. Not about the concert, not about the public positive reviews of the concert... Just about Marilyn Manson.
That's just basic marketing. MM's name is a bigger buzz word in the US than X Japan is so putting his name on Yoshiki's SM brings more people to Yoshiki.
I do wish MM would tweet something about having fun performing with X/Yoshiki though, and post a few photos on Instagram... He has a big cult following so it would obviously be appreciated...
(And hey... It's not like Coachella was going to invite him alone.)
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The amount of youtube videos I've seen with the titles "MARILYN MANSON ft x-japan" annoys me. Uh nope, other way around people. Still it does give X publicity no matter what, but maybe more if X were written there as the main act which they were, I think the amount of "Marilyn is all that matters!!...who are these X dudes..." type comments would've been a little less.
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I'm not sure I want Marilyn Manson's fandom getting into X Japan, though LOL
Manson did post one Instagram post about it before. https://www.instagram.com/p/BhsPd0wBOQd/?taken-by=marilynmanson so not zero at least ;)
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Yoshiki seems to have been fascinated by David Lynch. He even asked David Lynch to direct his music video for "Longing". I speculate David Lynch was one of Yoshiki's idols like KISS, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, etc. When I first heard that David Lynch directed the MV "Longing", I screamed... Wow! Yoshiki met his hero again? He is a successful fan. How wonderful his life is!
But, apparently, the MV was not released officially for unknown reasons. And Yoshiki never mentions David Lynch. It's a bit odd given that how much he boasts his relationship with celebrities like Marilyn Manson or KISS, and even brief encounters with Michael Jackson or Bill Gates. I speculate something happened between him and the director. Haha!
Fortunately here they are together, from Yoshiki's official twitter :-) :
https://twitter.com/i/status/1009258940775796736
I think Yoshiki is amazing here... he seems an evanescent gentle alien coming from who knows where...
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Personally I wasn't impressed with Manson's performance...
...oh well, all the things you do for exposure on the American Market