Well guys, this was an essay originally intended to be my concert report for my "Intro. to Music" class, but since my teacher won't accept it. . . well, I feel that maybe you might enjoy it. Although it isn't completed & I have no intention of turning it in, I think that it was a pretty nice essay.
So, if you do read it, please tell me your thoughts on it. Maybe if I get bored one of these days, I might just finish it. ((Also, I have a nagging feeling that I screwed up somewhere about their background. . .)) Concert Report: X Japan
On September 25, 2010, I was fortunate enough to attend a concert for the popular Japanese rock band, X Japan. The concert was located within the western boundaries of Los Angeles California at The Wiltern Theater near Koreatown. The band consists of six members: Toshimitsu “Toshi” Deyama is the vocalist; Hiroshi “Heath” Morie the bassist; Tomoaki “Pata” Ishizuka the rhythm (secondary) guitarist; Yasuhiro “Sugizo” Sugihara is the lead guitarist and violinist; Yoshiki Hayashi is the band's drummer and pianist; and Hideto “hide” Matsumoto, the original lead guitarist (although he has been deceased for a several years, X Japan still considers hide to be an “eternal member” of the band). X Japan is known in their country of origin for contributing to the Visual Kei (Visual Style) movement which combined both heavy & symphonic metal with Gothic,Victorian style or glam rock dress attire. The band's musical style is fairly diverse, but most of the time it is considered to be glam rock, symphonic metal or progressive metal. The majority of X Japan's songs are written and composed by Yoshiki Hayashi. X Japan has been together as a band for a little over twenty years. In that time they have released four albums; seventeen CD singles; they have performed eighteen sold-out concerts at Japan's largest venue, The Tokyo Dome; and have sold thirty million record copies altogether. In 1997, X Japan disbanded because of Toshimitsu's desire to leave due of his dissatisfaction with the band's musical direction. After their farewell show on December 31st,1997, X Japan was officially dissolved and all of the band members at that time lead fairly successful solo careers for several years afterward. In 2007, X Japan reunited after ten years of disbandment and no communication (except for Hideto's funeral in 1998) and have been together ever since.
The first song that X Japan performed at The Wiltern was “Jade”. The song swiftly starts off with Yoshiki playing the drums while Sugizo & Pata follow along on the guitar for the first half minute of the song. After several moments of Yoshiki, Pata & Sugizo playing, the pair of guitarists stand silently as Toshi begins to sing while Yoshiki & Heath play their respective instruments. The opening of “Jade” quickly goes in to a decrescendo as it transitions into the first stanza of the song. During this time, Heath's bass becomes the dominant sound in between Toshi's vocals & the clashing sounds of Yoshiki's cymbals during the first two opening lines of “Jade”. The following lines after the first two, Pata & Sugizo join the others with subtle screeches from their guitars, making the the overall pitch to be deep. Then the song builds up tension at the bridge before the chorus while the dynamics are kept at a mezzo forte. Within two minutes, the song goes into a crescendo as Toshi sings the chorus while retaining the steady dynamics. The pitch and the dynamics remain like this for two more stanzas & the repetition of the chorus. After the second chorus, there is a duet of guitars between Pata and Sugizo, which brings the song to an all time high, making the dynamic change into fortissimo. Then after the duet, the song slides into a decrescendo as Toshi sings broadly with a bright timbre along with an incomplete cadence. “Jade” once again goes into another crescendo as the band plays the final stanza and final chorus of the song with brilliant tone color.
During the middle of the concert, Sugizo & Yoshiki performed a duet with their signature instruments, the piano & the electric violin. The duet between them lasted for about two minutes, then they slowly fade out. It's silent on stage for several long moments and the only thing that could be hear were the loud screams from the over 2 thousand fans in attendance. But soon afterward the silence upon the stage was broken as Toshi and the rest of band quickly began their song “Kurenai” (Kurenai translates into “Crimson” or “Deep red” in Japanese).