I must say, this is the best show I have ever seen in my life. Believe me, I am a pro musician and have seen a lot of concert, from David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Coldplay, Gwan Stefani, Pink FLoyd, Kraftwerk, Kinki Kids …… to countless pop Stars from Hong Kong, and tonight, I have seen the best one.

As I arrived in the Asia World Arena at 7:50pm, I saw a crowd of people lining up to the venue, and I didn’t see anyone dress in a ” Visual Rocker” style, so I naturally asked myself,” Is this really the place of X Japan concert? ” Anyway, I just get in the venue and got myself a beer which cost me HK$50.

As in Japan, the first night of the X show usually delay for whatever reason, and tonight we have waited for 45 minutes. Once I get  in to the concert hall, I discovered some pink hair HIDE alike audiences, then some more, and more and ……. more. Most of the fans tended to dress like HIDE. The scene of red pink hair really reminded me of the good old days. ( Yes, I did have orange red hair for over 2 years in 1998.)

Finally the show began under the thunderous screams of the audience, we saw Yoshiki playing piano and Toshi singing a ballad song. I don’t really know the song names, since I only know some classic X big hits.

Then after a short piano playing, Yoshiki quickly goes to his drum set and start playing a fast heavy rock track. Then all of a sudden, the “HIDE” alike X fan who stand in front of me started to bang her head like a machine, people stand up and trying to find his/ her own space to do the big banging action….. all in just 3 seconds!

Thousands of Crossed hands “X” gesture told me that I am in the right place with the right crowd.

From the ultra big TV screen behind Yoshiki’s drum set, we saw HIDE playing guitar. Just in case you don’t know, HIDE is the guitarist from X Japan who died 10 years ago accidentally in his own home.  The technical production is so good that we can feel HIDE is totally alive and Not dead, since his guitar playing footage is perfectly in sync with the other band members. Too bad there was no 3-D projection of HIDE tonight.

After a break, there comes Yoshiki holding a bunch of roses walking to the stage front. The girl who stood beside me got a rose from yes, Yoshiki, as well as her boy friend. I was standing right next to the front stage which costed me HK$1300 ( US$167). Fucking expensive! That’s what I thought last week. But of course now I know that I have spent the right money.

From the internet, I got the rundown of the show tonight:

Last Song
Rusty Nail
Week End
pata solo
longing
art of life
drum solo
紅
DRAIN
without you
tears
endless rain
I.V
X
say anything (ending)

In “Kirenai 紅”, Sugizo from Luna Sea is coming out as a guest guitarist. I am not a big fan of Luna Sea, but I think they have made the right choice of choosing the  guest player.

According to the announcement from Yoshiki, tonight is the first time that X Japan perform outside from Japan. When singing the song “X”, all the band members except Yoshiki were wearing China Dresses. And that make a big difference from all those gigs they have performed in Japan. You won’t see any visual rocker wearing china dress playing tempo 160 heavy metal track anywhere else, only if they come to Hong Kong. Then it comes the national anthem, “X”. I saw Toshi ( in China dress ) doing the X jump …..

The sound system, lighting and the projection is in top class production, and I have met my musician friend Larry, who is the responsible for the live recording tonight. ( I was hoping that he can took to to the backstage…… but no…:-(

Anyway, I must say the guys from X Japan really know how to manipulate their audience, in a good way. Especially during the end of “Endless Rain”, Toshi lead the crowd singing the chorus with him and that lasted almost Endless!

“ * ENDLESS RAIN, FALL ON MY HEART kokoro no kizu ni

LET ME FORGET ALL OF THE HATE, ALL OF THE SADNESS”

Another classic moment was born. My attention was on a super cute looking Japanese girl who stood behind me N rows, crying endlessly at the end of the 30,000 people “X Freaks Choir”. What’s most amazing is, most of the audience tonight are Hong Kong Chinese people, and their mother tongue is, of course Chinese. But under the influence of X, everybody seems to learn a foreign language fast and accurately.

Besides wearing China dresses, Toshi also spoke some Chinese during the whole show as well. Usually I don’t buy this, but he seems to speak the right sentence correctly in the right moments, I will give him credit for that. And in return, the Chinese audience all sing in Japanese + English.

The audience response is a priceless reward that every artist/ creator is looking for. I think X Japan has already developed a new religion with endless die hard fans. It worked 15 years ago and, it is still working now, and hopefully it will be the same in the future.

With the support from the other band members and technology, “Pink Spider” HIDE’s spirit and soul, will be sustaining long in our heart.

I am always happy to see the friendship made between Japanese and Chinese people. ( Half of my family members are from Japan. ) And tonight, thanks to X Japan, I have got myself a beautiful memory.

Check out some of the X Japan products:
X Japan CD Collection

Here is a video of X Japan Countdown Live 2009: