hide Memorial Summit Day 2 - Part C
LIVE REPORT - 05.11.2008 Author : Heidi, Yoosh The long awaited highlight of the hide Memorial Summit was the final section, which included Luna Sea, X JAPAN, and Muteki Band.
http://www.jmusicamerica.com/us/article.php?id=4683
© X JAPAN
LUNA SEA
Considerably more people had arrived when it was time for
LUNA SEA, and the entire audience was clapping in anticipation for their performance. As the curtain raised, the stadium erupted with screams of joy as everyone in attendance clapped along to the intro while the members entered the stage one by one.
The performance started with a bang as the band kicked off with
PRECIOUS. The audience waved their arms happily and sang along to the familiar music while
Ryuichi swirled around on stage, showing his happiness to be performing. The next song was
G and the audience were still waving their arms continuously towards the stage in unison.
Dejavu was clearly a favorite and everyone sang along, alternating between jumping, head banging and waving their arms around to the music. The band interacted with each other playfully and seemed to be enjoying this just as much as the audience was.
During
SLAVE each member was shown on the screen and the audience screamed out their names happily, clearly excited about another reunion of this legendary band.
LUNA SEA also did a
hide cover and the audience went wild again as they played
SCANNER. There was a small pause before they continued with the softer, emotional
IN SILENCE, which had the audience stretching their arms longingly towards the stage during the chorus.
INORAN was now on acoustic guitar while
SUGIZO and
Ryuichi sang together, urging the audience to join in with them.
Ryuichi screamed "blue transparency" before the song began and everyone cheered while the band ran along the wide stage, making sure all in the audience got a glimpse of them.
ROSIER was, as always, an audience favorite and the crowd went wild waving their arms frantically and screaming along to "rosy heart."
Ryuichi had the audience cheering and throwing their arms in the air, which only further increased during
J's monologue in the song.
TONIGHT was another audience hit as all danced along to the bright tune. As they continued with
WISH, glitter was shot out over the audience from cannons located on stage. After catching the sparkling pieces of plastic the audience waved them around in unison, creating a sea of moving sparkles.
Ryuichi allowed the audience to sing parts of the song and they screamed as loud as they could in appreciation, while
SUGIZO dashed around the stage at full speed.
After the song
Ryuichi spoke for a while before the set ended with the ballad
UP TO YOU, during which the audience waved their arms calmly along to the music. The band members all threw water bottles and drumsticks into the crowd and waved happily as they left the stage. Everyone in the stadium seemed to have truly enjoyed the performance and loved seeing
LUNA SEA so glad to be performing together again.
Setlist:
1. PRECIOUS
2. G.
3. Dejavu
4. SLAVE
5. SCANNER (hide cover)
6. IN SILENCE
7. BLUE TRANSPERANCY
8. ROSIER
9. TONIGHT
10. WISH
11. UP TO YOU
X JAPAN
The
X performance was approximately three hours long with all the encores.
When the letter X appeared on the screen the empty seats filled up in a matter of seconds and a storm of screams filled the stadium. While
Amethyst played over the speakers, the fans screamed the names of their favorite members, especially
HIDE's. After the intro with a feminine voice introducing
X, the curtain opened and
Prologue ~world anthem~ began.
YOSHIKI appeared wearing a red shirt followed by
HEATH, PATA and
TOSHI, while in
HIDE's usual spot the famous "Yellow Heart" guitar was on display.
Rusty Nail began and pyrotechnics filled the stage and even after
LUNA SEA's performance, no one seemed tired; in fact, the audience was in ecstasy. With his unique high voice
TOSHI screamed, asking the audience to show their Japanese spirit. Then
Scars began, with more fire shooting in time to the music as
HIDE images appeared on the screen for the twin guitar solo with
PATA.
TOSHI asked the arena to scream louder, which they did and a riled up
YOSHIKI kicked the gong beside his drum set before heading over to the piano to play the intro to
Silent Jealousy. As
TOSHI began singing a capella,
YOSHIKI returned to the drums to thrash his kit.
After
Silent Jealousy, the screen began to play a video in
hide's memory. With
Forever Love playing in the background the first video showed an interview with
Shouji Noriko right after the Last Live. In the second video,
HIDE was speaking to the host,
Ikushima Hiroshi, about
X. In the third video,
HIDE was talking with
TOSHI about how he first met
YOSHIKI.
HIDE said he'd always heard
YOSHIKI had a reputation for being very destructive but when he met him, he thought he was a really cute kid. With
Tears now playing over the speakers, a film gig video began with
TOSHI looking for
HIDE, then
PATA, HEATH and finally
YOSHIKI. Another interview with
hide was followed by the famous HEY HEY HEY interview where
HIDE and
YOSHIKI argue about their eating habits. There was one more interview with
HIDE explaining the difference between being in
X and his solo career. For the conclusion, the video returned to the first interview with
Shouji Noriko leaving many people in the audience in tears. Along with the series of covers that had been played throughout the afternoon in memory of the great guitarist, this poignant memorial during
X JAPAN's set gave the evening a real sense of gravitas and set the festivities of the music in the wider context of the event.
While classical music played,
YOSHIKI appeared with two bouquets of red roses. Descending from the stage he walked around throwing roses to each side of the arena. Then he returned to the stage, took his seat by the piano and began to pray. He began with some improvisational playing, then started a little piano solo followed by
Without you. Many of
HIDE’s pictures were shown on the screen and then
TOSHI appeared from the darkness. As he started to sing the already tearful audience became even more emotional.
When
Without you finished,
YOSHIKI began to play
Kurenai on the piano, then headed over to the drums, while on the screen
HIDE was shown playing his solo with the same clothes he wore at the Last Live. A sea of silver ribbons were thrown all over the arena and even the people crying then started once again to jump, scream, and raise their arms, taking their cues from the music. At the end of the song,
TOSHI's voice cracked a bit as he said his goodbyes to the audience.
During the break, the audience made a human wave that spread across the whole arena, over and over. Suddenly someone appeared on the stage holding a flag with "Muteki" written on it.
YOSHIKI reappeared on stage carrying
TOSHI on his back and after a quick spin round, both sat on the floor.
TOSHI remarked that everything had been really nice so far, and
YOSHIKI inquired if he'd gotten any fatter. At that point
YOSHIKI announced that the date of a new concert had been been decided. He went on to say he wanted to do a concert in Japan as well, in Tokyo Dome, but due to some problems that occurred in the past, he was afraid they wouldn't let him play again there. He continued, saying it was best to leave Tokyo Dome in the past and go now to Osaka Dome.
YOSHIKI then announced the concert that had been decided wouldn't occur in Japan but in Taiwan, on August 2nd.
YOSHIKI then headed over to the piano and began to play the chorus of
Dahlia, and from
Dahlia he proceeded on to
Endless rain.
TOSHI sang at
YOSHIKI's side, while images of
HIDE were shown on the screen. By now the whole arena was singing
Endless rain along with
TOSHI. The band went quiet for a few minutes, all members sat watching and listening attentively to the audience singing the chorus over and over to them. As
Endless rain drew to a close,
YOSHIKI started to play the introduction to
I.V.. At that moment
TOSHI called
SUGIZO back on stage, and asked that everyone sing the refrain "in the rain... find a way."
TOSHI complained that
HEATH and
PATA weren't singing along with them and moreover that
YOSHIKI would not return until the crowd sang in one loud voice.
YOSHIKI left his drums for a period to sit at the front of the stage, pausing to tease
SUGIZO gently for while with
TOSHI asking why a member of
LUNA SEA was suddenly on stage. The chorus continued for some time until
YOSHIKI went to the drums and the band began to play the song in earnest.
Setlist:
SE Amethyst and ~world anthem~
1. Rusty Nail
2. Scars
3. Silent Jealousy
4. Without you
5. Kurenai
6. Endless rain
7. I.V. (guest sugizo)
Muteki Band
After
I.V. ended
YOSHIKI, wearing a lace shirt from
h.naoto, kicked the gong once more and returned to his piano to play a sample of
Pink Spider. One of the staff members brought him
HIDE's heart-covered guitar, causing a great wave excitement amongst the audience.
TOSHI then called
Shinya from
LUNA SEA to play with them, so together with
SUGIZO, YOSHIKI and
PATA playing guitar,
HEATH on the bass, and
Shinya drumming away, he sang
Pink Spider. The audience went crazy with various fans waving
HIDE dolls in the air. It was an interesting performance; while fitting for
X JAPAN to have played this song in tribute to
HIDE it was interesting for the change in attitude to the original and the rougher rock sound that
X JAPAN brought to the classic pop sound. It was, nonetheless, a memorable performance and with the reappearance of the famous red-heart 'Love me' guitar
HIDE's presence hadn't felt stronger all evening.
After
Pink Spider ended,
YOSHIKI called
Ryuichi from
LUNA SEA while
TOSHI called
INORAN and
J back to the stage. With all of
LUNA SEA back on the stage,
Ryuichi asked
YOSHIKI to play the drums for one of the songs. After
Shinya grabbed a guitar,
Ryuichi and
TOSHI sang
Believe together with
PATA, INORAN, SUGIZO and
Shinya on the guitar.
HEATH and
J were on the bass while
YOSHIKI pounded away on the drums.
The show would soon be coming to an end, and
Ryuichi remarked to
TOSHI and
YOSHIKI that everything was perfect. While
YOSHIKI was at the drums and
Shinya played a tambourine,
TOSHI invited to the stage
Tatsuro from
MUCC,
Hizumi from
D'espairsRay, and
Nishikawa Takanori from
T.M.Revolution. Band members from
LADIES ROOM, Versailles, Oblivion Dust, Spread Beaver and the others members of
D'espairsRay and
MUCC showed up on the stage, some holding the "Muteki" flag while others appeared on the stage jumping and screaming.
The one who started to sing
X was
Ryuichi, followed by
Tatsuro and then
Nishikawa. The refrain for
X was replayed many times so
HIZUMI and
TOSHI could sing as well. Playing the guitar there was
Miya from
MUCC,
SUGIZO, INORAN, PATA and
YOSHIKI, now playing with the black guitar and red rose symbol.
Shinya was on drums while
J and
HEATH played bass. The whole arena was doing the
X jump and the stage was full of people playing, singing and jumping. It was truly a unique and incredible sight, and it seemed nothing could surpass
Muteki Band, the invincible band.
Towards the end of the show while
Say Anything was playing,
YOSHIKI threw the black drumsticks inscribed with his name into the crowd.
YOSHIKI also handed a big
HIDE plushie (a little over a meter tall) to
PATA, who then gave it to
TOSHI.
YOSHIKI brought to the center of the stage the plushie of
TOSHI while
PATA brought out
HEATH's. One of the staff then brought out
PATA's plushie and
YOSHIKI arranged the five in the center of the stage.
HEATH, YOSHIKI, TOSHI and
PATA bent the plushies over repeatedly as though they were bowing and thanking everyone for the concert. For a moment,
HEATH stood bouncing his plushie up and down while
PATA's fell face down onto the stage. Seeing this,
PATA who was holding onto
YOSHIKI's plush let this doll fall too, much to the amusement of the audience. Eventually they let each plushie fall and set them to lie side by side at the front of the stage as the memorial came to a close, while behind, the words "
X JAPAN" illuminated in yellow shone on the screens at the back of the stage.
Setlist:
8. Pink Spider (guest Sugizo, Shinya)
9. Believe (LUNA SEA with X JAPAN)
10. X (with LUNA SEA, T.M.Revolution, MUCC, D'espairsRay and others)
The Memorial Summit was an incredible event of live music and a fitting tribute to
hide, bringing together fans new and old and a variety of musicians either directly linked with or inspired by
hide. Nowhere was this more evident than in the
Muteki Band whose vividly memorable performance created an unsurpassable finale. The Memorial was a rollercoaster of emotions for the fans, with tears during the poignant memorial videos to sheer elation during the final performance of
X and
hide's presence could be felt throughout the event, in the small tributes from the bands who played, in the covers and finally in the magical set that
X JAPAN played with such passion to remember the life of
hide so fondly.