Eccentric Journal: Pivotal Event in My Life: X Japan at Madison Square Garden

I am pleased to say that I have attended the concert last night and it was the best night I had. Being that this was the first concert of my life, it was an important day. It's X Japan and it's in Madison Square Garden. Two of the biggest things in this world coming together and they're right at my doorstep. When I first heard about this concert months before, I was ecstatic. I can finally see a band for the first time in my life. When ticket sales began, I hopped on that computer and bought my seat. I didn't shoot for the most expensive seats, but I didn't go for general admission either. I wasn't interested in VIP because I'm not that type of fan. As much as I would like to see X Japan up close, I don't like being part of a large group and standing for three hours. I need an actual seat.
The line to get inside the venue may have been long, but that was for general admission. I got sent back and forth to two different entrances and went through security twice. What terrible luck I had that day. It was a cold day in New York City and it had rained a couple hours in the morning. After doing a body scan and bag search, they let me in. I smile and say thank you because security was courteous and I had successfully snuck in water and snack bars. Believe me, I was thirsty and famished by the end of the night. I had to eat and drink a little during the concert. I saw that the line to the X Japan goods was very long and decided not to get anything. I really wanted that fan and a tote bag to be honest. However the performance was my top priority, not the goods.

Once you're in, staff were handing out xylobands to everyone, but it looks like not everyone got one. Either that or people decided not to wear it. Being a newbie, I had no idea what it was except that I should put it on. But now I know. Hahaha. The concert started on time at 8pm just like the program had said. Once it began, people started to stand up and I finally understood why seats are sometimes irrelevant in a concert. I was a bit worried since I'm more of a new fan that I didn't know every song. I was wrong and actually knew all the songs from the setlist with the exception for X and X Japan's two new songs, Beneath the Skin and Hero. I also understand how certain songs work exceptionally well when heard live. A few fans dressed up and there were two that went full on cosplay mode. It was very nice to see that kind of dedication and they would definitely be filmed for the DVD.

X Japan really rocked it out last night. They sounded great. The effects were great as well; the mist, the fire, the sparks, confetti and all of the lighting. VIPs had a chance to catch a rose and/or water bottle from Yoshiki. Sugizo was a smooth guy. He kissed those roses and tossed it to the crowd. He even looked at one of the fans and kinda was like "You?", kissed the rose and tossed it in that direction. Confetti was X-shaped. Too bad none of it blew towards me because I was seated towards the back. Nonetheless, a great view. My phone couldn't capture faces clearly which was expected, but I did record some video. It was great rocking with such a great band and bobbing your head to the rhythm. I mean, the guy next to me did air guitar and it was totally appropriate.

As I was leaving the venue, I saw that one of the lines to purchase goods was short. Perhaps I should buy something as a momento even if it's out of my budget. So I got myself a $10 poster. I would have bought the large booklet, but it appeared to have mostly text as its contents so on second thought, maybe I don't need that. Everything else was out of my budget and as I was on my way out of the building, there was a stack of posters lying around. They were the New York Comic Con posters for Yoshiki's Blood Red Dragon. It was free so I snagged a copy.