It's been nearly a month since attending Yoshiki's performance. I haven't had the chance to write about it and Yoshiki is already on his way prepping for Wembley Arena taking place in March. This concert was an important concert to me because it's the first time I shared this experience with my parents. For the first time, I was sharing with them time to see a music icon I respected so much.
I felt a mixture of anxiety and worry. I wanted my parents to enjoy the performance, but at the same time wasn't too sure if they would be impressed with the rock side of the narrative. My parents were never fans of rock music and never dabbled into it. The only reason they were willing to tag along was because they were curious to see the famed Carnegie Hall. Of course, it would be my first time being in Carnegie Hall too so I was looking forward to visit this historic building.
I bought the tickets for my parents as a gift with full intention of being a treat to them. We intended to enter the concert hall early, but ended up arriving roughly half an hour early instead of a full hour. My mom spotted a staff member with sharpies and a Yoshiki banner. She urged me to sign it. "Do it for Yoshiki." Funny she would tell me that because she's not the type to participate in any sort of event. In a spur of a moment, I wrote in blue sharpie with poor grammar, "Best of luck of all the world". I don't know if it even makes sense and I signed my name rather sloppily.
Upon being seated, I realized how small the Stern Auditorium was. I was seated in the Dress Circle and saw that the space between my knees and the seat in front of me was barely a fist. My dad is fairly tall so he felt incredibly cramped. If you purchased seats in parquet, it looks like it would be more spacious. I guess the higher you go, the more compact it gets. Never mind my seat, the view was actually not too bad.
The lights dimmed and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra was completely seated. A spotlight focused on one of the doors and a man walked out. "Is that Yoshiki?" my mom whispered quite loudly. I was cringing inside. "No, that's the conductor." Yuga Cohler walked to the center and conducted the first piece, "I'll be Your Love". Strange how I recall the songs, they are always out of order in my head. The program printed was slightly altered according to Yoshiki due to technical issues yet I keep remembering "Forever Love" as the first piece played. I'm not even so sure anymore after a month. I also don't remember hearing "Bloom Like a Rose" Friday night.
After the first song finished, the stage went dark and a video was projected. It showed the journey of Yoshiki Classical beginning in 2014. I remembered when I was watching the live stream of the Grammy Museum performance late at night. The video contained clips from the documentary, We Are X, and from old X Japan concerts back in the heyday. At this point I was a bit worried about how my parents would react to the crazy hair metal and a shirtless Yoshiki crashing into his drum set. In addiction to that, there was a huge focus on the subject of pain and death throughout the video and throughout the concert actually. After the concert I had asked them what they thought. My dad's answer surprised me the most. He said that after seeing the clips, he was interested in Yoshiki's rock music. Hmmm, never thought I hear that form you dad. As for mom, she said that despite the fact she doesn't understand English, she understood the pain Yoshiki endured from the deaths he had seen and saw how it translated into his music. It's true after all. Music has no language barrier.
I was getting absorbed in the video projected and all of a sudden I heard a cheer. Yoshiki finally appeared! Clad in white, he walked out onto the stage and sat down to play. After each song, Yoshiki would talk about what the song was for and how it was composed. My mom was very amused at his mannerisms from talking to placing his arm on his hip. Yoshiki's voice as we know is very soft spoken and it's no exaggeration to say that it sounded like he was dangling on a dangerous line between life and death. Then at times when you hear him sound so out of breath, he would rebound in a confident voice with a comedic remark. Yoshiki is a wonderful speaker at times.
All the songs played that night were re-arranged for the classical performance. I was eager to hear "Miracle" minus a choir. Both Katie and Ashley put on impressive vocals. They really hit those high notes and Carnegie Hall boasts an impressive sound system. I felt that the second half of the concert was better than the first half. Possibly because the first half contained theme songs for different occasions that it didn't transition as smoothly as the second half. My mom really enjoyed Yoshiki's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and my dad really liked the way the piano sounded.
From "Without you" and onward, Yoshiki played without stopping. There were no more explanations, just playing. That was my favorite part of the night. When the lights turned red, "Kurenai" played. The concerto master completed a highly difficult violin solo during the transition and "Art of Life" was a real treat. Yoshiki played the second movement and part of the third movement. As per tradition with X Japan concerts, we ended with "Endless Rain". The entire venue was bathed in glittering light imitating rain.
I couldn't see from high above, but that night Yoshiki had broken into tears. It was a highly emotional moment for him and I heard upon exiting the building from fans that the entire front row had also burst into tears with him. This was truly a historic moment for Carnegie to house a rock icon.
We all did the "We are X" pose and Yoshiki left the stage taking the largest bouquet of roses with the door closing behind. The audience clapped and cheered loudly, something unorthodox for traditional classical concerts. Then the door opened again and Yoshiki was back. He did this 4 times in total collected as much bouquets as he possibly could each time. What a tease.
I only have a short clip saved on my phone of Yoshiki waving to all of us. I remember vividly that he bowed to the audience and stayed that way for nearly a full moment expressing complete gratitude. For all the hard work he put in to these two sold out shows and all the fan's cheering, I'm sure Yoshiki was very satisfied that night.
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