At the Nangang Exhibition Hall on November 6th, X JAPAN treated fans to a mind-blowing concert.
It had been a three-year wait for all the X JAPAN fans in Taiwan since the last X JUMP concert on May 30, 2009. Although the weather was a little cold and it was raining cats and dogs, the excitement of the loyal fans was not ruined at all. With their red light sticks crossed in an “X,” the well-dressed fans seemed as if they were putting all their love and passion for the legendary X JAPAN on display.
YOSHIKI showed up on stage with his arms crossed in an "X" to declare that they were back, signaling the start of the dream-like time. With the screen behind him showing a big “X,” his “X” pose and the red light sticks crossed in an “X” by all the excited fans, the concert was already so heated up in the beginning. As the music of the first song JADE faded out, the band let the fans sing along and smiled happily on seeing the gathering fans. Then ToshI greeted everyone in Chinese, saying, “Hello! How are you? Taiwan!” With a loud shout of “Are you ready to rock?” one knew that the fire in the fans’ hearts was not going to be easily put out that night!
PATA played the guitar wholeheartedly, so powerful and amazing that the fans screamed loudly upon seeing his strong guitar technique. HEATH’s bass was just as great, intoxicating all the fans. As the temperature rose in the intense atmosphere, HEATH even took off his shirt, setting off a burst of crazy yells from the crowd. SUGIZO’s violin just took everyone’s breath away. Dressed in white, he played a special song only for Taiwan, a beautiful, classic Taiwanese love song titled Everlasting Love. The fans were all surprised and then sang along when he played. It was just so touching. He smiled after getting the fans' explosive reactions with his playing.
As if he didn’t want to let SUGIZO get all the applause, YOSHIKI played a drum and piano solo that also caught everyone’s eyes. He played the drums with all his strength and then switched to the elegant piano. He also prepared a special Taiwanese song for the fans, Gao Shan Qing, which was a song about the energetic and beautiful teenagers living on Mt. Ali in Taiwan and the one of a kind mountain scenery there. All fans went crazy seeing him switch between piano and drums smoothly and confidently. With all those astonishing performances to surprise everyone as always, what else could the addicted fans do? Yes, they screamed his name to show their admiration for his hard work and show.
As 11 000 people did the X jump, the floor of the Nangang exhibition shook harder than it ever had. X JAPAN just led all the fans to rock the world that night. “I love you all! Thank you so much for coming here! We're so happy to be back! WE ARE-" YOSHIKI let every heart of the fans pound in excitement before finishing his sentence, “X!” As the classic song X started, fans and band members all did the fun and meaningful X jump together. At the end of the song, the band members waved goodbye and yelled “Thank you! We love you all!” to all the fans.
Instead of yelling “Encore” as all fans at other lives always do, X JAPAN fans yelled “We are X!” all the time. They even did the wave dance with the flags they made for X JAPAN, the atmosphere never cold or calm. Suddenly, some fans in one area of the hall started to sing the happy birthday song, then all the fans joined in, singing “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear YOSHIKI, happy birthday to you!” Yes, YOSHIKI’s birthday is on November 20th, so close to the performance that all the fans wanted to celebrate in advance together with him.
YOSHIKI then showed up again, with Chinese robes on him. ToshI chased him and pulled his robes. YOSHIKI then smiled shyly and took off the Chinese robes, drawing loud screams from the fans when they saw him wearing a nurse dress for them on stage! He then checked ToshI’s blood type and announced the naughty yet correct answer, “Oh! X,” heating up the atmosphere again successfully.
“We are here with HIDE and TAIJI. We are not alone today. We X JAPAN just want to show that nothing is impossible and dreams can come true,” said YOSHIKI. The reminder of HIDE and TAIJI brought tears to the fans’ eyes even though they knew that they would never lose them. All fans held their breaths for the moment, like a holy and beautiful ceremony for the two members. HIDE and TAIJI were with them that night and always, and X JAPAN would always be a seven-member great band in the depths of all their fans' hearts for sure, never forgetting their greatness.
X JAPAN then played the elegant FOREVER LOVE, followed by ENDLESS RAIN, the song written for dearest HIDE. With the feelings of longing for the two members, the fans became so emotional that they couldn’t stop tears from spilling from their eyes. Following that was the third encore song, the greatest master piece ever, ART OF LIFE. The song evoked such intense emotions in the hearts of the fans that it was almost too much to handle.
When all the members saw the gift from the Taiwanese fans, a banner on which their faces were printed, YOSHIKI held it and jumped up and down on the stage, smiling happily like a child who had been given a gift that he had always wished for. They put it on the floor of the stage and took a photograph with it and all the wonderful fans that night. YOSHIKI then placed the doll of HIDE on his drums, letting HIDE and the fans see the banner.
Hand in hand, five people – no, it’s seven: YOSHIKI, ToshI, PATA, HEATH, SUGIZO, HIDE and TAIJI did the last X JUMP that night on stage together, and all the fans also did it with them. It was then that the curtains drew shut, signaling the end of a concert that was wonderful beyond description. The love that the fans had for the band, however, will never diminish.
After the amazing concert that night, the fans in Taiwan can only wait for this world famous band to come back and surprise them again with another ground-shaking X JUMP. As all X JAPAN fans would say, “We are X!”
Set List:
01. JADE
02. RUSTY NAIL
03. SILENT JEALOUSY
04. DRAIN
05. KURENAI
06. BORN TO BE FREE
07. I.V.
08. X
Encore
01. FOREVER LOVE
02. ENDLESS RAIN
03. ART OF LIFE
