Ground-breaking and beloved international rock favorites X Japan are closing in on their long awaited comeback show, their first in three years, next month at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Led by Yoshiki, their 11th concert in 20 years at the storied venue has been much hyped, befitting of their status as icons, cult pop taste makers and showmen beyond compare. In the bands’ 32-plus years of existence they have at times defied classification, but have aligned themselves musically with thrash, progressive rock, symphonic metal and other styles, all done in concert with the flair of biggest production spectacles around. This event is the start of a likely very busy slate from X Japan who are planning a new album for release in 2015 from Warner Music.
Watch the trailer for the MSG concert here:
From The Press Release:
Internationally renowned rock icons X Japan announced today that tickets for their highly anticipated October 11th concert at Madison Square Garden will go on sale this Friday at 10:00AM EDT at http://www.ticketmaster.com/XJapan-tickets/artist/723909. The Madison Square Garden concert event is sponsored by New York Comic Con.
X Japan, led by co-founder, drummer, pianist and songwriter Yoshiki, will return to New York City for their first concert since 2010, performing both fan favorites and previously unreleased music from the band’s decades of recordings. This Madison Square Garden concert marks a significant milestone for the band who made their U.S. debut with a Rockefeller Center press conference over 20 years ago, which presented the fierce J-Rock stars to an American audience. The band is finally fulfilling the promise they made to the fans to return. The group has since toured 16 countries, sold over 30 million albums and singles combined, and sold out Japan’s 55,000 seat Tokyo Dome a record-setting 18 times. The concert trailer for X Japan Madison Square Garden can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/qI-zQehlQaI
X Japan has had a notoriously tumultuous career, even among the world of rock, which includes the loss of two of its five founding members to tragic death. Amid death and breakups, the band has steadfastly maintained X Japan’s vision and this year brought themselves together to perform where their U.S. story started, in New York City.
In line with October’s Madison Square Garden concert, Yoshiki and X Japan will appear at New York Comic Con, where Yoshiki will participate in a panel with Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee and discuss the pair’s collaborations, including the comic based on Yoshiki, Blood Red Dragon. New York Super Week is an immersive and inclusive experience that will bring the energy, passion and color of the entire pop culture universe to every corner of all five boroughs of New York City. Featuring concerts, comedy shows, gaming events, lectures, podcasts, storytelling, food tastings, and more – New York Super Week will take place October 3-12, leading into the East Coast’s biggest and most exciting convention – New York Comic Con.
About X Japan
X Japan returns to the United States this October bringing their legendarily edgy brand of rock to New York City for one night at the iconic Madison Square Garden. The concert event marks the band’s first show together in 3 years and will feature fan favorites as well as previously unreleased and never before performed music. X Japan is revered in their native Japan and around the world as a genre-defining and boundary pushing group, and have mesmerized audiences across the globe with their incendiary live performances. With worldwide sales of over 30-million, they’ve headlined a staggering 18 sold out shows at the 55,000-capacity Tokyo Dome known for historic concerts by Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi. Since forming in 1982, they’ve continued to challenge not only themselves but rock n’ roll as a genre.
X Japan first landed on American soil in 1992. Signed to Atlantic Records at the time they held a massive press conference at Rockefeller Center debuting their eye-catching personal style. Embracing a combination of flamboyant futurist imagery and Japanese history, X Japan’s “Visual-Kei” style would go on to immensely influence the anime and cosplay that’s so commonplace today. Prior to the group’s 1998 breakup they released five albums —Vanishing Vision [1998], Blue Blood [1989], Jealousy [1991], Art of Life [1993], and Dahlia [1996]—solidifying a sound that’s equally scorching and soaring.
The death of original guitarist Hide profoundly shook the band, but in 2007 Toshi and Yoshiki, friends since childhood, reunited. They paid tribute to Hide on tour by utilizing a hologram of the deceased guitarist—long before 2Pac’s appearance at Coachella – during that first Japanese reunion run. After hitting sixteen countries, the United States tour commenced with a triumphant debut performance at Lollapalooza 2010 and was followed by sold out shows from Los Angeles to New York.
In 2011 X Japan faced another deep loss with the death of original bassist Taiji. The band continued with him in spirit, and X Japan were named Best International Rock Band at the Golden Gods Awards in 2012.
In 2014, Yoshiki, Toshi, Pata, Heath, and Sugizo embodied that mentality in working on the upcoming release on Warner Music, scheduled to be released early next year.
Buy tickets to the show: