As the lights in Dolby Theatre dimmed, a piano sat in front of an orchestra. However, Japanese artist Yoshiki, the star of the show, was nowhere to be seen. Conductor Ward Stare began to lead the group in Yoshiki’s “Amethyst,” with all its ethereal melodies.
When they finished, the screen played newsreels of recent Yoshiki media coverage. This included his recent honors at the nearby TCL Chinese Theatre, where his handprints, footprints and drumsticks are immortalized alongside a multitude of other stars.
He is the first artist from Japan to receive this honor, and is a part of a decades-spanning legacy that he now looks to spread beyond his home country.
Despite being a Hollywood local, Yoshiki’s performance on October 20 at the Dolby Theatre marks his first solo performance in the city. Although he is best known for his heavy rock style and frenetic drumming alongside bands like X Japan and The Last Rockstars, he showed off his classical side at the weekend performance.
This is the third stop of his “Requiem” tour, celebrating the 10th anniversary of his album “Yoshiki Classical.”
The screen flashed with the words “Yoshiki is here now,” as the elusive musician walked on stage dressed in a sparkling red jacket that draped down to his knees.
As Yoshiki took his place at the piano, he flipped his coattail back and brushed his hair aside. He began playing his song, “Tears,” a song written for his late father, who died by suicide when Yoshiki was a child.
The concert was marked with guest performances with singers Beverly and Ai Ichihara accompanying Yoshiki on vocals for X Japan songs like “Angel” and operatic works like “Miracle.” The concert even featured a crew of ballet dancers from USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance to perform alongside X Japan’s “Forever Love” and Yoshiki’s rendition of “Swan Lake.”
For an orchestra concert, the performance was unique, to say the least. There were no restrictions on audience photography and videos, and Yoshiki encouraged fans to call out to him and cheer whenever they wanted. There were even moments where he called the audience to sing along and wave the flashlights on their phones for a new unreleased song for X Japan, titled “Kiss the Sky.”
Yukari Weldi has been a fan of Yoshiki for about 20 years. She says that whenever Yoshiki is in town, she’s there.
“I’ve been to the Wiltern, where they played as X Japan a couple of times and the Last Rockstars,” Weldi said. “Because I live in L.A., so whenever I’ve got the chance, I want to see him.”
Even artists who are inspired by Yoshiki’s work attended the performance, including musician Raven.
“I love [X Japan’s] creativeness and I love Yoshiki’s creativeness as well,” said Raven. “Very over-the-top and very creative, talented as well. So, it’s like I respect him as a musician, like everything he does is something I want to do.”
The word Weldi, Raven and other fans consistently used to describe Yoshiki was “talented,” and this is reflected in his versatility.
As audiences returned from intermission, fans grew excited when the crew wheeled out a clear drum set lined with lights. Some rushed up to the stage to take a picture of the iconic instrument, because they knew that despite this being a classical concert, Yoshiki was going to give them a taste of visual kei.
Yoshiki strutted on stage now in a sparkling white jacket, crossing the piano to sit at the drumset. As the orchestra began to play alongside operatic vocals, Yoshiki began to rattle the cymbals. He continued, hitting the drumheads, lost in his own world as the orchestra matched his tempo. He slowed his drumsticks and stood on his chair to catch his breath, signing an “X” with his arms before sitting back down and continuing his solo.
To Yoshiki, music, and drumming especially, is an expression of his grief and anger. His life is marked with tragedy. Alongside losing his father, he lost X Japan members hide and Taiji, whose deaths were both ruled suicides. More recently, Yoshiki’s mother passed away just a year ago.
“Someday, because we are human, someday, we die… Well, I’m going to give it another 200 years,” Yoshiki joked on stage. “I thought kind of that my mother would be here forever, but I was wrong, but one thing... our love will last forever.”
Yoshiki explained that he felt like giving up after losing her, but ended up doing what he does best in channeling these emotions into his music.
“The melody I wrote, eventually started supporting me, helping me,” said Yoshiki. “I think if this melody can help me, this melody may be able to help you as well.”
This would become the song “Requiem,” a yet-to-be-released piece dedicated to his mother. When he played those soft melodies, tears streamed down his face, with tones of turmoil and questioning woven into the harmonies.
He follows this with “Without You” in dedication to everyone he lost. While he played, a montage of videos and photos of his childhood and bandmates flashed on screen.
The final scene shown is a clip from his recent handprint ceremony, where he said that his mother “was the very first person to see my hands and feet, and now she can see them from the sky.”
To Raven, this ability to turn struggle into symphony is what speaks to him the most about Yoshiki’s music.
“Many songs about his past band members, his family… that actually helped me cope with a lot of things through his music,” said Raven. “It makes me express myself musically.”
Fellow musician Rocky echoes this, saying that Yoshiki’s work is a source of motivation.
“Confidence, determination, not giving up or saying nothing’s impossible… It’s just like always having to have a strong willpower to continue,” said Rocky.
Yoshiki would end the concert with X Japan’s iconic “Endless Rain” in response to the suffering felt by many across the globe. In one moment, the orchestra is stripped away and Yoshiki is left playing on the piano alone. Audience members began singing the words “Endless rain, fall on my heart, 心の傷に, let me forget all of the hate, all of the sadness.”
When he played the final note, the audience roared, giving him a standing ovation. Throughout the entire night, Yoshiki never raised his voice until now, yelling “We are…” as the audience responded “X!”
Yoshiki’s “Requiem” tour will make its final stop in New York’s Carnegie Hall on October 28. He will also perform with The Last Rockstars at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood on November 29.