Hello everyone!  We now bring you Danny’s blog on his recent string of concerts he’s gone to this year!  We apologize in advance as this will be a long post, so be prepared!  We have a lot of material to cover after all~

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That’s right.  I went to a total of 4 rock concerts, all of bands I’ve loved forever, so when I got the chance to see them in New York, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity!

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Sounds interesting!  ….er, is that a guitar?

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Well, you know… whenever you talk about rock, you gotta be rock! ROCK STAR MODE: ON!

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…I see.  I suppose this is another one of those guy things I won’t understand?

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Fufu, rock doesn’t differentiate between genders.  All that matters is having THE SOUL OF ROCK~!!!

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I see… anyway let’s just move onto the concerts.  Which one’s first?

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The first concert was 雅-MIYAVI-, which was on June 27th, 2010 at the Fillmore New York in Irving Plaza.  Just to get it out of the way, yes, I lined up by at least 1 or 2 pm for each of these concerts.  Some as early as 11!

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As dedicated as ever… Was it really that necessary to go that early?

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Like I said, it’s THE SOUL OF ROCK~!!!!!

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Ok, ok.  So what are we going to watch here?

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I didn’t take any of my own videos inside the concert because 1-my camera sucks 2-I wanted to have fun/rock out/head bang without worrying about a camera and 3-there’s always youtube.  The Miyavi concert didn’t allow video anyway (although a bunch of people snuck recordings), but here’s an official video from Miyavi featuring his performance of Survive at the New York concert!

 

雅-MIYAVI- performing Survive in New York:

Wow~!  He’s really talented at guitar!

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Well, he’s Miyavi after all!  He’s one of the first rock artists I started listening to, ever since he went solo 8 years ago!  Not only is he phenomenal at guitar, he also has amazing stage presence, is able to sing live and has become a worldwide icon!  He’s definitely one of my heroes!

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…hero?  Anyway, can you pick yourself out of the crowd in this video?

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I was pretty close to the front in all of these concerts, but it’s really hard to actually pick yourself out from the crowd unless your all the way in the front.  You can probably see me somewhere in there though…

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Next we have the D’espairsRay Concert, which was on August 12th in The Studio at Webster Hall!

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Hehe, cameras weren’t allowed for this event either and I wasn’t able to find any worthwhile videos on youtube, so I’ll just post the pictures of my t-shirt and signed poster at the end…

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Oh?  You were able to get something signed?

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After the concert I got to shake all of their hands and have them sign my poster!  It was really cool being so close up to them, I was definitely star struck!  Kyaaa~~

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Y-you’re starting to sound like a fangirl… please stop…  So, how did you get them to sign it?

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THE PASSION OF ROCKKK~!!!

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Wasn’t it soul?… whatever, let’s just move on to the next concert then, shall we?

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Next, we have the DIR EN GREY concert on August 24th, in the Nokia Theatre!  DIR EN GREY is another band I’ve been very excited to finally see in person as well.

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Were you able to find videos of this concert?

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Yup~!  The second video has messed up audio, but Vinushka is my current favorite DIR EN GREY  song, so I just had to put it in.  This was the only video I could find, so please bear with it.  Anyhoo, enjoy!

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DIR EN GREY performing Inward Scream and Dozing Green:

DIR EN GREY performing Vinushka:

And finally, we have the latest concert, X Japan!

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That’s right.  The concert was held on October 10th, in the Roseland Ballroom.  The concert was on Toshi’s birthday (the vocalist).  Here’s some pics of me with some cosplayers in line with me.  The people in the first two pictures were giving out happy birthday signs, which is what the third picture is.  Also, Yoshiki (the pianist/drummer) of the band bought pizza for everyone in line!

 

Thank you to Yoshiki-san for the pizza!  It was very generous and kind of him to buy pizza for so many people.  How many people were there anyway?

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Hmm, I don’t really know but the line got very long.  To give some perspective, by the time the doors opened at 7, the line actually wrapped around the block twice, meaning it was perhaps between 6 or 7 city blocks long…  Here’s a video I found about the pizza and the line:

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Free pizza on the line before the X Japan concert:

Twice around the block?!?

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All of these concerts were absolutely packed.  I think I saw about 10 girls faint within the first song of X Japan, I’m assuming out of claustrophobia/heat/scared they’ll be trampled.  It was pandemonium, especially at the beginning… Well, why don’t you all see for yourself!  I’d like to put in every song from this concert, but I’ll only post my favorites:

 

Intro of the X Japan concert and Jade:

Rusty Nail:

Sugizo Violin Solo & Kurenai:

Yoshiki’s Message:

I actually cried during this…

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Art of Life:

I’m so blessed to have actually witnessed Yoshiki perform Art of Life… one of the things I’ve truly wanted to experience before I die…

That was quite a lot of videos, but I’m sure everyone enjoyed them!  The message was very touching and the violin and piano parts really amazed me!

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X Japan is one of japan’s biggest if not the biggest rock band of all time after all!  They’re the embodiment of the POWER OF ROCK~!!

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Don’t you look a little differ- you know what, forget it.  Finally, we have a quick gallery of all the posters and souvenirs Danny got from the concerts, including the signed D’espairsRay Poster he mentioned earlier!

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And that’s the end!  Thanks for sticking around and reading this long post~!

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MAY THE HEART OF ROCK ALWAYS BE WITH YOU~!!!

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!?!?! SCARY!!! Danny! You’re turning more and m-

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ROCKKKK ONNNNNNN~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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