Newswire X Japan announces first North American tour

Includes Riviera show Oct. 6

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nightwing_26/ X Japan is really, really popular in Japan.

by Marah Eakin August 16, 2010

Hot off a wicked Lollapalooza set (probably literally, considering the all-leather get-ups the band was sporting), X Japan has announced its very first North American tour. There are only seven dates, and two are in Canada, but, hey, it's a start—especially for a group so massively popular in Japan. It'll be at the Riv Oct. 6

It might be an unfamiliar name here, but this weird Queen/Mötley Crüe hybrid has existed for more than 20 years, sold 30 million records and "video albums" in Asia, sold out the 55,000 seat Tokyo Dome 18 times, and is credited with creating "Visual-Kei," the musical movement that helped spark the longstanding Anime craze. Not too shabby. The band's drummer and de facto leader, Yoshiki, is also occasionally called "the Bono of Japan," for what that's worth.

In its home country, X Japan tours with an "elaborate production including lasers, catwalks, and holograms," but here in the U.S., the stage show will be scaled back a little—though there will still be plenty of pyrotechnics. Here's hoping the band brings the lucite-topped white grand piano it toted to Lollapalooza, too. It's very, very metal Liberace, and for X Japan, it makes perfect sense.

The band is also planning on putting out its very first U.S. record, consisting of half classic material with the lyrics re-recorded in English, and half brand-new songs. No release date has been set on that yet, though. Full tour dates below.