After a nearly six-hour drive, my friends and I finally reached our destination: the khYber bar in Philadelphia. As we were walking down the street towards it MoCo thought he saw Shinsuke walk by us, though he wasn't entirely sure so we just moved on. But when we reached the door of the khYber, in front of it was non-other than Shun and Izumi, and possibly other members, but I was so in shock at seeing two members of HY on the street that I didn't notice. We stood there for a moment before they both walked into the khYber, and not wanting to somehow lose them I went in ahead of the rest of my friends. Squeezing past the drunks at the bar I caught up with Izumi and tapped her on the shoulder saying "sumimasen, sumimasen." When she turned around I just pointed to my HY shirt from Budokan and said "sugoi". She looked surprised, put her hands together and bowed saying "arigato!" The near six-hour trip there was already well worth the trouble.

A few minutes later my friends and I found HY just standing in the tiny performance room. One of my friends (who didn't fully appreciate HY at the time) did most of the talking (out of habit I suppose). Shun said he could speak English, though I don't think he understood a lot of what my friend was saying. I mostly just stood in absolute awe while we were talking to them, but after a minute Shun pointed to my Street Story DVD and said "Sign? Sign?" Hai! After they had all signed it I shook their hands, and when I got to Hideyuki he shook mine with both of his. Too awesome.

The khYber on that amazing night

Shinsuke in the crowd while other groups performed

After that incredible moment it was time for Japan Nite, which aside from HY had Pistol Valve, Asakusa Jinta, the Emeralds and the 50 Kaitenz. The 50 Kaitenz came after HY, so we only had to wait through the first three to see what we had come for. Finally it was time for HY, so my friends and I moved to the front row, which in this case meant putting our legs up against the tiny stage if we wished. It was truly unbelievable how close we were, especially after being to the absolute right of the J-1 block at Budokan (where I had seen them back in December). It took awhile for them to set up, but of course every second of seeing HY that close in person and with their instruments was incredible. As if that wasn't awesome enough though, Yuhei did a quick solo of Street Story on the Sanshin and they did part of White Beach to test the microphones. Street Story was particularly awesome, as it was a huge disappointment to MoCo and me that they didn't do it at Budokan. Another cool moment of the set-up was at one point my attention was turned to Izumi, and when I looked back at Hideyuki he was kneeling over adjusting something on his guitar, but he was looking right at my shirt.

Izumi setting up

We really were as close as these pictures look

Yuhei tuning his guitar

Shun and Shinsuke during setup

Once the set up was over Hideyuki said "Hello Philadelphia! We are HY! From Okinawa Japan! Nice to meet you!" and proceeded into Ryuufukumaru with the special opening they used at Budokan. I couldn't believe that they were not only starting with my at-the-time favorite song, they were doing it while I was so close that a step forward would have put me on the stage itself.

DREAMING started up right after Ryuufukumaru. I couldn't believe my ears; to my personal knowledge they hadn't done this song since 2003, and it was the first song I ever heard of theirs, thus of course making it extra special. And there I was, finally getting it live and in top form only a few feet away.

HY in concert...

...so close!

When DREAMING came to an end Hideyuki said "The next song is a love song," and did a hugging motion. Saa Yukou was the love song, and was undoubtedly the most incredible performance of the night. Near the beginning Hideyuki suddenly stood in front of me with his arms out, put away his mic and suddenly jumped off the stage and put his arms around one of my friends and myself. You can hear my reaction on this video. What he was trying to do was show everyone the back-and-forth motions of the song, but somehow I doubt that's the way he usually does it. Nothing beats interaction with the group, and I don't think you get much better than that.

Fantastic performances...

...as always!

The English version of AM 11:00 came next. Sadly I don't like the lyrics being in English, though the rap was still in Japanese so that was great. I think the stand out awesome moment of this song was during the break. As every HY DVD watching fan should know, with every live of AM 11:00 Hideyuki and Shinsuke both point upwards in the middle of the break, and the audience often mimics them. MoCo and I both of course did it this time, to which Shinsuke saw us and gave a sort of look that said "Yeah! You get it!"

White Beach followed AM 11:00, which was undoubtedly the most physically exhausting part of the concert. I was worried that, being in America, they wouldn't do things like arm motions and stuff like they do in Japan, but during White Beach Hideyuki made a jumping motion with his fingers right before the chorus, which of course meant that with every chorus I was jumping for all I was worth. He also had the audience sing the chorus an extra time, just like they would in Japan.

Next was a lesson on how to say "ha-ii-ya" properly after Hideyuki would say "Iyasasa" It took awhile for the American audience to get it right, but after Hideyuki was satisfied they broke into Street Story. Much to my disappointment, between my exhaustion, ecstasy and shock from the rest of the concert and the disbelief that they were doing Street Story right in front of me, I don't remember any part of this song after the Iyasasa opening. It's like I passed out right before Hideyuki hit the first note of the opening guitar. =(

Note the Sanshin, it's Street Story!

Hideyuki looks over-joyed

Street Story was the grand finale, so after that I stumbled over to write something on the flag they had set up for their fans to leave messages on. With my state of bliss/shock I couldn't think of anything creative to say, and my handwriting sucks, so I just wrote "HY = SAIKOU!!" After I did this, Shun walked by us and suddenly turned around and put his drumsticks in front of me on a shelf. I was just sort of like "Did he… mean to leave those?" But then he grabbed them again and showed me the lettering on the drumsticks, which read "HY Naka Shun Model" and then handed them to me. Autographs and handshakes, best song line up for a concert with the members only a few feet away from me, Hideyuki off the stage with his arm around my shoulders, and now Shun's drumsticks? It was too much.

Izumi packing up, Shun's drumsticks made it in the pic

One of our friends signing the flag

As we were driving away we saw HY standing outside the khYber, so we shouted to them one more time before leaving Philadelphia for our long drive home.


-Report by Kumo
-Pictures by MoCo (see more pictures)

Poor Quality Setup and Performance Videos:
Setup Video 1 (combination of several small clips)
Setup Video 2 (different camera, better quality but no sound)
Ryuufukumaru (extremely low quality, does not contain full song)
DREAMING (extremely low quality, does not contain full song)
Saa Yukou (extremely low quality, does not contain full song)