The setting is an upscale hotel ballroom. On a stage in the center of the room sit two crystal-clear transparent pianos, facing each other, and a mic stand. In a circle around the stage, facing inward: an audience. We'll come back to them in a minute. An octet and backing band occupy sub-stages on opposing walls, but no one's looking at them; everyone's gaze is fixed on the guy at the piano and the guy with the mic. They are Yoshiki and Toshi from X Japan.
Yes, while the now-middle-age visual-kei pioneers' natural habitat is the stadium, Yoshiki Hayashi and Toshimitsu "Toshi" Deyama sometimes perform at highly lucrative dinner shows. This one, held a few months ago at the Tokyo Prince Park Tower hotel, was for an audience of just 1,000 — a tiny fraction of the 45,000-capacity Tokyo Dome crowd X Japan usually entertains.
For the privilege of an intimate audience with these usually hard-rocking visual superstars — Toshi crooning soulfully as Yoshiki alternates between pianos, ensuring everyone gets a gander — these diehard fans, who have grown up with the band and are now moneyed and middle-class, will have parted with ¥45,000-¥100,000 per ticket. They wear dress suits and evening gowns. After all, visual-kei fans relish any excuse to dress up.