YOSHIKI headlined two sold-out nights at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles this week, his first full headline shows abroad since his 2024 neck surgery. Performing alongside an orchestra of around 30 musicians, he played a 21-song set across roughly three hours on each of the two evenings, Scarlet Night on July 16th and Violet Night on July 17th, as part of the YOSHIKI Classical 2026 series, with a mix of classical and rock guests.
The concerts served as YOSHIKI’s first full US performances since his third cervical spine surgery in late 2024. He returned to the stage in Japan in April and appeared at Japan Expo in Paris earlier this month, but the Los Angeles shows were his largest productions abroad since recovering. “I feel like I have finally been able to overcome the wall”, he said. As a standing ovation broke out, he told the audience it was thanks to them that he was able to stand there, calling the moment a miracle.
The set drew on X JAPAN classics and solo compositions alongside a handful of covers. Gentler piano readings of songs like ‘Kurenai’ gave way to heavier passages driven by YOSHIKI’s drumming, with classical covers of Chopin and Bach and a drum solo along the way. Both nights closed on ‘Tears’, ‘Red Swan’, ‘Art of Life’, and ‘ENDLESS RAIN’.
Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, a longtime friend of YOSHIKI, appeared on both evenings for an orchestral reimagining of the band’s 1998 nu metal classic ‘Freak on a Leash’. YOSHIKI accompanied Davis on piano before moving to the drums for the song’s climax. ‘Freak on a Leash’ was the second single from Korn’s third album, 1998’s ‘Follow the Leader’, and remains one of the band’s most recognisable songs.
Fan-filmed footage of YOSHIKI and Jonathan Davis performing ‘Freak on a Leash’ on Violet Night.
Davis was joined across the two nights by other cross-genre guests. Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell featured on Scarlet Night, where YOSHIKI recalled how the late hide, X JAPAN’s guitarist, had been a huge fan of the band and once joined him to see them play live on an early trip to LA. Josh Groban appeared during Violet Night, singing the X JAPAN song ‘Forever Love’ in an arrangement that wove together English and Japanese with YOSHIKI on piano. As the two performed together, YOSHIKI, who has known Groban for 15 years, broke off to exclaim “Wow! Unbelievable!” before the pair embraced on stage.
The concerts were held at the downtown venue designed by Frank Gehry and home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, known for its acoustics. YOSHIKI said he “felt pressure in a positive way” performing there.
YOSHIKI will reflect on the two shows in a live interview on YOSHIKI CHANNEL later today (July 18th) at 6:00pm PT (2:00am on July 19th UK time, 10:00am on July 19th in Japan), discussing the guest collaborations and sharing behind-the-scenes stories from the performances. A portion of the broadcast will be free to watch on YouTube, with the full programme available to channel members worldwide and on Niconico Channel in Japan. He has also said he plans to gradually release footage from his recent Tokyo, Paris, and Los Angeles shows.
