Japanese Rocker HYDE Will Return To The U.S. In The Fall To Tour With Starset

LOS ANGELES, CA- Earlier this year, Hideto Takarai, a Japanese rocker better know by his stage name HYDE, embarked on an abbreviated U.S. tour that hit up seemingly random cities, performing headling gigs, festival slots and also as support for In This Moment. HYDE has a has fronted internationally known rock bands like L’Arc-en-Ciel and Vamps, but it had been at least a decade since the last time Hideto performed under his own stage name. Needless to say, his dedicated fans came out in droves see this legendary Japanese rocker crush a stage.

With the rise and dominance of Asian pop music in western culture, it seems that Asian rock music entry into the western Zeitgeist would naturally follow. Having released a series of singles earlier this year leading up to his latest album anti, HYDE seems poised to jump into the trenches to make it happen.

We caught HYDE’s headling performance at 1720 in Los Angeles in May, and we were blown away by the raw energy of his performance. At 50 years old, Hideto has every edge, and the tenacity, of any 20-year-old rocker. In fact, as a veteran of the stage, his performance had a polished/refined kind of danger, complimenting the grand, hard-hitting metal/rock that he has perfected over the years.

For someone whose last performance in the U.S. was over a decade ago, it was amazing to me to meet and talk to his long-time fans. Young women had waited in the rain since early in the morning (even though ticket holders were told not to) to see HYDE perform live. One young woman told me that there was no way she would have missed out on this show and that HYDE being in Los Angeles was like catching a mythical creature like a unicorn. “There was no way in hell I was going to miss this show,” she assured me.

And she wasn’t the only die-hard fan who felt that way, as the 700 capacity warehouse venue had sold out and was packed for the loud shredding and melodic rocking that HYDE and his band would unleash.

HYDE’s music is as good as, if not better than, a lot of the heavy metal/hard rock that’s been released this year. Having just released anti, I would have thought he would have had an expanded U.S. tour in order to engage the U.S. market. I guess his initial U.S. mini-tour was just a warm up, as he will return Stateside to tour with Starset starting September 13th all the way through November 1st with over 30 gigs.

America just got a little taste of HYDE earlier this year. This time around, it’ll get a full serving.

Follow HYDE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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