Fans began to line the sidewalks outside the ballroom at the Holiday Inn Tropicano over an hour before the Tadahisa Yoshida show, braving the blistering San Antonio heat. Hair drooped and elaborate makeup ran but the murmured buzz that ran through the crowd showed excitement and anticipation. When the doors opened a bit after 4 p.m., excited fans began to stream into the cool auditorium and moved quickly to the raised dais that served as a stage.

Murmured voices grew louder when the San Japan staff moved around the stage and soon enough, the ceiling lights dimmed. The crowd erupted into cheers when Tada hit the stage, bounding up to take his place at the center. He began to banter with fans, asking, "are you guys ready? Do you want to hear someone else like Dir en grey or something?" The crowd started to chuckle and with that he picked up his guitar.

  Accompanied only by a Macintosh laptop and guitar, Tada slammed into the first song "Cyber Level." He owned the stage, strutting around in four-inch white platforms, bare chest loosely hidden by a military-cut jacket bearing a sickle and scythe patch on his left arm and wearing tight patent leather pants. The crowd pressed closer, moving to the throbbing intensity of the beat. The audience watched the compelling figure Tada made as he moved around the stage, beckoning the audience to join him in his world of sound.

Singing in a mixture of Japanese and English, Tada moved between the languages with ease, giving listeners both the emotive "feel" of the lyrics as well as choruses that they could pick up on and chant, heightening the energy generated by the electronic beat. He continued this mix of languages as he moved into "GD" a song filled with heavy electronic beats and steady rhythms perfect for the Gothic and Darkwave audience. During this song the guitar took a backseat to the laptop when Yoshida moved to the mic and focused on the lyrics.

His next number "Death by Stereo" (title taken from a line from "The Lost Boys") was a bit of a departure from the previous songs as he put the guitar away for more than a minute and stood alone in front of his audience. Not until the chorus did he start to play again and this time his performance had the fans pumping their fists into the air and jumping to each drum beat. Glow sticks could be seen all around the dais and the darkness engendered a feeling of excitement.

The transition into "Thalidomide" went smoothly after a bit of banter with the crowd and the promise of more music. The song had a heavy EBM beat which left users breathless as the leapt in place. Tada intoned the refrain until much of his audience were singing along, held enthralled by his words and emotions. At the end of the songs he threw out picks which were rapidly caught and pocketed as souvenirs. A bit more banter followed then he began to talk about ‘Chigaku’ or self-destruction and what it feels like to want to tear oneself apart. He combined this with a short personal account of how mixed up he felt as a teenager and how he came to write the song. He moved smoothly through the music and then it ended. He thanked everyone for coming then went for water and got ready to sign autographs.

Overall, it was an energetic performance that seemed a little too short and left many wanting more.

Set List
1. Cyber Level
2. GD
3. Death by Stereo
4. Thalidomide
5. Jigyaku (acoustic version)