On Thanksgiving Eve – November 27, 2024 – HYDE took over Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, New York. It has been years since HYDE was last in New York, and despite the major American holiday the following day, fans traveled from far and wide to be in attendance.

HYDE started out the night performing LET IT OUT on a podium, towering high above the stage and audience. “Are you ready? Are you f*cking ready?!” he asked the crowd as the podium was removed by the second song, and they went immediately into AFTER LIGHT.

The crowd gladly sang along, especially when HYDE shouted, “Louder!” asking for more participation.

After I GOT 666, HYDE went into his first MC of the evening – “Hello New York City, here’s HYDE. Have you listened to the new album?” which received unanimous cheers of yes! “My new album, it’s like an invitation. Welcome to the HYDE INSIDE! Make some noise!”

The energy in the room was contagious as HYDE went into DEFEAT, asking the crowd for the first of many times throughout the night to jump along to the beat.

During the middle of TAKING THEM DOWN, Hyde retreated towards the drum kit to pick up a megaphone, holding the microphone up to that and singing through the megaphone. That always leads to a unique sound during a show. 

This was a lot of consecutive high energy songs, so THE ABYSS was a bit of a rest and slower tempo, starting out with some keys. The lighting set the mood with cool blue tones and some white spotlights on HYDE.

Tokoshie received a strong response – this song is the ending theme for the anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaibai – Hashira Training Arc – and it has that ending song feel to it. It was released in June 2024, only a few months prior. During this song, HYDE picked up the microphone stand which had a flag with his cross/snake symbol attached to it, and held it over his shoulder – it felt appropriate for a Demon Slayer song.

Next up was another long time fan favorite – HONEY by HYDE’s band, L’Arc~en~Ciel. Hands were in the air waving to the beat and HYDE let the crowd sing sections all on their own, and the crowd did great! HYDE was dancing on stage and waving to the crowd during the instrumental parts. He even had the crowd sing the final chorus aloud while he cheered on!

Following Honey was another MC by HYDE: “I really wanted to see you, New York City. How do you feel?” to which the crowd cheered extremely loud. “That’s awesome. But I want to see more chaos. Chaos! I want chaos! Everybody get low. Let’s all jump together at 3-2-1, get low get low.” As he gave these instructions, HYDE himself laid down in a lounging position on the riser at the front of the stage 

Chaos was the perfect theme for the start of 6or9. Everyone in the venue got as low as they could, getting lower if possible when HYDE asked. As he stared 6or9, the crowd saying back the ‘woah woah woah’ parts in the song before he gave the signal – 3-2-1- and everyone sprung up, continuing to jump as the song progressed!

He had the audience wave their arms up and down towards the end of the song, before asking for everyone to jump jump jump again!

After SOCIAL VIRUS, HYDE once again asked, “Show me chaos!” before going into another classic HYDE song, Midnight Celebration II – an updated version of his 2003 song. There was a quick outfit change – or rather, removing outer layers – and suddenly HYDE was also covered in fake blood. HYDE himself was rather chaotic on stage during this song.

LAST SONG was the ‘last song’ of the night – the audience was asked to put up their cell phone flashlights during this song, which had a pretty effect with the house lights dimmed. The band members also had their flashlights up early in the song when they weren’t playing. HYDE put his all into every song of the evening, but this song in particular was very moving and you could see the emotions on HYDE’s face and hear it in his voice.

HYDE and the band walked off stage to cheers and immediate chants for more. Brooklyn didn’t have to wait too long – the two guitarists and drummer emerged first, and these three had a jam session showing off their skills on their instruments. The drummer then had his time to shine on the drums, engaging the audience with them clapping along with his drum beats. Jumping out from behind his drums, he continued to hype up the crowd from the front of the stage.

A smaller podium was brought out and the rest of the band and HYDE emerged for the first encore song, PANDORA. HYDE was once again wearing a new outfit than previously.

He then engaged with the audience, going towards the barrier to take a fan made banner which HYDE proudly held up, pointing to the photo of him and then to himself, as if saying, “Is this me?” He was also given a pair of ear muffs with animal ears on the top of them, which he put on in jest but then put back down on the stage.

HYDE then received a hat made by a fan and proceeded to put it on his head and wore it for the remainder of the show.

“Are you having fun? I’m glad you meet you guys. Thank you so much. Arigato gozaimasu.” HYDE put the fan banner on the drum kit and said, “Gorgeous.”

“Are you going to see Thanksgiving parade tomorrow?” HYDE said with a laugh, “Anybody?” A few people made comments, someone asking if he was going, to which he replied, “I don’t know. We got jetlagged. Thank you, we love you New York City.”

He then delivered the news – “Three more songs to go.” People were shouting, “Ten more songs” and HYDE heard, replying, “Ten more?” and laughed. He added some Japanese throughout this MC as well.

The next song was MUGEN, which was used as the opening theme for the anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaibai – Hashira Training Arc. The night was all too quickly coming to a close, but went out on a high note!

GLAMOROUS SKY was up next, another fan favorite from the Nana film. During the latter half of this song, HYDE went down to the barrier to be closer to fans. He stood up on the barrier step and used fans’ hands as support with the microphone in his other hand. The fans sang a portion of the song without HYDE. He remained there until the song finished, and he said, “One more song to go” as he returned to the stage.

The final song of the night was SEX BLOOD ROCK N’ ROLL – a VAMPS song. This high energy song was the perfect way to end the performance, the crowd gave it their all and raised their hands and jumped!

HYDE once again thanked the crowd, even putting on the earmuff animal ears he was given earlier in the night for these final moments. “New York City, thank you so much. Everybody jump together – 3-2-1!” and everyone jumped. HYDE waved as he walked off stage.

 

Thank you HYDE, New York looks forward to you returning again soon!

 

For full gallery of photos, please visit Flickr here.

 

 

Setlist:
LET IT OUT
AFTER LIGHT
I GOT 666
DEFEAT
BLEEDING
TAKING THEM DOWN
THE ABYSS
Tokoshie (永久 -トコシエ)
HONEY (L’Arc~en~Ciel song)
6or9
MAD QUALIA
SOCIAL VIRUS
MIDNIGHT CELEBRATION II
LAST SONG

Encore:
PANDORA
MUGEN (夢幻)
GLAMOROUS SKY
SEX BLOOD ROCK N’ ROLL (VAMPS song)