MIYAVI at The Belasco Theater, Los Angeles

Legendary “Samurai Guitarist” MIYAVI returned to Los Angeles, CA on April 9th with a show at The Belasco Theater as part of his Fire Bird world tour. For the last few years, the Japanese rock artist has never ceased to amaze the crowd with his new style of music on every tour and that night was no exception. Unlike recent shows from past tours where MIYAVI manned his own launchpad, a DJ joined him and beloved drummer BOBO on stage this time to create yet another night for fans to remember.

The trio started with a set of three songs that were cleverly remixed and blended together with no intermission in between. For those who have not followed MIYAVI before or have hopped off the train awhile back, it is incredibly hard to pinpoint the specific genre his music falls into now, but those who showed up at the beginning of the show were given an introduction to his fusion of rock, pop, punk, funk, electronic, dubstep and trap. MIYAVI proudly let his music speak for itself as he did very little vocals.

After a great opening, MIYAVI greeted the Los Angeles fans and thanked them for coming that particular night to show their support for Asian artists. For those who are not in the know, in addition to his Fire Bird tour, MIYAVI is at the same time headlining for Live Nation's Asia On Tour series where he and a couple of Asia’s hottest rock bands play shows across 14 cities in the United States. The bands are KIHA & THE FACES from Korea and Slot Machine from Thailand, bands that are popular and successful in their own right, and they certainly exceeded the crowd's expectations, even those who were just there for the Japanese singer.

Afterwards, MIYAVI continued putting on a hard-hitting show with positive messages preached in between. Dedicated fans have probably heard of his heroic deeds at refugee camps around the world, but the general crowd received a heartfelt message from the "Samurai Guitarist" personally: This generation is building the world for the next. So people must do what they can to come as one and spread love just as he is doing through his music and his family. The song, Youth Of The Nation, perfectly summarizes his cause as he invited two young singers of different races to join him to sing on stage.

As the night went on and the show began to wind down, it was clear that everybody did not want the live to end, but MIYAVI reassured the audience that he will be back soon, especially since Los Angeles is now his home. As an artist that is constantly evolving, MIYAVI is never afraid to experiment and try something new. He mixes what is “hip” and “modern” today into what he already does best — rock — and fans are eagerly waiting to see what new fusion of music he will be cooking up next and the shows that he will be putting up thereafter.

Set list

01. Ha!
02. Raise Me Up
03. Ain't No Sunshine
04. So On It
05. Cool Girl
06. Ha!
07. Ganryu
08. Epic Swing
09. Dim It
10. Where Home Is
11. Youth Of The Nation
12. Survive
13. Fire Bird
14. Afraid To Be Cool
15. Cry Like This
16. The Others
17. Long Nights

Encore

18. Mission Impossible Theme
19. Wonderful World
20. What's My Name 2017