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Back to workB'z were very busy promoting their recent singles and their tenth album Brotherhood, which was released on July 14. In July, another done-class tour began starting in Sapporo. The title of this tour, B'z LIVE-GYM '99 Brotherhood included 14 performances in 7 locations. They did away with extra stage acts and concentrated on their musical performance playing songs from the new album and many hits from the past. On August 28 and 29, they played in the Yokohama International Stadium. B'z concert was the first ever to be held in this stadium and gathered a stunning 140,000 people in just two days. Although the second day at Yokohama experienced heavy rain, the tour ended successfully. Again, B'z started recording in September and continued throughout the rest of the year without rest.
On February 23, 2000, they released the album B'z The Mixture, which includes re-mastered tracks of past songs, songs form past singles that were not the featured track, remixes, and a new song. In the middle of May, they started a rehearsal for the summer tour B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2000 -juice-, starting a hall class venue show in Toyama, May 30. The big part of the tour was total 18 shows in 10 cities, including a famous Budokan on June 20 as a start. When releasing Juice, on July 12, They set Japanese record of marking No.1 on the first week, and this No.1 was the 25th in sequence. During the tour, on August 2, awaited sixth video once upon a time in Yokohama -B'z LIVE-GYM 99' Brotherhood was released. The year of 2000 was finished with the release of the eleventh album Eleven on December 6. B'z finished their work in 2000 with the appearance on the TV show called Music Station Special and would start the rehearsal for the tour B'z LIVE-GYM 2001 -ELEVEN- which kicked off on February 26, in the following year.
B’z in the 21st century
On February 26, 2001, B'z LIVE-GYM 2001 -ELEVEN- kicked off at Ehime Kenmin Bunka Kaikan. Most of the shows of that tour were exclusive for the fan club members to get a ticket. After the Okinawa show on June 27 and 28, B'z departed abroad. They officially released their CDs in Taiwan and Hong Kong and having LIVE-GYM this year, they made a promotion trip for the first time there. They were greatly welcomed with local fan and all the media which shows their high expectation towards the LIVE-GYM in August. B'z LIVE-GYM 2001 -ELEVEN- had 46 shows in 19 locations and 600,000 audiences all together. After the ELEVEN tour, B'z was preparing for the first Asia tour which includes B'z LIVE-GYM in Taipei 2001 on August 25, 26 and B'z LIVE-GYM in Hong Kong 2001. The first B'z Asia tour was very successful. B'z finished their activity as B'z in 2001 by August. Each of them spent rest of the year concentrating on their own solo production.
While B'z started recording as soon as the year 2002 starts, Tak finished his solo albums. On February 27, two solo albums are released at the same time, DRAGON FROM THE WEST which consists of hard rock tunes, and HANA which includes more melodic and Asia orientated tunes. B'z finished their recording in the middle of May, and started the rehearsal in Tokyo for the LIVE-GYM tour soon beginning. As the excitement of the World Cup increasing, B'z performed with Aerosmith on the stage of FIFA WORLD CUP KOREA/JAPAN OFFICIAL CONCERT INTERNATIONAL DAY, at Tokyo Stadium on June 27.
On July 3, right before the main tour starts, new album Green which is also the name of the tour this year was released. The tour started from Saitama Super Arena on July 8 to the last show at Osaka Dome on September 9, it gathered 700,000 audience all together for 14 shows in 11 cities. Band members were the former Mr.Big bass player, Billy Sheehan and the drum player Shane Gaalaas who has played for many artists' live and recordings. Having these skillful musicians, the sound became more powerful and heavy. On September, after the last show at Osaka, long time longing first US tour at a live house on the west coast took place, San Diego Canes on September 22 and Los Angeles The Palace on September 24. This US tour LIVE-GYM 2002 Rock n' California Roll was announced and sold only in the US. On October 9, Koshi released his second solo album, Shian, five and half years after his first solo album. On November 27, a live video a Beautiful Reel, which packaged everything that happened at the GREEN tour, was released. This title was not only about the GREEN tour but also it has the second disc including the tour LIVE-GYM 2002 Rock n' California Roll. On December 11, their first ballad best-of album The Ballads ~Love & B'z~ was released.
The year 2003 was their 15th anniversary. They started recording from the beginning of the year, and went to US in February for additional recording. Apart from B'z, Koshi released his solo single, KI, on June 11. Along with these continuous releases, the tour B'z LIVE-GYM The Final Pleasure IT'S SHOWTIME!! started in July. The tour Pleasure series started since '91 would end this year. The tour kicked off July 3 at Hakodate Shimin Kaikan and finished at Nagisa-en on September 21 which is the day of their debut, 23 shows all together. It has been 10 years since B'z had shows at Nagisa-en in '93, B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure '93 JAP THE RIPPER, and it gathered 100,000 audience for two days. Even though the shows were hit by typhoon and it rained very hard, they were very successful.
After the Nagisa-en, they flew to US. The tour B'z LIVE-GYM 2003 BANZAI IN NORTH AMERICA, 7 shows including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver took place and got a good reception. Their thirteenth album, Big Machine, was released on September 17. As they came back to Japan, B'z started their third tour in 2003, B'z LIVE-GYM 2003 BIG MACHINE. It was a dome tour in 6 locations, from Saitama Super Arena to Tokyo Dome in December. During the tour, Tak announced his solo project. As the start, he worked with Izumi Sakai from ZARD for the song Ihoujin, and he worked with Mai Kuraki for the song Imitation Gold. Then the compilation cover album THE HIT PARADE with various vocalist was released on November 26.
Dedication to solo projects
B'z started recording as soon as 2004 started. On February 25, a DVD, Typhoon No.15 B'z LIVE-GYM The Final Pleasure IT'S SHOWTIME!! in Nagisa-en, was released. For the rest of the year, they worked mainly on their solo projects. Soon after finishing each solo tour, they started to record together again.
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