Date: May 2010
Location: Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
"Next Music from Tokyo" tour is probably the BEST live show I've been to. I haven't been to many, but this one takes the cake. My friend Katt and I, went to find the venue early since we didn't want to get lost or not have parking. We got there about an hour early, heard the bands rehearsing and went for a sneak peek during goomi and Kulu Kulu Garden's soundcheck.
Kotone and Ryotaro of KKG.
Doors opened at 6:30pm and show started at 7:00pm. The show kick started right away with Kulu Kulu Garden. Kotone might look sweet but she knows how to rock out and screams her head off during the songs. The crowds took a little while to warm up to the bands and the music since the first part set from KKG only brought half of the people to their feet and on the floor. Plus there were people continually trickling in after 7pm. They performed songs from their first EP "Detorake Yuuenchi" so they played about 4 songs. They also had a CD-R that came with a CD purchase which features 3 new demo songs. Far France drummer, Kyohei Takahashi, was also there playing as support member for the show.
The hat is actually Tobita from グーミ standing right in front of me.
Next up was グーミ, who won the crowd over with their melodic pop/alt-rock style, along with Kobata's amazing violin playing!! I don't think some people were expecting him to pull that one out. Tobita is the drummer for the band, and she's like this cute, tiny little girl. I wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home. XD They played songs from their third album, "めが3っつ" which included 静寂の家, 誘惑気配, 50年, サテライト. There might have been another song that I could have forgotten. They were super nice and really down to earth. At one point during the next day where I bumped into Steve and goomi and andymori in Metrotown, we were exchanging band/artist suggestions. Mostly from Steve anyways. I bought The xx's album for Kobata @ Red Cat Records. I also got my friend Katt a copy too earlier in the day while shopping in Metrotown. If you're curious as to who some of Kobata's favorite artists are: Miyauchi Yuri, Qurage, circe, and NACANO. I've only heard of 2 of them. Kobata had a circe shirt on too during the band's set. And the only reason we bumped into them was because グーミ had a craving for Dairy Queen ice cream and because my friend and I had to turn back to get to another store, which now that I remember, we never made it to lol. They used to frequent a DQ store in Japan but since it closed down, they couldn't get their fix. So they travelled all the way to Canada to have some!
Members of グーミ and andymori.
Got my picture taken with the band after their soundcheck. =)
Following グーミ was the crazy band Owarikara (オワリカラ), whose live performance was insane. I haven't seen a live clip of them before the tour so didn't know what to expect, but man, if you were still bored by the last set, you were widely awake after watching them. The keyboardist, Taku, plays with crazy fast fingers, and also uses his feet to play! Him and Hyouri were pretty wild, jumping on and over each other, then falling over and toppling a chair. At one point, Hyouri jumped off the stage, took off his guitar and put it over the head of the girl behind me. We stood right in front of the speakers, and I think my hearing kind of went after that set.
Then the mother of all best live experience I ever had performed! mothercoat was FRICKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just awesome awesome awesome. I didn't want their set to end, they played about 4 songs since their songs was a bit longer compared to the other bands. The crowds went nuts over these guys, my friend Katt became a new fan, even though she has never heard Japanese music until I came to see her in Vancouver. I don't remember all the names of the songs they played but they were ワルツハイマー and カーリーマッシュ. They had an experimental style that appealed to the majority of the crowds. By this time, the whole floor in front of the stage was packed. People were jumping up and down, yelling, clapping, starting our own mosh pit. By the last song though, I had to back off from the pit since it was getting just a little rough for me. Fumihiko of Owarikara crowd surfed during mothercoat's last song also.
Last but not least, andymori took the stage with a cover of Stand By Me. Then followed up with songs from both their albums including ベンガルトラとウィスキー, everything is my guitar, life is party, 1984, FOLLOW ME, CITY LIGHTS, ずっとグルーピー, and SAWASDEECLAP YOUR HANDS. Those weren't the exact order they played in, I just tried to remember what songs as best I could. Hiroki disappeared after their set, so I only got autographs from Souhei and Hiroshi. Overall, the whole experience was great. I would love to see the next tour happen, especially if we can get MassDre and Midori. >_<
There were food and treats served in between each band sets to give the next band time to set up their equipment. The members of the bands I got to meet were incredibly nice and really down to earth people. They seem to be pretty easy going also. My friend Katt and I took members of andymori and their friend Nicola, in the car to Stanley Park, while Steve had members from グーミ. They were really intrigued by the squirrels, raccoons, ducks and swans so it was cool to see their reactions.
lol, bubble tea, this was our 3rd time going to Dragon Ball that weekend. So of course, we had to take the bands there too. :P
Souhei of andymori going through my super old/clunky ipod (which is now dead, RIP wee one). He said I was a heavy Japanese music listener. XD
Stanley Park pics
Finally, the merchandise!!!!!!!
The Suisei shirt was actually a gift from Steve. =)
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