Japan Nite Concert Wrap

The Japan Nite concert turned out to be so much more than just GO!GO!7188, and was so amazingly awesome. Six bands in one night is a painfully long process, yet EVERY BAND was good. Here's the rundown:

First of all, the crowd was hella refreshing - there weren't any loser otaku there, as the tickets had sold out and there were tons of Japanese kids attending. I had shabu-shabu beforehand withskademonx and fabulous_papaya which was quite awesome, then met David and Jesse at the concert.

1. Asakusa Jinta

Great band, or greatest band? I checked this band out a week or two ago since they were opening the show. When I heard their music, I knew it was one of those rare concerts where you need to get there when doors open. 30s-style revival with a brass and upright-bass twist and a ravenous pack of badasses. And a friggin' ACCORDION, which I so love. I bought a CD, had all of them sign it (and they were all out there), and four bands later, I struck up a conversation with the accordion player (we both have the same brand of accordion). By the end of the night she and I had exchanged emails, which was pretty sweet. She was also delighted and surprised when I said I liked their sound a lot better than the finishing band, HY. No joke there, either - they have a sweet blend of old and new, good musicians, and amazing energy. Best discovery of the week I think!

2. 50 Kaitenz

This was a fun and dandy set from the Kansai area. But I was totally busy pigging out on merch and, though they were great, I didn't pay too much attention to them, since I was chatting up Oreskaband and Asakusa Jinta. So all I can say is that they were simple and enjoyable, and very talented and energetic. And they dressed like talented, foppish dandies.

3. Oreskaband

I expected them to be great, but they were even more amazing than I'd anticipated. Opening with album order was a nice touch, as the energy between Pantime, Hana no Ska Dance, and Pinocchio kept the crowd really hyped. After that they did Almond and a few other tracks, all totally cute and awesome. The leader of the band, on trombone, was really cute and genuine in that teenage girl kind of way. She was trying to explain her feelings to us, but her English couldn't really cover it, and she started to tear up as she said "You... Los Angeles, you... love music. We, Osaka, also love music." And she was crying, out of trying to convey that concept of universal language and the depth of the thought, and the overwhelming nature of playing to a huge crowd in Los Angeles, and kids being rowdy and moshing and crowding the stage to their songs. (Seriously, WTF, guys, it's ORESKABAND. You mosh to cute ska-pop sung by high school girls?) Also, their T-shirts absolutely rock. I got to talk to the drummer and trumpet player, and talked quite a lot to their merchandise person too. Ska caught their wristband, which is totally amazingly sweet (has their logo and says "ORESKABAND"), when thrown into the crowd.

4. GO!GO!7188

I could write a lot about how much their set rocked, and it absolutely did, but the lowlight of the evening was being manhandled and beaten by the crowd. Seriously moshing and shit. Half the people there were only there for GO!GO! and the other half were just there for HY. The band actually got really pissed off and told people to not rush the stage, but that didn't stop them. They opened with Jet Ninjin, closed with Bungu (which psyched me out nicely), and also played Ukifune, Otona no Kusuri, and a few others. Pretty awesome, and they were really nice. The guitarist is a bit more reserved in person, but the bassist is super-friendly and chill, and the drummer really seemed to have a thing for fabulous_papaya (then again, who doesn't?) - we ran into him on the street after the show on our Famima!! jaunt and HE asked to take a picture with US. Yeah. He dug the blond girl all right. ;) In keeping with his grand tradition, Ska caught GO!GO!'s fucking CUSTOM TOWEL that was thrown into the crowd.

5. Pistol Valve

Although their tech was kinda badly mixed and I could not adequately hear their layers, I still enjoyed Pistol Valve's set. They are a 10-girl brass-and-DJing-samples band from Tokyo. They were in the worst position of the night, following Oreskaband and GO!GO!7188 but before HY (the other big draw), so the energy they had to contend with was really weird. Lots of people sitting with arms crossed and them begging everyone to dance. They are totally badass, with fashion sense, good music, and fun songs; they were almost a cross between Oreskaband and Polysics. Unfortunately the mix wasn't great, as I've said, so their set came out a little garbled and distorted. However, I still dug it, and dug even more the CD and DVD recordings. Now, Ska, Nat and I had done our homework and tried to research each band (with moderate success). I always like to know what I'm listing to so I can enjoy the concert a little more, after all. With Pistol Valve, all we were able to find was Fo-Fo, which, as the lead singer explained to me, is a .44 caliber, and, I greatly suspect, a metaphor for cock in this totally irreverent song. So, because we'd done our homework, we were totally ready to yell "FO FO FO FO" along with the lead - just Ska and I - in her call-and-response game. Afterwards I made it a goal to get all their autographs, but only managed five. However, they were milling about and hanging out in the crowd - so was just about every band except Oreskaband.

6. HY

HY is a band from Okinawa. This was maybe the most famous and popular Japanese band at the show, and I couldn't really have cared less. Their music is really sweet and kinda bland, and while there's nothing wrong with it, there's also nothing unique or special that really catches me. They are innately good musicians and there's nothing wrong with them, but they have a certain poppy kind of Jrock simplicity that reminded me of L'arc~en~ciel and other bands I hate. However, I stand by assertion that their keyboard player is awesome and has a great voice. The HY concert was a great opportunity to hang out with members of the other bands in the back of the room, and in fact was when I got my chance to have a relatively long, involved, and cool conversation with Hiro from Asakusa Jinta.

Long story short, all six bands rocked, but four of them were so amazingly good I would go out of my way to see them in concert separately. I came for GO!GO!, but they weren't even the biggest highlight of my evening, and that's always a great surprise.

Now, swag: I bought the following merch:

- Pistol Valve DVD
- GO!GO!7188 T-shirt & sticker
- Oreskaband T-Shirt (in a neat custom Oreskaband plastic bag)
- Oreskaband mints with a case (nice promotion)
- Asakusa Jinta CD

...and got the following autographs (never leave home without a Sharpie):

Asakusa Jinta: Whole band
Pistol Valve: 5 of them (including the super awesome lead and DJ), amounting to half. sorry, other half! :(
GO!GO!7188: Whole band
Oreskaband: Saki (the trumpet player) and Tae (the drummer)

Great concert over with, it's time to get up early tomorrow and visit a cottage in Echo Park. The only downside about going to concerts like this is that you don't have them to look forward to anymore after they've passed.

-Tommy