RC Succession, Quruli, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Fujifabric, and Vaundy... A History of Live Music Looked Back on with 40 Years of Tickets [Unplugged Talk #1]
My belongings are over 40 years' worth of concert tickets
—Thank you for joining us today. Shu-san, you are a senior colleague who, as a division head, is responsible for the communication policies and strategies for our customers at SKY PerfecTV!.
Shu: You're welcome. I thought it might make for a good topic of conversation, so I brought along the tickets for the concerts I've been to.
—W...wow! Have you kept all of them?
Shu: Every single one since I was in junior high school (laughs).
—I feel like I could talk for hours just looking at these tickets.
Shu: It's worth keeping everything, isn't it? Looking back at them again yesterday, I felt quite nostalgic myself.
—Recently, everything is completed on smartphones, so these paper tickets have become quite rare, haven't they?
Shu: Right. That's why I felt a bit sad, so I even printed out my digital tickets like this (laughs).
—You're so diligent!!
Shu: This is my concert ticket file, but I also make files for "theater" and "sports" as well.
—Not just music? It sounds like a "Shu-san Museum" could be built (laughs). Let's start by looking at the first volume... It starts from 1981. Who did you go to concerts with when you were in junior high?
Shu: I think I went with friends. This RC (Succession) concert was at a university festival in Nagoya, and I went with six or seven friends from class.
—I see. Was RC Succession popular among students back then?
Shu: They were popular. Back then, even concerts by overseas artists were cheap, and you could go see very major artists for 3,900 yen (at the time).
—Overseas artists are very expensive these days. Did you go to concerts using your pocket money?
Shu: I wonder, I might have begged my parents (laughs).
—(Laughs) Are your parents also music lovers?
Shu: They don't listen to this kind of band music, but my mother might have been happy that I was so devoted to music. Since we were a musical family, I think they respected it as something I loved.
—Wonderful! In that case, they might have been willing to pay for the tickets (laughs).
Shu: The first time I went to the Budokan in Tokyo was at the end of my second year of high school. It was right in the middle of the week, but I was serious, so I thought I had to go to school the next day and took a night bus back. I didn't even have the idea of skipping school.
—I understand (laughs). I didn't have the idea of skipping school for fun either.
—Oh, it's Quattro. Looking at it this way, there are venues that exist now and some that don't. "NISSIN POWER STATION"...? This is the first time I've heard of this place.
Shu: I really loved Nissin Power Station, but it's gone now. (*A live house that operated for 10 years starting in March 1988. Commonly known as "Power Station".)
—I've never heard of "Shibuya ON AIR" either.
Shu: Oh, I see. Is ON AIR gone too? It was like a pioneer of large-scale live houses, similar to the current Zepp.
(*Added later: It was discovered that "ON AIR" is the current "Spotify O-EAST".)
—The first volume is finished. It covered the 20 years from 1981 to 2004. Looking at it, there were both Japanese and Western music.
Shu: That's right. I used to go to concerts by overseas artists often, but after festivals became common, Western artists started gathering at festivals. I don't really go to festivals, so my opportunities to go to Western music concerts have decreased recently. If those (festivals) had started when I was young, I probably would have gone (laughs).
—(Laughs) Festivals take a lot of stamina, don't they? Now, the second volume starts with a series of Quruli concerts.
Shu: That's right. A little before that, I saw Quruli live for the first time at a J-WAVE festival and they were so cool, so I decided to go twice during the same tour.
—How many members were in Quruli at that time?
Shu: Four, I think. It was when the drummer at the time was the American Christopher McGuire, and I really loved his drumming. At the Budokan concert, it might have been the first time I had ever focused so much on a drummer during a single concert; he was that cool.
—That period only lasted about a year! I'm envious that you got to hear them live!
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, amazarashi, WORLD ORDER... Getting inspiration from live concerts
—There's an ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION ticket here too.
Shu: I haven't been able to go to their concerts for about 10 years, but I still listen to their new songs when they come out. This concert ("Yoihai 2006-2007") was in 2006, so I think it was around their 3rd or 4th album.
—It seems 2006 was around the time of the album "Fanclub".
Shu: I remember the "World World World" tour concert I saw at Yokohama BLITZ in 2008 because the venue was small. They were originally formed by friends from a band circle at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama, so they put a lot of heart into the concert in Yokohama.
—Wow, a concert at the place where the band has its roots is great, isn't it?
Shu: That's right. It started with a short 3/4 time instrumental song called "World World World," and it started with just a guitar, then the drums and other instruments gradually joined in... and after it got the most lively, it ended with a bang! and they immediately went into "After Dark."
—That's cool!!! I got goosebumps just listening to you talk about it (laughs).
Shu: ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION's guitar really stands out, which is great. When I played guitar in my younger days, it was fun to play.
—You played guitar too!
Shu: I don't play at all now, though (laughs). I was in a cover band for bands like BOØWY. That was right in the middle of the band boom when "Ika-Ten" (Yuji Miyake's Ikasu Band Tengoku) started when I was in college. I think I first heard ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION with their 2004 album "Sol-fa."
—That's a masterpiece.
Shu: There is an album where they re-recorded the same songs about 15 years later, and that's cool in its own way.
—There seems to be goodness in both the old ones and the re-recorded ones. There's also the goodness of the raw, unpolished sound!
—(While flipping through pages) So you've also been to an amazarashi concert!
shu: When I first saw them, I was shocked, thinking, 'I didn't know you could present a performance like this!'
—It's innovative, isn't it? I saw them at a festival a few years ago, and I was so captivated I forgot to breathe. WORLD ORDER... what is this?
shu: There's a guy named Genki Sudo, who's a politician now but was originally a martial artist. There's this group where he makes techno-pop-style songs and about seven men in suits dance to them, and I went to see that twice.
—Men in suits... is that right? Just imagining it is surreal (laughs).
shu: But the live performance I went to see was so amazing that I even bought the Blu-ray because I wanted to see it from various angles.
—Between amazarashi and WORLD ORDER, those are some innovative performances! Just going to live shows seems like it would be stimulating.
—Hanaregumi and So many tears... Mogi-san and Kato-san are from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, right?
shu: That's right. Kin-chan Mogi (Kinichi Mogi), the drummer for Ska Para, formed his own band unit (So many tears), and this was a concert they did together with Hanaregumi.
—Wow, I wanted to go to this concert. Do you like Hanaregumi too?
shu: I started liking SUPER BUTTER DOG right before they broke up, so I bought their box set and listened to everything. From there, I started listening to Hanaregumi too. This concert was great; they played Ska Para songs, Hanaregumi songs, and even covers of Western music.
—That sounds amazing.
shu: Mogi-san was originally a member of Fishmans. The person who sang and wrote the songs passed away, and they completely stopped their activities.
—Oh, I knew Mogi-san from Ska Para, but I didn't know he was a member of Fishmans...!
shu: From there, even though there was no vocalist, Kin-chan Mogi resumed activities as the vocalist, and that's what Fishmans is today, continuing to perform live while adding other people.
—Is that so... I didn't know any of that.
—You also went to a Sakanaction concert (top left photo).
shu: I had been listening to them since their debut album, but I never had the chance to go to a concert, so this was the first time I finally made it (in 2016). I thought the stage production was amazing.
—I understand. When I went to their concert at the Budokan recently, I was surprised to see a two-story building on stage. I'm also envious of the joint gig between Hanaregumi and Fujifabric! (bottom right photo)
Fujifabric, who also visited places associated with them
shu: Commonly known as Hanare-Fuji. When Fujifabric's 1st album came out, I thought the song 'Sakura no Kisetsu' was very literary and good. So I bought the album and listened to it, but I didn't get hooked beyond that. Then, after Shimura-san (Fujifabric Vo.) passed away, I had an opportunity to listen to everything again.
—There are times when songs you weren't hooked on suddenly resonate with you, aren't there?
shu: I also went to Shimura-kun's grave.
—Is that so. In Fujiyoshida?
shu: Yes, that's right. When I happened to be traveling nearby, I wondered if it might be close, so I looked it up on my smartphone. Apparently, he liked cola, and when I went there, there was a huge amount of cola left there (laughs).
—I see! I hear that many fans still visit even now. And this is the joint gig of Fujifabric and Vaundy for which you printed a digital ticket. I wanted to go to this one.
shu: It was cool. The person playing drums for Vaundy is a drummer named BOBO (Hiroyuki 'Bobo' Horikawa), who also played drums for Fujifabric songs for a while, and I really like his drumming. After Shimura-kun passed away, several bands reached out to Fujifabric to have them perform at concerts, and one of them was a Quruli concert, where Soichiro Yamauchi-kun (of Fujifabric) joined as a guitarist. At that time, the support drummer for Quruli was BOBO. I think that's how they connected and he started playing drums for Fujifabric too.
shu: About half a year after Shimura-kun passed away, there was an event held at Fuji-Q Highland that ended up being a memorial concert ('Fuji Fuji Fuji Q'), and vocalists kept rotating in and out. I really wanted to see the full concert, so I bought the video.
(Guests: Kosei Abe (HINTO) / Shinichi Ito (HINTO) / Tamio Okuda / Akito Katayose (Great3, Chocolat & Akito) / Kishidan / Kenji Kubo (Merengue) / Quruli / Kazuyoshi Saito / Ska Para Horns / Hanaregumi / PUFFY / Hayashi (POLYSICS) / Fumiya Fujii / Magokoro Brothers / Kazuya Yoshii / Sho Wada (TRICERATOPS))
—Wow, that's a legendary concert.
—A classical music ticket suddenly appeared. Was this an invitation or something?
shu: No, I just like the cello as an instrument, and I happened to hear it was being performed nearby, so I went to listen.
—I see! The tone of the cello is nice, isn't it? Speaking of the cello, it's also known that Tsuneta-san from King Gnu plays it.
shu: Tsuneta-san was also featured on Kanjam recently. I've been meaning to listen to all of King Gnu properly, including their album tracks, but I haven't done it yet. It has a nice mixture feel to it, doesn't it?
—That's right. I remember when 'Tokyo Rendez-Vous' was released during my college days, I listened to the whole album and thought, 'This band is insane...'
Who would you like to hear sing live?
—But having been to so many concerts, haven't you already seen the artists you want to see live at least once?
shu: One person I've been saying I want to see, whose voice I want to hear live, but haven't yet, is Tatsuro Yamashita.
—Ah! Indeed. Tatsuro Yamashita is also the headliner for the final performance at Nakano Sunplaza, which will close in July.
shu: That's right. I applied for tickets, but naturally, I didn't get them (laughs).
—I know, right... Everyone around me also missed out on tickets. It wasn't a solo concert, but I saw Tatsuro Yamashita once at RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL. It was so cold that I couldn't move from inside my sleeping bag and watched from afar, but it was the best act I've seen at any music festival I've been to.
shu: It's rare to see him at a festival. Another one I haven't seen yet is Spitz. I listen to his radio show, 'Masamune Kusano's Rock Continent Wandering Record (TOKYO FM),' every week.
—'Wandering Record with [Theme of the song]' is interesting, isn't it?
shu: Kusano-san and I are almost the same generation, so the songs we've listened to really overlap. I want to go to a Spitz concert too, but I applied thinking if I'm going to see them, I want to see them in a small venue... but I didn't win the lottery.
—I certainly want to go to a Spitz solo concert... I hope you can go see them someday!
Do you fall in love with music from the song? Or the lyrics?
—When you fall in love with music, which are you more likely to be struck by: the lyrics or the song itself?
shu: Hmm, both, I guess (laughs).
—That's true (laughs).
shu: I quite like reading printed text, so sometimes I end up liking people for how they use words. Natsuko Gushiken is literary, and I feel the same about Shimura-kun. Motoharu Sano was also a shock when I first heard him. I thought he used language in a way that didn't exist in Japan at the time. Conversely, the ones I came to like for the song or sound were ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION. Their guitar is just cool.
shu: I think it was Quruli and Clammbon that made me start liking both the lyrics and the music. I like Clammbon's worldview because it's abstract; they sing about vague scenes rather than just 'me' and 'you'.
- I know what you mean. I like lyrics that aren't too specific and leave room for the imagination.
shu: Yeah, exactly. Sometimes it's also about the singing voice; Hanaregumi and Hikaru Utada are artists whose voices I grew to love.
- With Hanaregumi, I feel like I could cry just listening to his voice. We still have so much more to talk about, but it looks like we're out of time.
shu: Talking about music is fun, isn't it?
- It really is. I've just been tucking my concert tickets into my planner, but I think I'll start filing them away using your method, shu-san. Let's definitely have another music discussion again!
(Text by Tantan)
Click here for the broadcast schedule of ARABAKI ROCK FEST., which featured Quruli and Asian Kung-Fu Generation ▼
Click here for footage from last year's Fuji Rock, which featured Hanaregumi ▼
Please refer here for other music concert broadcast schedules! ▼