Zutomayo

In the evening I headed over to Kawaguchi to see the band Zutomayo (Midnight Forever). This was one of the main reasons for travelling all the way to Japan in the first place, so my expectations were high. However I was hesitant as the tour was titled the "primitive" 5 year anniversary tour, so I was worried that it may be a little bit simpler than some of the performances I'd seen online.

I was very fortunate to have won the premium seating in the ticket lottery, so my seat was only a few rows from the front. And as the show started my fears of a simple show evaporated as the curtain fell to reveal the set was an entire vintage cafe, with the stage hands dressed as waiters to maintain the illusion, suddenly I understood the mistranslation!

The band set off into a two and a half hour set of their experimental funk-rock-jpop fusion, the entire performance was a sensory overload of sound and colour, as with each new song the stage would be illuminated in a different style.

The lead singer ACAね゙ (pronounced a-ka-ni) performed brilliantly, whilst the lighting was set up perfectly so that her face was almost always in sillouete, allowing her to remain anonymous even whilst dancing around the stage wielding a giant glowing sword!

The highlights of the performance included the Open Real Ensemble, a duo which used a magnetic tape machine attached to a fishing rod to synthesise some very unique sounds, and the lead singer playing a solo on the "Electric Fan Harpsichord" - essentially using an electric pickup to play a desk fan like a guitar.

The crowd was also unlike any I had seen before in a concert, waiting patiently for the band to tell them when they should sit, and when they can stand and dance. Between songs after the applause had finished the crowd would go silent in anticipation of the next song.

(Photography during the performance was forbidden so I've included some images from their official photobook to illustrate what an Electric Fan Harpsichord looks like)Lue lisää