Balloon Shapes By Cops » Gigs

Wonderstuff Hup! 21st Anniversary Live CD

Silentjim — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 06:44:23 +0000

It’s been 21 years since The Wonderstuff released the legendary (in my opinion) album HUP! in 1989, which I spent vast amounts of my teenage years listening to and tryin gt oplay (with limited success) on my guitar.

They’re actually on e of the bands I’ve seen most live along with The Cure and bizarrely Ozric Tentacles (bizarrely as although I was a fan I wasn’t obsessive and seemed to end up seeing them live more by accident than anything else, and who seemed to be constantly playing at my university back in the day).

Anyway to celebrate the anniversary the Stuffies plated a special gig at the O2 Academet in Birmingham back in December 2009 where they played the entire album (in the track order they wanted it to be, not the track order on the album according to Miles Hunt).

Unfortunately, being in Japan, I was unable to go, and I haven’t seen them since, I dunno, 2004 perhaps, and I was unable to get to Tokyo when they played in Japan last year either. Luckily they recorded and filmed the gig and have just released a 3CD box set (CD, DVD and Iphone disc) of the event.

As an extra special treat, the first 1000 pre-orders from NyQuest got their name on the packaging so imagine my cheeky grin when this arrived in the post last week…

Hup Live

After frantically scanning the 1000 names, on the second run through with my hopes flagging I found my name centre stage (well, not quite…) in the middle fold.

Marvellous.

(And it’s a good gig too).

© Silentjim for Balloon Shapes By Cops, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Gigs, Music, The Wonderstuff

SCF at the Urban Guild Kyoto

Silentjim — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:27:04 +0000

A few weeks ago we went to see a friend of ours “perform” in his multimedia-electronica art performance duo “S.C.F.” (Click the link for their Myspace page if you want to have a listen – it’s not for everyones tastes, but I likes it – honestly Andy!).

The nights show was called “Exorcisms” and there were about 6 performances mainly dancers, all portraying in some way (some obvious, some not so) this theme.

What was this multimedia-electronica experience like I hear you ask…
Well:

SCF at the Urban Guild Kyoto

SCF who basically stayed at the back of the hall twiddling nobs and pressing buttons to make a wall of noise while a dancer dressed in a paper dress…”danced”…on stage with a video montage playing on the wall behind her.

SCF Dancer

The dancing was pretty unconvential but very watchable and the “music” reached a hypnotising level which made the whole experience fascinating (a little bit like watching a train wreck, but I mean that in a good way).

If you get a chance to be in Kyoto and this kind of thing is your bag (Radiohead and Japanese Noise fans might dig it) then I recommend checking them out.

They have a blog here (SCF Blog) which has some videos of their performances.

Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:

Maiko in Kyoto

© Silentjim for Balloon Shapes By Cops, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Gig, Gigs, Kyoto, Live Music in Japan

The Neatbeats Shangri-la Osaka Dec 20th

Silentjim — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:22:57 +0000

Last Saturday, checked out the Neatbeats at Shangri-la in Osaka (previously saw Scouting for Girls there – kinda different gig, especially in terms of numbers! This time I was definitely the only gaijin there).

For those not up on Tokyo based Rock’n'Roll bands, the Neatbeats are a Tokyo based Rock’n'Roll band. Replete with slicked back quiffs, smart black suits, skinny ties and speakers turned up to 11.

The Neatbeats

Apologies (as usual!) for the poor quality, but taken with my phone and they wouldn’t stop moving!

As I mentioned before I managed to pick up a couple of this lots cds at a market in Ashiya for about ￥100 (an absolute bargain!) – didn’t know them at the time but you have to buy an album called “Japanese Rock & Roll Attack” don’t you?!
(...)
Read the rest of The Neatbeats Shangri-la Osaka Dec 20th (242 words)

© Silentjim for Balloon Shapes By Cops, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Gigs, Live Music in Japan, Music, Shangri-la, The Neatbeats

Radiohead Osaka Gymnasium Oct 2nd 2008

Silentjim — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:49:02 +0000

The final gig of our musical month was Radiohead in Osaka last week. And marvellous it was too.

Typical though, the first time a venue in Japan has allowed people to take photos (usually banned) and I don’t bring my camera! Did have my phone so managed to take a couple of poor quality pics…

Radiohead Live Osaka 2008

This was obviously a bit different to the Scouting for Girls and Ulfuls gigs! A bit of an intense emotional set, with a stunning light show and the best use of video at a concert I’ve seen (behind the band, looking like a promo video, as opposed to the usual screens at the side).

Usually at gigs with big screens I seem to end up watching the tv more than the stage, but here you could see both at the same time. Nice.

A 2 hour set, mainly based on their later albums and the weird dance/electonica beats, but interspersed with some good rock tunes (my highlight being my favourite “Just”).

One thing about Japanese gigs (of this size) is how organised they are. We were in the standing arena, which is then segmented off with barriers into about 10 or so areas of about 4 or 5 people deep – so there is no rushing to the front! And you get the view that your ticket is allocated for. Also, usually at the end, they file people out, block by block, to avoid congestion and a rush to the exit.

Another interesting thing at smaller venues is they let people in, in the order of the ticket numbers, you buy ticket number one, you go in first. Which is nice, if a little odd as once inside (a small venue) you can go wherever you want.

Any road up, back to Radiohead. Great set, great tunes, and some erratic dancing and wit from Thom Yorke (less emotionally distraught and intense in between songs, than he is when singing).

No more gigs lined up, although Mogwai are playing in January…

Woah o wo-oh, yeah yeah yeah, we’ll see you in Osaka next year!

Silentjim — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:42:16 +0000

The next on our list of live bands was Scouting For Girls. A favourite of Aki, in particular “She’s so Lovely” (mine is “Michaela Strachan“), we were very excited and a bit surprised when they cropped up on the Osaka gig list.

The venue was the “never been to before but great venue”, Shangri-la, a tiny one room venue with the bar in the middle and a capacity of maybe 100.
Took me back to the days of seeing Contempo, Gene, and numerous other bands in dingy pubs in Egham, Staines, etc.

Ironically, at this concert there was only 2 gaijin (me and another English guy – no relation), although we didn’t stand out as much as there was only 50 people at this gig.

We like Scouting for Girls but have never actually seen any pictures or videos of them, so had no idea what to expect, and were a little bit shocked when 4 geeks came on, hyperactive and looking very excited at being allowed to play instruments on stage! I don’t mean to be rude, as I’m a geek myself (or otaku as they say here), but at least I’ve learnt not to tuck my lumberjack shirt into my jeans!

Anyway, the initial shock was very soon replaced by joy when a blindingly fun gig kicked off. Lots of singing along and chanting (amazingly nearly every japanese person there knew every single word! there’s something magical about hearing a room of mainly Japanese women shouting out “She’s a pain in the ass!” )

The lead singer danced like a lunatic and they were all obviously have a great time, and as one of their new songs goes as we all sang along, “We’ll see you in Osaka next year!”

© Silentjim for Balloon Shapes By Cops, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Contempo, Gigs, Music, Scouting For Girls