Balloon Shapes By Cops » Hard Fi

Graham Coxon, Hard-Fi and a Baseball Game

Silentjim — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:52:17 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything, mainly due to being busy doing stuff (and my parents being in Japan for about 10 days), so a quick review of what happened before they arrived.

Last month we went to see Graham Coxon at Big Cat in Osaka. First time I’ve seen him live and he was great.
Really noisy and a great guitarist. Seemed a bit jet-lagged and made a few mistakes, which added somehow to the fun. Crowd were very lively and he played a long set, and mainly loud punk songs which sent the crowd moshing.

Mind you not as lively as the crowd for Hard Fi who were the liveliest crowd I’ve since since maybe the Damned or The Wonderstuff in the 90s. The “kids” went crazy. Richard had them eating out of his hand, even though his Japanese only stretched to “Domo” (thanks), they loved it. The encore “Living For The Weekend” made the dance floor quite a dangerous place! Great fun.

As I know Richard from back in the day in sunny old Staines (or “mind numbing suburbia” as it was described in the Daily Yomiuri before they came), he got us backstage passes where we watched them meet and greet some very excitable Japanese girls who gave them amazing presents like handmade books with photos of the band, or my favourite giant Pocky chocolate sticks, and generally wind down after the gig. We went with them to the Sex Machine Barbecue (a James Brown themed yakiniku restaurant) and caught up with the latest news from Rich (not since him for 2 years).

A fantastic evening, and Aki was able to get her photo taken with her 2nd favourite rock star (after Jon Bon Jovi) so big smiles all round.

We also went to a baseball game in September, the Hanshin Tigers (the local team) vs the Tokyo Giants at Koshien stadium. This was a birthday present from Aki. Great atmtsmosphere! The Hanshin Tigers know how to have fun. We bought these plastic baton things which you bang together to the songs (and there are many songs!, the fans take it in turns, if your team is batting you sing, if not you shut up), and each player seems to have his own song too. My favourite player was Akihoshi as he hit the ball a couple of times and caught out many of the opposition when he was fielding, I bought a shirt with his name on afterwards

Enjoying the Baseball

Lots of beer was drunk and laughter laughed. They have these teenagers coming round selling beer, which is very convenient, and as the place got crowded they couldn’t reach you so you had to pass the money along the row and they sent the beer back the other way. Nice.

Unfortunately Hanshin lost, but didn’t seem to dampen the party atmosphere too much.
In the 7th inning there is a tradition where the crowd let off hundreds of ballons into the sky. Not sure why,
but looked great.

Balloons

Hanshin Tigers Balloons

Karaoke and Hard-Fi

Silentjim — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 08:09:14 +0000

Went to Karaoke last week, my first time since I got here, and it was fantastic!

Only did 3 hours, but managed to murder a fair chunk of the songs in the catalogue.
Was very pleased to see that Hard to Beat by Hard-Fi had been added to the list!

Hard Fi Karaoke Listing

With the usual, British background video (London buses, Buck Palace, Trooping of the colour, etc.).
So I gave that one a go, and have to admit, Richard makes it look a lot easier than it really is

Hard to Beat at Karaoke

Think I`ll stick to my poor Elvis impression on “Wooden Heart”, my girlfriend doesn`t laugh so much through that one!

Hard to Beat Karaoke Credits

Graham Coxon, Hard-Fi and a Baseball Game

Mika Bomb and Delphian Complex

Silentjim — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 01:16:12 +0000

Well, not written for a long, long time. Been busy…
had tea at the ritz, followed by seeing MikaBomb and the Delphian Complex at Islington Academy (a day of contrasts, and fun). MikaBomb were a little disappointing (second time I’ve seen them, first was much better), but the Delphian Complex were definitely a band to keep an eye out for. Some great songs, and guitar, reminiscent of the Stone Roses at time, or maybe I was drunk.

Also saw Hard-Fi at the Astoria. Great gig! True rock gods in the making
Buy their album and make them huge!

Did some other stuff, but mainly left work, and in 3 hours I’m moving to Japan to start a new life with my girlfriend, and become an English teacher. So not much then

I’ll be keeping this more regularly updated in Japan, to let everyone know the trauma and excitement of that so strange of countries.
And no doubt it’ll involve lots of pictures of fantastic food.

Next time I post it’ll be from Kobe, so wish me luck.

Kaiser Chiefs at Big Cat, Osaka Japan