The 22nd of January. Osaka. I arrived at Osaka alone, knowing I
would meet up with some friends before the concert. The trip on the Hikari (a
high speed train) was fantastic. I can’t describe the feeling of travelling
extremely fast, yet knowing I’m not 10.000 miles above the ground and no chance
of falling into an abyss.
We met at Starbucks, and Suporn surprised
me coming out of nowhere. For an instant I thought it was some burglar and I
was ready to reply with violence, I’m glad that didn’t happen. Then they told
me “Suzanne is walking on the street with the band!Let’s see them without
getting noticed!”. Ok, here I go. Suzanne spotted us and said hi. Then an
unusual situation: we kept looking for a place to eat, and yet stumbled into
Suzanne again. We felt like stalkers, and all I wished for was a hole that
would swallow me. Preferably, not a deep one, for reasons previously mentioned.
I hasted myself to blame the girls for that situation, and due to the fact that
one of them almost ripped off my arm.
Osaka’s centre, Shinsaibashi, looked very sterilized. I couldn’t ignore
the feeling that there was an absence of Japanese essence there. It reminded me
too much of Seoul,
starting with the Hip hop Shops, ending up with the building’s designs.
We entered the venue then: it seemed a nice
and cozy place. We managed to stay at the front, just slightly left-of-centre,
and that’s the way I like it. I then saw Phil and went to say hi to him and we
talked for a few minutes, but then had to return to check if the girls had been
abducted or not.
Everyone was safe, so I could relax myself
and enjoy the concert. The song list was the usual, the same as in Madrid but without
"Bound". The sound was excellent, the lighting was superb, all much better than in Madrid. Suzanne was irradiating energy and
her smile was captivating all along. “My album is called Beauty & Crime;
and that’s why I’m wearing this hat, the hat of Crime, and the shoes of
Beauty”.
“Unbound” keeps sounding better and better.
By now, it’s my favourite song from this album. When Suzanne sang “I’ll never
be your Maggie May”, there was a line which because really funny: “just like
those ladies from Japan”,
followed by this funny look to her right, as if she were saying “Yes,
you know what I’m talking about”. I couldn’t hold laughing, you had to witness that moment since it was spontaneous and it didn't happen again in the next concert.
As for songs requests, I carried on my
pressure plan code. Therefore, I firstly asked for “Freeze Tag” - No; I suddenly panicked. In the midst of the
confusion, I thought “Think, Paulo, think. Something she’s been playing recently,
there’s no chance of any of the others you’ve been thinking of”. So I put a
puppy face and requested “Obvious Question?” (brilliant reasoning, isn’t it?),
I was extremely confident and I knew I had won this round – Sorry, but no.
For some seconds I forgot where I was, what
my name was, or what was the purpose of my existence.
Then I heard a voice saying “Di Queen and
Di soldierrr!”.
This led me to one of the greatest
conclusions during this tour, that unfortunately is coming to an end. The
conclusion is this – there’s a mole among us. It’s always the same voice, with
the same accent, in every concert, requesting for the Queen to kill.
Well, the concert came to an end. It was
extremely gratifying in every way.
Finally me and Suporn were making a dream
we had come true, which was going together to the 3 concerts in Japan. We
dreamt of doing this ever since we met. First, because we met through the ‘Tow.
Second, because we both love Japan
(“Every good person loves Japan”,
Paulo, 22nd of January 2008).
Finally, must mention we almost got expelled
from the building after the concert. Since I had talked to Phil and he had told
me to wait until after the signing, we were waiting in a corner as usual. But
the people there were expelling whoever wasn’t in the signing queue. It was my
Japanese that saves us, when I explained, not only verbally, but also with the
help of my hands.
We then met Suzanne, who was sitting at a
desk. It made me think “Am I gonna get fired?”. Well, no. The review, if you
can call this one, will end here, since too many other things were talked and
all afterwards, but that’s memories to keep in the heartJ. As for Ruby’s Japanese, gambate ne!You can do it, and superbly.
We went back to the hotel, and we fell
asleep immediately. The next day – Nagoya.
(Continuing, Nagoya, Club Quattro)
Nagoya was a pleasant surprise. It surely had a more Japanese atmosphere
than Osaka. I
was impressed with the city – so many shopping malls, everything so clean and
developed, and yet, there was space to walk and relax, unlike in Tokyo. First of all, I
smartly requested at the hotel for a smoking room, when I had booked the
opposite. The result? I got upgraded. Then we went to buy a hair-drier for
myself, because I hadn’t bought one yet. While I was killing my lungs, I
realized that there was a sign on the street’s road – no smoking. I looked
around, and since I saw no Police-san,so I finished the cigarette in peace. That's the Beauty of Crime.
We were really excited with all the cute
things inside the malls and all. We ate some wonderful bagels. Mine was a green
tea bread with white chocolate and blueberry filling. I am still carving for
more.
When we arrived at the venue they were
allowing entry by numbers. Mine was 66. The girl’s tickets were two hundred and
something. The problem was, I bought the ticket later than them. So I pleaded
at the doorman to let them in with me, and he gave in to my pestering charm.
This club Quattro had a very different
setting. There were tables in front of the stage, and the stage was almost 1
meter and a half above the ground. In Osaka’s
Club Quattro the stage was barely 40cm above the ground, and no tables at the
centre. Well, again, we held control of a table on the left-of-centre. The
songs played were the same as before, but this time I had an evil plan.
Since I knew I wouldn’t get any of my
songs, and that the mole was somewhere in there, I was going to have my moment
of glory. I was going to yell as loud as I could the following song name:
“IRONBOUND FANCY POULTRY!!”.
Yes, it would have been a glorious moment
indeed. But something happened.
In the middle of the concert someone asked
for “Knight Moves”, and I saw receptiveness. I then thought “Oh my god”. So
when the time came, and Suzanne asked Mike how about it, I then panicked again
and my brilliant thinking led me to intervene before the mole would show up
again, so I asked : “solitaire!”, while wanting really “Knight Moves”.
When Suzanne confirmed she would play
Knight Moves, she said there could be a risk that she wouldn’t remember
everything, and I said “don’t worry, I’ll remember!”. The song was marvellous,
and I have to mention that it multiplied by x the beauty of The Queen and the
Soldier. Knight Moves is simply an outstandingly beautiful song. Nonetheless,
the last verse was forgotten, and Suzanne asked me “So, how is it the third
verse?”. I looked to Suporn and we both said “There isn’t a third verse…”. Oh the Shame… the Vega pride we lost…
Suporn googled the third verse on her
phone, and there it was……. We will never forget that they say there isn’t a
political bone in her body.
As for the sound, it was even better. It
keeps reaching a near perfection that I’m really not used to. Phil is amazing.
Laila has adjusted her voice to really
combine greatly with Suzanne. And honestly, even though I like it all acustic
only, there can’t be any better than this. Perfect, guys.
During this Nagoya concert Suzanne removed her shoes for
the first time on stage. The room seemed to be above 30 degrees Celcius (Maybe
they forgot to turn on the aircon), and the lighting system was simply toasting
the backs of the band (despite being absolutely fantastic again). The shoes of Beauty carried an extra weight this time,
that confirmed the saying “Being beautiful can be a pain”.
So, Suzanne experienced the wonderful
feeling of being barefoot on a clean stage for the first time (ahem), and we
were delighted with it.
After the concert we met with Doug (the
Drummer), who was indeed as wonderful as Suporn had said. I then mentioned that “Japanese may be really
correct and polite, but they know how to have fun unlike nobody”.
Then Ben came as well. And as I was
regretting that they had to go to Australia, Doug told me that Ben
was Australian. I then suddenly had an outburst of honesty: “I love kangaroos so
much”. Oh well (I was joking…I like to play the hypocrite for fun)
We then met Suzanne and Phil. And apart
from the talks of what’s been happening and others, we took some pictures we
hadn’t yet. When my turn came, I confessed I could do an excellent Suzanne
impersonation. And so I did – I exposed my shoulder of crime.
I felt slightly embarrassed, but I have to
confess, I did feel unusually beautiful. That kind of outfit gives you power
and confidence.
Well, then the night was already claiming
for an end. And we then went to sleep.
As for the songs lists, it’s what others
mentioned already, except that in Tokyo,
Suzanne added “Bound”.
Reviews on the Tokyo concert were already done.
Finally, I would like to mention the crowds
were very delighted and energetic. You could see that from the moment that the
Original “Tom’s Diner” was interrupted by the croud’s choir. It meant, they
were there to be an integral and lively part of the show. And they were indeed.
I was delighted as well to be in such
marvellous crowds both in Osaka and Nagoya. As for Tokyo, I was in the 198th
floor, so I felt part of the moon. Not to mention , all the other things that happened to me that day.
Just to conclude, i give a 9/10 to the Osaka concert, and a 9.5 out of 10 to the Nagoya concert. A perfect?It's coming, i'm keeping it for the next album^__^
Thanks to everyone who took part on this,
from Suzanne, Ben, Mike, Doug, Lila, Phil, Suporn, Joyce and Agnes.
PS: regards to the mole.
- Are you serious?
- Yes, i am. I'm your guardian angel.
- Amazing!I've never believed in that.Am i dead?
- No. You're just hallucinating.