On the 18th my boyfriend and I headed out to Yokohama to go see the Cromagnons. It was our first time to see them, though my boyfriend has seen the High-Lows before and so is no stranger to Hiroto's live antics.
There's a lot to say about this band, you know, and yeah a lot of it is the bands they've been in before (all members and session musicians are seasoned rockers from well respected bands in their scenes), but also that the Cromagnons are a solid rock band in an age in Japan where solid rock acts are seriously lacking in the spotlight. They consistently give passionate music in a culture far too gripped by apathy and saccharine sentimentality for it's own good, so honestly there's nothing not to like. They are totally recommended as a concert experience, no doubt, and hopefully with be with us for many years to come.
I should also say here, that if you love this band I would recommend my friend flyingfox's truly wonderful blog content. She's posted some wonderful things on these guys this year so do check it out.
the cromagnons - kanashimi no rosie.
Yokohama also has it's awesome, you know. It's a port city that looks pretty American in most places. Awesome Chinatown, delicious food, etc. Yokohama Blitz is in a pretty easy to find area near a lot of areas to chill out and drink so I definitely appreciated that.
A few words about Blitz, by the way, since it's not the typical kind of livehouse I go to or recommend. I *think* Yokohama Blitz has a capacity of somewhere around 2,000, so this is a 'legit' concert venue. Concerts like this in Japan are a lot different from the usual in the US for several reasons... :
1) There is NO VALID REASON unless you need to buy a ticket or want to people watch, to arrive any earlier than 20 mins before they call numbers. And even then, you only arrive early if you want to buy goods. And even then, you can buy goods inside. Get my drift?
2) They call numbers. Every ticket has a number. They call numbers in sections. There is no way you will get in any earlier by waiting or queuing. Don't worry about it.
3) Unless you get a really good number (I would say A1-100) there really is no point queuing and going in on your number. Being a pushy American, even if you get in last you will still have full access to all areas of the pit if you so choose. So don't worry about it. Your number really is only important if you want a very specific spot and only then if it's a low number.
4) There are coin lockers for your stuff on one side of the stadium. It is a death trap because the center lane is really too narrow for more than three people and there are hundreds pushing and shoving to try to get a locker and stow their stuff. Someday, without a doubt, someone will die back there. But, there are spaces above the lockers where you can put your stuff much easier and as if Japan weren't safe enough about doing that already they pay a guy to sit back there and watch the stuff so I wouldn't worry about it.
So we waited around like idiots and people watched (and I drank, naturally). The thing about the Cromagnons is they have so many different types of fans. Oldschool Blue Hearts fans, punks, Nike wearin' High-Lows fans, ex-SADS fans, and then all these little baby fans for who the Cromagnons are obviously their first rock band love. Little guys with braces, little Hiroto wannabes in leather jackets and close cropped hair. It was a lot of fun just seeing the diversity of the kids who showed up to the gig.
5) Blitz, like most venues that size, have several tiers of standing zones broken up by chest high bars and then a second tier with seats. This is important to be aware of so you don't try to push in from the back and hurt yourself. People will congregate mostly towards the front and backs of these bars with looser pits forming in the center areas.
So my boyfriend and I both started the show in the front in the center of the pit. As Hiroto came on stage this area quickly turned into a crush pit. They played some of their recent hits right off the bat, starting with Eight Beat and really getting the crowd going. I'm okay with crush pits, but they're by no means my favourite so I wandered off. My boyfriend ended up front row center somehow, which is awesome. He could see everything (and I do mean EVER Y THING). I ended up on Marcy's side, which was more of a looser mosh pit. The bassist side (ex SADS, I forget his name) had more of a loose grouping of girls who were pretty damn boring.
I'm kind of terrible at concert reviews in general, partly because I'm always drunk and also because I care a lot more about the mosh pit than I do about the actual show. To me a good live band gives energy and gets the crowd dancing. A truly awesome band has the ability to create a community in every new place they go. Just due to the venue size, I don't think it's very easy or possible for number two to happen, but the Cromagnons certaintly accomplished number one. It was a VERY energetic show in the places that counted, people were definitely into it and I had a pretty good time with few exceptions.
I wouldn't say it was my favourite show ever. I think that award might go to Guitar Wolf, back in Oregon for what was just a night of total art far surpassing a show. But they are consistent, and well tuned. If you've seen any Blue Hearts, High-Lows, or Cro-magnons show on DVD, basically, that's what you're getting. That passion, energy and performance is what they consistently deliver. To me, it's almost too perfect and it's been well mocked by my friends that I like junky bands who aren't totally with the plot (ie: Iggy Pop), but definitely amazing and well worth it to see.
Their final number was Aruku Chibu, which is kind of a 'walking penis' song. Hiroto was cracking a lot of jokes during this song and took a kind of second grade joy out of saying "chibu." One of the tour goods was a long logo towel and during this and the encore he made a lot of jokes about the towel, like how it was a very rare hard to find item and should you find one on the floor in the pit you should snatch it up and cherish it, or how if there was a person you want to kill you should buy it and strangle them with it.
They also played one song twice during the encore because Hiroto was unhappy with the "zan zan zan" timing the first time around. My boyfriend swears around this time he thought they were going to play Linda Linda (the Blue Hearts most popular song) and I told him, realistically, there would have been a riot had they done that.
Around this time my boyfriend also saw Hiroto's penis, so I called him gay for a good day after all this. Hiroto had come out in a kind of diaper made out of a t-shirt and his cock was flapping around kind of loosely. Nothing really new for Hiroto as he's been known to flash it onstage since pretty much the beginning. My boyfriend's comment? "... it was kind of small."
All in all a pretty awesome show. And I now have a gay boyfriend.
The thing that kind of killed it for me though was there was a goddamn kid in the mosh pit. I had seen another kid outside (maybe a 3 y/o) but as I was doing my thing there was some stupid dad holding a 4-5 year old in the crush pit. I backed out of there pretty quickly after that.
In Japan it's a pretty common practice I've noticed to bring really little (age 1-5) year old kids to concerts of all kinds without proper ear protection. I totally understand wanting to take your kid to experience and understand good music but kids eardrums are so delicate at those ages even with ear protection I don't think it's such a great idea. And on top of that, to bring a kid into a crush pit where adults can get pretty badly injured even when they're being careful, I think it's pretty bad judgement.
Am I high? Or is this just a wtf?
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