In September, I went to a music festival in the heart of Tokyo called TOKYO CALLING. Over 300(!!!) groups performed over the three-day festival, many with no more than a dozen people in the audience. Here are some songs from my favorite performances I saw there.
アニー - ズーカラデル
This might be my favorite Japanese song. It has the perfect combination of imperfect, emotive, raw vocals; catchy instrumentals; and a chorus that hits with a sublime emotional high. It’s a great song. The lyrics are cute and catchy, singing about an imperfect love, and even though it is difficult for me to understand them all the way through, I feel the emotion, and I love it.
I saw this group live on the third and final day of the festival. The final day had the more popular acts with the larger venues in Shinjuku. The performance was great, and they closed with this song. It didn’t quite have the remarkable energy of Necry Talkie’s performance from the day before, but it more than lived up to my expectations. This show was crowded enough, with a few hundred in the audience, including, believe it or not, the Guitarist and Vocalist from Necry Talkie! After working up the nerves to battle through it in Japanese, I briefly spoke to them, awkwardly stumbling through compliments about their performance the day before. I also asked for a picture, and they seemed receptive to the idea, but wanted to wait until after the show as not to be rude to the performers. Unfortunately, as the crowd left the venue, I missed the chance to ask them for a photo, but that’s okay, I didn’t want to bother them anyway. Still, when they blow up, I can say that I saw talked to them in the audience of a concert!