Introduction Hot on the heels of the release of Dreamer, their third record in as many years, Sparta Locals have been aggressively touring small- and medium-sized venues around Japan. Find out if the band is still in touch with their indie roots after playing the tiny Club 24. back to features		Sparta Locals @ Yokohama Club 24, July 21, 2005 There's really only one complaint I can lodge against Sparta Locals' performance, and even then it's really no fault of the band's. This crowded basement venue nestled in downtown Yokohama had a real penchant for trapping the smell of dozens of bouncing bodies, but because of that I can say that the Locals managed to transcend smell and stench alike in their performance on Thursday night. Club 24 proved to be a surprisingly intimate club setting for the now veterans of the major label scene, after releasing their third full-length with Universal. But who's going to complain about a venue being small? Sparta Locals have basically made their career around intricate rhythms and guitar lines, and the biggest question of the night was how well their studio work could be reproduced with a live audience and no extra takes. The availability of their live material on their single Peace removes a lot of punch from this question, but nevertheless, the Locals are very faithful to their studio sound. The rhythms are dead on, though guitarist Itou Shinichi throws a few curves with some extra effects in a few songs, bassist Abe Mitsuhiro's grooves snatch a little extra presence and vocalist Abe Kousei's voice is not quite as nasally and scratchy. And perhaps not surprisingly, they are all business up on stage. Every few songs Kousei will clown around with the audience (even picking on an American girl at one point), but otherwise the band played straight through their 90-minute set with very few interruptions. Aside from Kousei, the other members were mostly tacit and kept a low profile, especially Shinichi who seemed to subscribe to the Kevin Shields school of guitar, not in that he piled on the effects, but that he stared at his shoes the whole time. But whatever his style, it kept his spidery lines on track the entire night. As for the setlist, the night started opened with the first two songs off Dreamer and it seemed as if the band might play the album straight down. But the jump to Sun Sun Sun's "UFO Banzai" not only assuaged these concerns but really charged up the audience. While many of the songs off Dreamer are much better live (though nothing short of a defibrillator can save "FLy"), with extended intro solos or simple guitar effects punching holes in the compositions' placid textures (this really brought "Night Escape" to life), their older songs held the most attraction to the audience. Favorites such as "Ougon Wave," "Tokyo Ballerina," "Gap" and "Peace" pulled the crowd to their feet and made them move, a rarity for the usually meek Japanese audiences. Meanwhile, newer songs "Rock to Honey," "GET UP!" and "Kibou" kept the fires going between the band's classic numbers. No question about it, audience participation is a big deal at these shows. Sparta Locals' catalogue of songs is rife with hand claps, shouts and backup vocals, and the fans know where every single one is. Not only do they all contribute these parts, but the band actively engages the audience to play along. It doesn't stop there, as most of the old songs apparently have specific spots for fists to be pumped and feet to leave the ground. The effect is almost similar to the infamously intricate hand gestures at visual kei showcases, but at once more energetic and less bizarre. By the time the final encore performance concluded, the both the band and the audience seemed tired, yet exuberant. Finding a crowd in this country with reasonable enthusiasm was a pleasant surprise and a testament to the Locals' skill in their live sets. Now, when Quruli's Kishida Shigeru talks about getting nosebleeds from seeing these guys live, I think I finally can understand where he's coming from. Setlist (reprinted with permission) 1. Aoi Natsu 2. Yume Station 3. UFO Banzai 4. Galaxy Kuukou 5. Rock to Honey 6. Romantic Hotel 7. Night Escape 8. Hibiya 9. FLy 10. POGO 11. Ougon WAVE 12. THE CLUB 13. GET UP! 14. Tokyo Ballerina 15. Gap 16. Peace 17. Kibou EC1. Oh Good Life, No Good Life! EC2. Na Nashi no Inukou EC3. Urara - James, thanks to Sparta Locals Staff for providing the set list.
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