Introduction The Go For The Sun tour was a three-date tour with three of the stars of the Japanese indie rock scene: Sparta Locals, Fujifabric, and Analogfish. All three bands performed well and are sure to walk away with some new fans. back to features		Go For The Sun Tour It's a general principle that when one goes to a concert, there's a headlining band and a few openers. You go to see the headlining band, and are pleasantly surprised if the openers do anything to move you. Then there's the rare concert where two good bands are playing together. Three? Out of the question, unless you're in a stadium and paying half your monthly salary. But leave it to Fujifabric, Sparta Locals, and Analogfish to defy conventional wisdom and put three leaders of the Japanese indie rock scene in one small, crowded club. The name? "Go For the Sun Tour." The reason? Well, that's not certain. But all three bands have released albums within the past four months, and what better way to promote than to get fans of all three bands in one place to listen to the new songs. Regardless of the motive, however, it was certainly a night to remember. The venue was Shinsaibashi Club Quattro, on the 8th floor of a building in the Shinsaibashi district of Osaka. It's a medium size but fairly nice club, and it filled to its approximately 300 person capacity on the day of the concert. Smoking was only permitted in the lobby, preventing the thick, eye-stinging smoke that is usually present at rock shows. The floor was split into 4 levels, so that no matter how far back you were standing, you could still get a decent view of the bands. The only real problem with the venue was that because it was on the 8th floor, there were two large pillars sticking through the middle of the crowd, obstructing the view from some angles. The concert started with two MCs warming up the crowd with a call and response of "Fujifabric" "Fujifabric." Fujifabric walked on the stage to thunderous applause, diving straight in to the first song, Taifu. Taifu was the one and only song that they played from their first album, and their comfort level showed. Guitar/Vocal Shimura Masahiko strolled around the stage when he wasn't busy belting out lyrics. Bassist Katou Shinichi bobbed up and down to the beat. Near the end of the song Guitarist Yamauchi Souichirou belted out a solo with his guitar behind his head. While fans of all three bands were there, no-one could deny the energy, and the club bounced so hard that the floor shook. Unfortunately, that was the high point of Fujifabric's performance. The remaining six songs were from their second album, "Fab Fox" which had come out just about a week before the performance. This was a problem for two reasons. First, all but the most hardcore fans hadn't had a chance to listen to the new album yet, and thus were too busy listening and taking in the new song to really go crazy. Second, Fujifabric themselves didn't seem nearly as comfortable playing the songs as they did for Taifu. While "Mononoke Hakaranda" carried over some of the energy left from Taifu, the following two songs, "Chiheisen wo Koete" and "Maria to Amazoness," didn't live up to their live potential, both plodding along beyond their welcome. Fujifabric finished up with "Niji," the first single from Fab Fox, which received a fairly large crowd response, ending the performance on a good note. Sparta Locals was up next, and they dove into their set immediately with "Tokyo Ballerina." From the moment he stepped on the stage, it was clear Abe Kousei was the leader of the band. His performance was punctuated by sharp movements, and his eyes rolled around the crowd like he was ready to snap at any moment. The more exciting the song got, the more exaggerated his movements became. He bantered with the audience and took dramatic swigs of his "magic water" between songs. Midway through the set, he ripped off his long-sleeved shirt to reveal only a tank top (much to the delight of the 3/4 female audience). While Abe Kousei's performance stole the show, the members each had their own unique style of performance. Guitarist Itou Shinichi stared at the floor, his face concealed by his long hair. Occasionally, when the song was at a particularly high point, he would fling whip his hair back behind his shoulder, then stare right back at his shoes. Bassist Abe Mitsuhiro constantly stepped forward and backward, looking down over the audience like he was the king of the stage. The energy remained high throughout the entire set, with the audience bouncing in time and shouting the backing lyrics to each of the choruses. Unlike Fujifabric, even the newer songs (Rock to Honey and Generation X) received both a tremendous audience response, and a lively performance by the band. With Sparta Locals turning out such a strong performance as only the second band on a three band list, Analogfish had the unenviable duty of trying to keep the energy going. They started out strong with "Reload," a song off their new album, "Kiss." The most striking difference between Analogfish and the other two bands was that all the band members seemed to play an equally important role in the band. In Sparta Locals and Fujifabric, the drummer did little to bring himself to the forefront, but in Analogfish, drummer Saito Shuichiro clearly was an indispensable member of the band. Several times, the guitar and bass cut out, allowing Saito to do his stuff. Vocal duties were shared by all three of the members. Guitarist Shimooka Akira and Bassist Sasaki Kentaro traded off the lead approximately every other song, and every member sang harmony. Sasaki delivered a particularly powerful performance on the ballad "Bokuttara," panting and trying to catch his breath as the guitar faded out at the end of the song. The song that got the energy flowing more than any other was "BGM," which started with Sasaki yelling "BGM????", and the audience replying "NO THANK YOU!!!!" (in English). Overall, Analogfish pulled off a strong performance that would have been a highlight of most concerts, but couldn't quite carry over the energy of Sparta Locals. It also was a fairly short performance, weighing in at only six songs. While not certain, the reason for this could have been to leave time for the encore featuring all the bands that followed. After Analogfish left the stage, the audience continued to clap, some in disbelief that the performance could be over already. After 20 or 30 seconds, the stage techs came back on to set up the stage, and the audience breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. When the stage was set up, the members of all the bands walked back on the stage together, all wearing "Go For the Sun Tour" t-shirts (shameless marketing? perhaps...) Shimooka from Analogfish thanked everyone for coming out, then informed the audience that the encore was being broadcast live in Tokyo (followed by a joke that they should say lots of bad words). Each of the members took their role on an instrument or vocals. On Drums was Analogfish's Saito, Sparta Locals' Nakayama Akihito was on wood block, and Fujifabric's Adachi played cymbals and tambourine. Guitar duties were taken over by Fujifabric's Shimura and Sparta Locals' Itou. Bass was played by Fujifabric's Katou and Fujifabric's Kanazawa played keyboard. Vocal duties were performed by Fujifabric's Yamauchi and Analogfish's Sasaki, while Sparta Locals' Abe Kousei and Analogfish's Shimooka played the role of MCs. The bands launched "Yoru ha Boogie Back" by Ozawa Kenji, a funky dance song featuring the MC of the rap group Schadaraparr. After playing the actual song, the bands rotated solos around, starting with percussion. After a conventional drum solo, Nakayama got so carried away with his wood block solo that he fell off the stage into the audience, earning a healthy slap on the head when he finally got back on the stage. Next was a guitar solo, bass solo, keyboard solo, and finally, the two MCs yelled "Go For the Sun!", creating a call and response with the audience. Along with this call and response, the instruments built up, and cut off, causing the audience to erupt into cheers. As the lights faded in and the background music turned on, every member of the audience, no matter which band they came to see, was certainly left with a sense of satisfaction. Fujifabric Track List: Taifu Mononoke Hakaranda Chiheisen wo Koete Maria to Amazoness Akaneiro no Yuuhi Ginga Niji Sparta Locals Track List: Tokyo Ballerina Ougon Wave Yume Station Rock to Honey Generation X [New Song - Untitled] Get Up! Gap Peace Analogfish Track List: Reload Speed BGM Night Rider 2 Bokuttara Town Encore: Yoru ha Boogie Back (Ozawa Kenji ft. Schadaraparr) - Graham
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