May 3rd means it's Golden (Shower) Week here on Planet Japan, and Olde Nagoyaland almost has somewhat the air of a ghost town, as the working stiffs have all headed for the hills (or their hometowns, foreign destinations, the rocks from under which they emanated) until Sunday. This week-long pause happens thrice annually...the next lull will be in mid-August, for Obon, and then again at the end of December, for the Shogatsu New Year's holiday. Never mind that, as a self employed type, I don't get paid during these breaks in the action - I enjoy the relative peace, and have no trouble amusing myself for the duration. I always seem to have an abundance of things to do, anyways. How on earth did I manage to have so much free time when I was younger, anyways? Cavorting, hanging out, drinking, getting up to no good. Now I barely have time to wipe my arse, even on a bank holiday.
I guess the theme around here recently is this North Korea business, and all the brinksmanship going on up the way. While it seems to have ramped up a bit from usual, it's really nothing new. This has been going on for as long as I've been here - and actually, a lot longer. I don't think it's particularly helpful for the American Cheeto man-child President to be laying it on so heavy. The Japanese militarists seem to be getting pretty excited, squealing and leaping up and down like 7 year olds on Christmas morning. The current Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and his cabinet of ultra-right wing nationalists have been itching to get in and do a number on the country's post-war pacifist constitution for some time, and the current drama gives them just the right amount of material with which to get in some real good, old time fear mongering on the state controlled news media.
Hence, the drums of war have been thudding away on every morning, noon and evening TV news broadcast, and the J-locals seem to be lapping it all up. I've never seen a bunch of more easily controlled individuals in my life. I'd like to think that nothing will come of any of this, and that, at the end of the day, all parties involved will back down...but it seems that a few of the players have something to prove this time around.
In one corner, we have an insecure, paranoid, murderous lardass with a ridiculous telephone receiver hairdo, trying to legitimize his largely illegitimate regime, and in the other corner, we have an aging, narcissistic, orange-skinned dumpling head with an absurd comb-over, trying to legitimize his also largely illegitimate regime. On the sidelines we have an island nation with a particularly dark history, desperate to break the constraints of its post-war constitution, and re-establish itself as a regional military super power, and the Chinese and Russians, classic 'villains and ne'er-do-wells' armed to the teeth, and looking on in concern. Oh...and people. Millions of 'em, caught up right in the middle, that just want to get on with the mundanities of their daily lives. Go to work, do a good job, come home, pay the rent, and try to manage in whatever fleeting happinesses they can along the way before it's over.
With all the talk of 'ten minute warnings' before those pesky North Korean rockets touch down on our apartment building, and where to run and hide from the attendant radioactive fallout (assuming we're not vapourized outright from the beginning), my wife and I were a bit concerned that all of this impending doom might amount to a spanner in the works as far as our amusements are concerned. A few weeks ago, Echo and The Bunnymen were scheduled to play some Japanese shows, and lead singer Ian McCulloch failed to materialize on stage in Tokyo. The venue was packed, and he was nowhere to be found. It seems that he'd split the country earlier in the day, in a panic about getting caught up in a nuclear blast or something of that nature. Oh...and without TELLING anyone. Just grabbed his suitcase, and split for the airport. Fuck the fans. This act of cowardice and douchebaggery got my wife and I thinking...what's next? Is this going to be the beginning of a trend? What about the upcoming Paul McCartney shows in Tokyo? Will Lardass Kim rain plutonium on our parade? Will Paul chicken out like that wanker from Echo and The Bunnymen, and cancel the tour...or split his hotel suddenly, suitcase in hand, leaving us standing shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of menthol rub and liniment oil stinking pensioners in Tokyo Dome, out of pocket hundreds of dollars, and far from home? I mean...they ARE both from Liverpool. Maybe this is a thing with scousers...chickening out and running away?
We were legitimately stressing out. If Lardass Kim can just hold off on bombing us back into the stone-age until after the show...then we're all good. Fingers and toes crossed, we waited patiently...and, lo and behold, April 29th, and no mushroom clouds or ten minute duck and cover warnings. Safe.
A good thing, too...the logistics of taking in one of these remote events are a thing. Hotels, Shinkansen Bullet Train reservations...time and money, money, money. Securing all this shit for the very beginning of Golden Week is tricky.
Which brings us to the concert review portion of this entry. Third time out seeing Old Man McCartney in the last four years. He seems to like it here, apparently. I assume the big payday plays into it, too. Considering his history with the country, most notably having spent 10 days in jail, then being deported after having been popped at the airport with a rather prolific amount of weed back in 1979, you'd think that Japan might not be at the top of his list. Japanese jail is no joke - and getting caught with so much as a joint will wind you up in lockdown, and more than likely banned permanently, and on a plane back where you came from (after they've run riot over you, put you through living hell, and treated you like a member of the Manson Family). Yet, Paul seems to warrant royal treatment...as do The Rolling Stones, who, despite not having the dubious honor of being busted in Japan, have an even more historically unsavoury track record than the relatively angelic Macca. Wonder how this works? I'm fairly certain that regular folks that fall afoul of this country's draconian drug laws aren't afforded this kind of intentional oversight.
We entered a lottery to get tickets, as is the standard thing with big, huge shows over here. We lucked out and managed tickets for the Saturday show, which was our first choice, it being the third of four scheduled shows. The surreal thing about a Paul McCartney show is the audience demographic. It's like 70% pensioners. Of course, there are the odd younger looking people...but my wife and I, both in our early 50's, were definitely bringing up the rear. And what a bunch of dorky looking odd-balls. Jesus. It goes without saying that The Rolling Stones definitely brought out a more finessed, well put together looking crowd...which is curious, as given the somewhat similar age demographic, one has to wonder why Paul's crowd (Beatles fans) look so...loose?
"Most of these people look like they're on furlough from the hospital. Like they've got one foot in the grave", I said to my wife. Truth.
That being said, Paul seems to be fairing somewhat better, at 73 years old, and true to form, manages an impressive 39 song set, running just shy of three hours, and (unsurprisingly) leaning heavily on his Beatles catalog. It was nice to see him mix it up a bit, as opposed to simply playing the same set list - something that his contemporaries, The Rolling Stones and The Who can be accused of. Of course, the old warhorses were trotted out...Hey Jude, Yesterday, Let it Be...but this time we were spared another painful reading of The Long and Winding Road, in favour of A Hard Day's Night and Eleanor Rigby, which were new additions. Of course, the richness of The Beatles catalog is indisputable, and there's always going to be something missing. His band are amazing, turn-on-a-dime musicians, and I noticed an intimacy with the players that I hadn't the last two times around. Perhaps owing to Paul's voice starting to show it's limitations, the two accompanying guitarists picked up and carried the back up vocal duties and harmonies particularly well. It goes without saying that McCartney can't quite hit and carry some of those notes as well as he used to, and at points his voice definitely showed signs of strain and age...even warbling out a few times. If he chooses to push on, he's going to need more support from his sidemen. The show was at it's most successful when the band took things back to the very beginning, stripping everything down to it's bare essentials, and playing close quarters as a tight, five man unit at center stage, with a basic Ludwig kit, all within arms reach of each other...much like The Beatles would have done in their formative days in Liverpool at The Cavern Club. Starting with a rousing take on their first ever recording (as The Quarrymen), the Buddy Holly-esque "In Spite of All the Danger", and following up with "You Won't See Me", "Love Me Do", then "And I Love Her", Paul and the band managed to briefly resurrect the old Merseybeat sound with a warmth and an authenticity that was both intimate, and exciting to watch (and in which the age in his voice actually played well)...in a similar way to how The Rolling Stones managed to ressurect the authenticity of their old blues breaking sound on the surprisingly good 'Blue and Lonesome' album late last year.
The show finished with the always stunning Abbey Road medley, Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End just short of the three hour mark. It's hard to say how many more years McCartney will be able to push on touring with these ambitious, career spanning marathon shows. At some point his voice just won't be there. I've been to an awful lot of shows in my life, and one thing that stands out about Paul...he has the ability to turn an evening at Tokyo Dome - a cavernous space - into an intimate experience. At no point does time feel like it's dragging. The only other artist that I've seen turn a stadium into a small room was the late David Bowie. It's a rare thing.
Third time out for us, and it was a big thumbs up, though...and wraps up an almost unheard of run of uniformly great shows, straight through from the end of January. Knowing our luck, that'll be it until next year. Or the year after. As I was saying to my wife...even the youngest of the acts that we took in (G&R) are getting a bit long in the tooth. In ten years, I doubt that there will be anyone left to go see.
This brings us to the run-up to rainy season, and hopefully the nicest weather of the year...then the six week deluge, punctuated by (nuclear war not withstanding) this year's truncated vacation jaunt to Ishigaki Island with my lovely wife...then the legendary Olde Nagoyaland heat and humidity of high summer. Fun times, indeed.
Until the next installment, mind that you wipe properly after that prolific poop, and remember, "No matter where you go...there you are"
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