Blatant Idea Theft: Review of Zooooom! Tour in Kobe

I've been packing my weekends full of live music recently, usually hitting one or two shows every weekend for the last month. Only one of these was a big foreign act (My Morning Jacket @ Club Quattro), the rest being smaller clubs and venues. Last Sunday there was a show at Varit in Kobe, and since I'm bored at work, I'm gonna do a little write-up on it here.

Varit is all you could ask for in a small Japanese club. You wouldn't expect it to be so large when you decend the stairs from street level to get inside, but it's definitely bigger than your average basement club. You don't even see the stage when you first enter, as it's down another set of stairs facing the dancefloor. The second level where you enter has the bar and a balcony to see the show below. There are tables and chairs for those who want to sip drinks and listen casually, and plenty of room below by the stage for those who want to dance away the night. You can see and hear perfectly well from just about anywhere in the club. The walls are covered with interesting posters of bands you've never heard of.

Unlike the friends I'm arriving with, I've been to Varit before. I'm confident I've hit the right note with my brown felt dress, black sweater and knee-high socks. Dancey, cute and casual. I have to keep up with Atsuko after all, and she's just about the coolest girl I know. We've come to this show on her recommendation, and her recommendations are never wrong. Naturally, she's there to meet us, wearing an outfit that would put her equally at home in Osaka, Japan or Olympia, Washington. After exchanging our mandatory 500 yen drink tickets for tequilla sunrises, we head downstairs to the stage.

The band Atsuko wants to see is up first, a group called Valva. While their name comes a little too close to the English for parts of the female anatomy for me to want to buy a t-shirt, it's hard not to fall instantly in love with them. The bass player is also the lead singer, with hair down to his midsection, cheetah-print pants and a voice that sounds like it belongs to a girl half his age. The drummer is quite the sight to behold too, as he blazes away, either counting or singing quite visibly to himself. There's no question these guys rock though. Atsuko and I are up at the front dancing away, when the bass player sits down on the ground for a while. Atsuko whispers to me that this is the best song, and that it will speed up. I don't doubt for a second it'll be worth the build. When they're finished, I go straight to the mech table and get their album.

Next up is Analog Jidai (アナログ時代). While there was no question Valva rocked, they were rather hippish compared to the boys in this band, leather jackets and jeans. The guitarist and bassist switched off on vocals. Not as "interesting" as Valva, but definitely fun to listen too. Again, I found myself dancing happily away.

After a longer break, The 48s are up. Suddenly a gaggle of girls in matching t-shirts are up at the front of the stage, positioned in two rows, ready for what is clearly their favorite band. The only band of the night to feature just 3 memebers (the rest are 4-piece), Atsuko tells me the lead singer had a previous band that was really popular. A big mop of hair and black rimmed glasses make it clear he is definitely the darling of the fanclub's hearts. He knows it too. He chats up the fans between songs, which invariably results in squeals of delight from them. It's the bass player's last tour with the band, but no one seems to care that much about him. The fangirls have choreographed moves for certain parts of each song, which my friends and I try to pick up for fun, usually a beat behind. Their set is bouncy, by far the poppiest band of the night, which doesn't surprise me. Still, it's enjoyable enough for all us non-fangirls too.

Between The 48s and the last act, The Keys, I start chatting with Analog Jidai's bass player, who'd come over to thank me for buying their album. After the usual formalities of "oh, your Japanese is so good" "no no no, it's not", he tells me The Keys sing songs in English. I'm thinking he means they have one or two songs in English, or that they have pieces of English in a lot of their songs. It's only when they come out and start playing that I realize he meant ALL of their songs are ALL in English. This is definitely a first for a me at a Japanese rock show. The lead singer's English is clearly not native, he has the stereotypical nasal sound of Japanese-English. Still, the grammar is surprisingly good compared to what you usually find in the J-pop mainstream (clearly, I'm thinking like an English teacher, hehe). Though it's not perfect, it's a hell of a lot better than what you normally find, and that in itself is pretty impressive. The music isn't bad either--not as poppy as The 48s, though also not as interesting as Valva. They encore with "There She Goes," which is the best cover I've seen since I saw Shonen Knife play "Daydream Believer". House lights come up, and that's a wrap for the Zooooom! Tour.

Like most shows here in Japan, this one gets out early enough for me to catch my last train home with time to spare. In fact, there is even enough time for a quick bowl of ramen with Atsuko and Clay. On the platform at the station, Atsuko and I sift through the stack of flyers and promos we were handed at the door. You get these at every show, and they are stuffed in bags and lockers, often forgotten on purpose. But Atsuko and I always look through to see what gig might be worth going out to next. As we wait for her train, we mark a few interesting looking shows, and plan to set something up. We've already got plans for Calvin Johnson and Karl Blau in Kyoto next month, we'll see if we can fit a couple more in. I hug Atsuko goodbye and she dashes off as her train arrives.

Ten minutes later on my own train home, I finally have a quiet moment to enjoy the ringing in my ears. Yup, it's been a good night.