My J-pop Intervention at Concord Pavilion
Tomorrow is going to be great!!! It is my best friend Dan's birthday, and we are renting a limousine and spending the day in Napa Valley cruising from winery to winery. Just one of the many cool things about living in Northern California. The tough part is picking the appropriate gift. I am very bad at gift giving, and always put it off until the last overly-stressful moment. On Wednesday I finally broke down and asked Dan what he wanted for his birthday. He plainly stated, "I want you to take me to see Iron Maiden tonight!" Little did I know...
Dan has always found my transformation into a J-pop fan a bit...comical??? Dan is strictly a Maiden, Priest, Metallica, Ozzy kind of guy. Dan also knows that I used to be a big fan of those groups many years ago. So in his mind this was going to be as much of an intervention for me as a birthday gift for him. Unfortunately for Dan I was the designated driver for the event, which meant one thing...
I control the CD player in the car!!!
Yes, the conversation during the car ride to the show was pretty interesting. It must have gone something like this...
CK:
Dan: Yeah Chris, But...
CK: I know Dan, I know, but...
Dan: Whatever Chris...
Okay Dan, fine. I'll continue to fantasize about Reina, Ayaya and Nacchi while you fantasize about Bruce Dickinson and Sammy Hagar. And anyway it's my car so Mr. "Metal for Life" gets to be the latest lab rat in the Western J-pop experiment. I honestly didn't hold out too much hope to convert him, but at least I would get a chance to share why I like these groups so much. I decided to ease him into it...
Ketchup Mania ~ I figured musically they would be pretty palatable for Dan. And I was correct, although it took a few songs for him to get used to Hiro's high pitched voice, which Dan compared to "Chip n' Dale". But overall he liked them, and thought the drummer kicked a$$.
The Possible ~ Of the two singles I have, I think he preferred "Happy 15", as he laughed everytime they screamed "HAPPY!!!" Plus he preferred the "slutty" (his quote) outfits on that CD to the cuter look in "Love Message". His best observation being that Kanami looks like she is "begging for it"
Buono! ~ He got a kick out of the cover, but that's about it. He thought they were just o.k.
Perfume ~ He hated!!! And I think he found AKB48 only slightly more tolerable, only because I was telling him what some of the lyrics meant.
Morning Musume ~ He seemed to find surprisingly listenable. As I mentioned before I didn't have high hopes, so anything he didn't hate was a victory! So much for the experiment, onto the show...
Now to be honest with you, this was actually the SIXTH time I had seen Iron Maiden live, although it was only the second time I had seen them in the last twenty years! Boy do I feel old, and boy do they look old! And the girls in the audience were probably pretty cute in 1985. And now...sheesh they all look old too! But it was really a great show! Musically speaking, Iron Maiden is an amazing band. They are all terrific musicians, and the songwriting is so creative! Their lyrics can best be described as "an evening watching the History Channel". There is no group quite like them. Then again, there is nothing quite like a Hello! Project concert either. But the motivations for seeing each respective show is quite different. Personally I'd rather stare at Charmy and Maimi than Jannick Gers and Nicko McBrain any day of the week! Then you have the fans...
Most of the fans of the 80's metal scene have grown up and gotten responsible jobs...MOST of them. Yeah, they bang their heads and flash the "Lucifer's Horns" hand signal, but it's all so "kitschy" now! The audience in general looked like stockbrokers in Halloween costumes, and many of them even brought their kids to the show! I found them a lot less scary than the rabid J-pop Wota-gei Otaku's. Now those guys are scary!
So I'm glad I have a varied musical taste. I can have as good of a time going to a concert like this as any J-pop group. But as for which one I prefer? My vote is for the "kawaii"...
Sorry Dan, the intervention didn't work. The biggest lesson learned here? Henkka aka H!P Metalhead is an amazing anomaly. Trying to convert a true hard rock fan to J-pop can be sort of fun, but it's mostly frustrating and painful.
Oh yeah...Happy Birthday Danny-Boy!!!
CK in California
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Comments
I've seen Iron Maiden once too (Brave New World tour when Bruce D. and Adrian Smith returned to the band), but as good as that show was, it doesn't compare to seeing the Stooges last April, and only a MoMusu concert could equal the Stooges one in my mind.
Chaosakita,
as far as the Maiden clip I agree. But I wanted to find an actual Concord clip that was watchable and not too long. My three favorite songs of the show were Number of the Beast, which I couldve posted, Rime of the Ancient Mariner (which is almost 10 minutes long) and "Iron Maiden" (8 minutes) In fact, when they played Iron Maiden, I remarked to Dan "Can you believe this song is 30 years old?"
But with AKB48, I'm just in love with that song right now. Thanks for the comment! :)
I definitely know how much of a punk rocker you are. It's one of the things I like about your blog. We are the same age and have similar musical tastes. Although I was more Metal first and Punk second. The only punk concert I saw in the heyday was "X", but I also loved The Vandals and The Adolescents. And I went to school with the guys from Youth Brigade and NoFX. I would love to see The Stooges, Iggy is awesome!