On Saturday, some Japanese Petheads and I travelled together to the first leg of the shows in Osaka. The festival took place on an island, Maishima, and the journey there was fairly arduous, especially given that the entire audience had to get on buses to get to the festival site. Standing in a bus queue for over an hour with several thousand other people with the temperature in the upper thirties - umm, nice. Still, I have rather a fabulous suntan now as a result!
Anyway, we eventually made it to the site. The Pets were headlining the Sonic Stage, which was actually indoors in some odd kind of gymnasium. By the time the Pets were due to appear at 7.30pm, we had managed to squish our way to the front of the hideously hot and sweaty auditorium. The audience was fairly small, probably due to the fact that the Pets were playing at exactly the same time as the Arctic Monkeys. No matter - the audience were incredibly enthusiastic and loud. The set list was the same as in Singapore and the show lasted for about an hour and twenty minutes. Neil seemed very happy with the response and was grinning all night. As for Chris - well, it`s hard to know really, isn`t it?!
After the show we hung around for a bit but there was no way to get past the security guards - we couldn`t get near the stage door. We gave up after a while as there seemed no point in hanging around to see the Pets drive straight past us. We had heard that the Pets were staying at the Imperial Hotel in Osaka, but we didn`t go and stake the place out. I must be maturing with age!
On the Sunday morning we decamped to Tokyo, taking the Shinkansen - the bullet train. Apparently Neil and Chris did the same - later in the day I met a Japanese fan who had seen them in Shin Osaka station (with Sean Lennon, who also played Sonic) at about 11am. We missed them by an hour or so. Such is life! Anyway, the venue in Tokyo was much nicer and easier to access than the one in Osaka. Although it was a festival, most of the stages were indoors, probably due to the extreme heat. The Sonic Stage was housed in the Makuhari Messe convention centre, along with a few other smaller stages. We staked out our places early on Sunday and watched pretty much every act on the Sonic Stage as a result - Brett Anderson (on very good arse-wiggling form), Bright Eyes (really not my kind of thing), Cyndi Lauper (spoke lots of Japanese and made me fear for my life when she came into the audience) and The Cornelius Group (arty Japanese muso types).
By the time the Pets came on at 7.45pm, we were crushed against the barrier at the front, holding our M.I.N.I.M.A.L. fans aloft. I was directly in front of Chris`s keyboard. There was a bit of a technical kerfuffle before the show - Chris`s computer screen wasn`t working and I watched for about 15 minutes as various blokes, including Pete Gleadall, came and unplugged leads and pressed keys forlornly. An extra screen was brought out, as well as an Apple laptop which was plonked on the floor to the left of Chris`s keyboard. I guess the original screen suddenly leapt back into life at that point as all the techie blokes suddenly looked happy and the extra screens were removed. Finally the show got started and everyone on stage seemed to be having a fabulous time - even Sylvia was laughing and larking about, mopping Chris`s fevered brow with a towel and making him laugh. Neil spoke a fair bit of Japanese on stage, all of which drew a big cheer, in particular his cry of "Aishiteru!" ("We love you"). And even Chris managed a shy "arigato" after Paninaro, despite practically gagging on the Pocari Sweat drink he had been given instead of water. (It`s definitely an acquired taste.)
All in all, it was a fabulous end to the Fundamental tour. Neil made a little speech saying it was the last night of a long tour and how wonderful it had all been. I`m very glad that I finally got to see the show - it`s been a long time coming. Arigato ne!
- Verbose Dipso
(By the way, there was a very strict no photographs policy in place at both venues - it was impossible for any of us at the front to even attempt a piccie as security guards constantly scoured the crowd for cameras and phones. Boo!)
