I just got back from the Slip show in Kyoto, and the boys rocked the house. It was definitely a weird show, but they seemed to be having fun. Busted out a phat Fuji, Love & Tears, Born in December, Only One, and a few others... Well, they played for 2 hours and had some people get up on stage with them. One was this random dude, Isaac, who sang with them and had a really silly stage face while singing. And the other was this crazy Japanese girl who kind of had a Yoko Ono thing going on. Suffice to say, there was one point at which the band kind of faded out into this crazy silence bug-out with the girl doing strange sounds, and it was clear the guys were kind of like, umm, what the fuck is going on? Or maybe that was just me. I have good pictures and a video clip of the crowd, which was literally dead silent between songs. I mean, you could hear some dude coughing and I had to whisper really quietly to say something to my friend. Whispering. At a concert. Umm, okay. It was really hilarious, particularly during the crazy silence bug-out jam, and my friend and I had to stiffle our laughs, which only made us want to laugh more, if you know how that goes. One good thing was that they had this guy Tim playing sax with them, and that sounded great. Altogether, a fun show and really exciting to see them again amongst an entirely Japanese crowd, except for me and my friend, in a small club, but not the most intense Slip show I've ever seen. When they actually got into some jams, it was hot as hell, but I feel like they got a little diluted trying to accomodate people sitting in with them. When it was just the trio, they tore it off, and the sax added great layering. Well, I'll send you some pictures when I get them copied to my computer.
Slip in Kyoto - a partial review
Moderators: Cleantone, harrymcq, Phrazz
Slip in Kyoto - a partial review
Hey all - a good friend of mine is living an hour outside of Kyoto and just sent me this note:
Planet of Inexperience
Tell your bro thanks for the scoop and he's gotta hang out in SlipBase more often. That funny-faced guy is none other than JT's nephew, and he's so old school Slip he can put on any face he wants. The Japanese are devoutedly committed to listening to good music and find it very disrespectful how we Americans are loud, obnoxious idiots at most shows. The girl is probably a friend of theirs over there, maybe another performer, could be UA or someone famous over there. The Sax guy is Timo Shanko, who I would also put in the "living legend" category. At least your pal recognizes talent...the sitting in thing is big over there, too and also out of respect. That is a huge word that means very little here in the US of A-holes, so what looks weird to you or I is like a religious experience for the Japanese.
I never lived there, but many phone calls and talks with people there and my cousin, who lived there for 5+ years and speaks fluent Japanese--enough to know how important these subtle distinctions are in a culture that is thousands of years older than our own....but I digress. Can't wait to hear the full stories!
I never lived there, but many phone calls and talks with people there and my cousin, who lived there for 5+ years and speaks fluent Japanese--enough to know how important these subtle distinctions are in a culture that is thousands of years older than our own....but I digress. Can't wait to hear the full stories!
