2011/08/28: Arabaki Rock Fest
I’ve been thinking about it, and I decided that from here on out, I’m going to do something a little bit different with my tour blog. As an author, I’m always thinking about style, and until now I’ve always tried to do these reviews in a style that focuses primarily on the concerts themselves - something that fans can enjoy whether they know me or not, and something that people can share with their friends to give new potential fans a look at what Miyavi’s shows are like. I used to be all about the music, so that’s what I’ve focused on writing about.
But over the past year and a half, the experience has grown to be about so much more than the music; as Miyavi keeps pushing forward into a new era, those of us that love and support him have walked with him to create a truly amazing community of people who share much more than just music with one another. We’re friends. We’re a family. For me, Miyavi shows aren’t just about Miyavi - they’re about traveling to new places, meeting new people and sharing new experiences. They’re about the precious time that I spend with people who have become some of my closest and dearest friends.
And I want to share these things with you guys, too; so from here on out, I’m going to do more journal-style reviews about the entire experience, and try to pass on a little of what Miyavi’s shows and tours are for me. Miyavi works hard every day offstage to bring us great music, and likewise, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes when it comes to showing support for him,
Take Arabaki Rock Fest, for instance; it’s a two day event up in Tohoku at a place called Michinobu Eco Camp. This place is nowhere near my house. This place is nowhere near ANYONE’s house. This place is about an hour’s drive outside of Sendai, in the middle of the mountains. The festival offered camping, and lots of people took advantage of it - there were hundreds of tents on the festival grounds, and it was a little like a very clean, very well-organized Woodstock. There were a bunch of different stages scattered all over the park, and it took a good twenty or thirty minutes to walk from one end of it to the other. I live in Tokyo, so for shows in the Kanto area, it’s usually a matter of hopping on a local train, or at the very most, an express train over to Saitama. But Arabaki made me work.
My day started at about 4:45am, when I hauled myself out of bed and grabbed my tour stuff. I have packing for tour down to a science, and I can fit everything I need in one backpack; traveling light is one of the keys to convenience when it’s a longer tour, because you can’t take advantage of train lockers and such when you’re hauling an actual suitcase around. If it’s a show day, I’ll usually throw on my show clothes for the trip, so that I don’t have to worry about changing before the show. I opt for comfortable sneakers, a pair of oversized camo pants with a million pockets, and some sort of simple tank top - which is exactly what I wore today. I made it to my station in time for the 5:30 local train, transferred once to get to Ueno station, and made it to the shinkansen gates at about 6:15. I always take shinkansen when I tour - they’re a little expensive, but they’re also very convenient and give you the most restful, comfortable ride from one show to the next. Sometimes on a full-blown tour you don’t end up getting much sleep, so it’s nice to be able to catch a nap en route. The train wasn’t busy this morning, so I grabbed a non-reserved seat and enjoyed the scenic 2-and-a-half hour journey up to Sendai.
We rolled into town at about 8:40, and Miyavi didn’t go onstage until 11, but I knew that I’d need every minute of that time to make it from Sendai station to the actual stage. Tour is really one big game of ‘Where In The World Is Taka Ishihara?’; just because you’ve arrived in the correct city doesn’t mean that it will be a simple and easy thing to find the venue, or that it’s necessarily close by. I planned to take a shuttle bus to Arabaki this morning - but when I found the bus queue around 9am, it was over two hours long! I made a snap decision to spring for a really expensive cab ride. Another rule I have about tour is to always have enough money on my immediate person to cover any contingencies, and I’m glad I had my credit card this morning. My cabbie was a cheerful, pleasant guy, and we chatted a lot during the hour-long drive to Michinobu Eco Camp. Tohoku is one of the most beautiful areas in Japan, and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip through the countryside; I grew up near the Adirondack Mountains in NY, and the scenery was both familiar and breathtaking all at once. One of the best parts about traveling for shows is that you get to see parts of Japan that most people, even the Japanese, never bother to go. Michinobu Park was one of those places.
My cabbie dropped me off in the appointed area, but I still had a long walk just to get to the main gates. Usually for large festivals you exchange your ticket for a wristband, and it’s not always the easiest thing in the world to find the little wristband booth, but Arabaki was well-organized and I had no trouble scouting it out. One more contingency down and out of the way, I floated on in to the festival grounds, armed with only a very vague map and about 45 extra minutes. Turns out I needed all of them to find my way to the Hatahata stage, where Miyavi was due to perform at 11am. The up-side to this is that I got a great look at the festival on my way.
It seemed like half of Tohoku was there; there were hundreds of camps full of everything from batches of young guys out for a weekend to families with small children playing around the tents. Every age group and type was represented - I even saw a couple of other foreigners at one point! People lounged in their tents, or wandered around in groups wearing sun hats and smelling like bug spray. There was BBQ area full of tired-looking showgoers cooking up some impromptu yakiniku and young families rolling out a full meal for the kids. The path that wound through the mountains from the entrance to the Hatahata stage was lined with vendors selling shaved ice, takoyaki, curry, kebobs, and all your standard festival fare in Japan. Hippie vendors set up shop with little white tents full of tye-dye, incense, bongo drums and beaded jewelry. Everything was very spread out, so even though there were about a zillion people there one never got the feeling of being cramped, or crowded. I found myself gazing at the picturesque mountains and lush summer foliage all the way to the stage. The day was hot and sunny, the cicadas were out - all in all, it was the paradigm of a beautiful Japanese summer day.
I forget that I live in Asia. That probably sounds stupid, but hear me out; what I mean is that day-to-day, I’m living the typical life of anyone who lives in a big, modern city anywhere in the world. And plus, it’s just home. It’s like living anywhere else; most days, I’m conscious of my life rather than where I’m living it. I know I’m in Japan, of course, but I don’t notice it.
But today, while I was walking down into the shady little grove where Miyavi would be playing, there was a traditional-style act just finishing up. There were shamisen echoing through the forest and over the mountains, and cicadas singing away in the trees, and it was one of those moments that I noticed. I felt like I was walking through a modern woodblock painting. It was one of those moments where the entire atmosphere converges to take you out of yourself and show you the bigger picture; I was so aware of Japanese culture in that moment - and for the first time, really, I felt like part of it rather than an observer. For the first time it dawned on me that Japanese history doesn’t include me, but that the Japan of today does. Today is just tomorrow’s history, and the Japan of Here-And-Now includes a lot more foreigners than ever before. We’re holding down jobs, learning the language, making friends, starting families. We’re contributing to society in Japan, and even though the culture isn’t our own, we’re loving it, respecting it, and passing it on to our own kids. Walking through the woods on the way to see Miyavi today, I felt like I was walking in the footsteps of some ancient samurai - and for the first time, I was conscious of leaving my own footprints behind on the history of Japan. It was balanced. It was peaceful. Needless to say, I was in a great mood for the show.
Especially when Arisa showed up! She and I were the only two from our crew that made it to Arabaki today, and since it was just the two of us, I wanted to take the time to introduce you to her the only way I can. The truth is that I don’t know much about Arisa. I don’t even know her family name. We talk on Twitter and Mixi, and we rock together at the shows, but we don’t see each other on average days. What we have is this entire realm of our lives that we share with each other - something we don’t share with our family and our coworkers and our friends from childhood. There’s the people in our everyday lives, and then there’s our CoMiyavi Family. Generally they’re separate, and different, but that doesn’t make one less valuable than the other. What I can tell you about Arisa is that she is small, pretty, outgoing, funny, intelligent, and absolutely wild. She can party with the best of them, and she’s as enthusiastic as they come at the shows. We’re two of the people who are pretty much always there, and we’ve had some amazingly good times together, but this is the first time that we’ve ever really hung out one-on-one. She came bouncing up about ten minutes before Miyavi’s set started - perfect (and lucky) timing, considering she took one of the shuttle busses. We both had thought that we might end up being the only ones there from our crew, so needless to say we were happy to find each other.
There were some other CoMiyavi there as well - not anyone we knew, but under normal circumstances that never usually matters. At Miyavi’s concerts, everyone rocks out together, regardless of whether they’re friends or strangers. That’s how all of our friendships started in the first place - and I can tell you that it’s more than enough for the basis of an awesome relationship. The other CoMiyavi there could easily have turned into new friends.
The problem was that we were all separated in a crowd that, by and large, wasn’t really there to see Miyavi, so we really didn’t get that chance to connect with each other like we usually would have, and subsequently the mutual energy that we usually have at shows wasn’t really there today. Another problem was that the stage set-up was really quick, and Miyavi himself had to come out and do his sound check in front of everyone. It seems like being in front of a large group of people and not actually performing is a pretty uncomfortable thing for him, and his energy transferred to the crowd. Usually, his stage presence is so huge that he catches a crowd from the first moment, but today everyone got to see the slightly uneasy person before they saw the musician.
His set itself was wonderful, though! He started out with What’s My Name, and though his entrance didn’t have the impact that it usually had, those of us who were there specifically for him set the precedent for everyone else by greeting him with a cheer. He also played Survive, Torture, Chillin Chillin Money Blue$, and one of his new songs - it’s the one he debuted at Everlust, and though we don’t know the name of it, (my guess is that Miyavi himself doesn’t always know what to call new songs, at first) it’s really starting to grow on me. Part of what sucks about writing about a concert is that you can’t really share the details of the music with people. This song has a very interesting syncopated guitar riff that he loops through his effects equipment and a very simple melody. I really like it, and I think you guys will, too.
Miyavi himself looked a little tired, but he gave it his all just like always. It was a hot day, so he pulled his hair back, and came out wearing black capris and his white Queen of Diamonds tee shirt that he’s worn in some of his Twitpic photos lately. It was too hot for the grey jacket and black hat that he started out with, so he shed them one by one - first, he ditched the jacket, and later he stuck his hat on one of the tech’s heads.
There are elements at an outdoor show that are never usually factors in your typical live house; for example, Miyavi only realized after the second or third song that he wasn’t getting any bass through his effects board - and we only realized when he told us. The acoustics are entirely different when you’re playing outside, so I’m not surprised that none of us really noticed the difference. His skills with a guitar can pretty much balance out any technical difficulties that arise, anyway. He also found a fairly sizeable ant hanging out on his newest toy - the little machine he keeps on a music stand, with dials to control the distortion on his guitar. Instead of sweeping it off, he left it there, and would occasionally talk to it along with the crowd. “Are you guys ready to rock? Hey ant - are you ready to rock?” He rounded off the show with Futuristic Love - only he played it nearly twice as fast as usual! Us fans - and the ant, I suppose - got one hell of a workout, and sent him offstage with cheers and applause.
The day didn’t end there, though! Hot, tired and happy after his set, Arisa and I wandered off to explore the food vendors. We ended up getting huge bowls of shaved ice and enjoying them under a blazing sun. The last outdoor show of Miyavi’s that I went to, I nearly drowned. This time, I nearly caught fire; I have a thoroughly impressive sunburn to show for all the fun I had today. We chatted over our shaved ice in the way that we never usually get to chat one-on-one, then took a look at the schedule to see who was playing where next. Asian Kung-Fu Generation was on the exact opposite side of the park, but The Telephones and Nothing’s Carved In Stone were due to play on the same stage that Miyavi had so recently graced. Arisa had to leave around 2 in order to make her bus back to Tokyo, but I had a hotel already booked, so I had all the time in the world to explore the festival. I stuck around to watch Nothing’s 2pm set. I got to like these guys when they played alongside Miyavi in Shibuya, and I was just impressed with their Arabaki set. Their fans are enthusiastic and funloving - there was a lot of crowdsurfing going on, and I really wanted to join in, but I had my bag with me, and too much stuff in my pockets. The band and the fans interact really well, everyone has fun, and the music is good - which is exactly what I look for in a show. I’ll definitely be checking out their shows back in Tokyo from now on.
I only left the festival when I was too sunburned and tired to keep on walking around in the sun for the rest of the day. Since the performances weren’t yet over for the day, the bus back to Sendai station didn’t have a long wait, and I was able to easily get a seat. I found myself tired enough to simply pass out on my bed after a quick shower once I got to the hotel, so this review is a little behind schedule - I wanted to finish it last night! Today I’ll be spending some time with Uchiko, my dear CoMYV sis who had to work and wasn’t able to make it to the show yesterday.
Arisa talked me into going to the Niigata club event, as well - I didn’t plan on going, thinking that none of my friends would, but the two of us decided to go out there together and make a night of it. That will be on the 30th of September; but, of course, we’ve got the FC event before that! Our little CoMiyavi Crew over here has plans to go out to an izakaya together after the second show, and reconvene in the morning for a CoMiyavi play day in Harajuku, so the review could follow a few days behind the event itself. I will definitely keep you guys posted, though! For now, here’s wishing you peace, love and music from Sendai!
But over the past year and a half, the experience has grown to be about so much more than the music; as Miyavi keeps pushing forward into a new era, those of us that love and support him have walked with him to create a truly amazing community of people who share much more than just music with one another. We’re friends. We’re a family. For me, Miyavi shows aren’t just about Miyavi - they’re about traveling to new places, meeting new people and sharing new experiences. They’re about the precious time that I spend with people who have become some of my closest and dearest friends.
And I want to share these things with you guys, too; so from here on out, I’m going to do more journal-style reviews about the entire experience, and try to pass on a little of what Miyavi’s shows and tours are for me. Miyavi works hard every day offstage to bring us great music, and likewise, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes when it comes to showing support for him,
Take Arabaki Rock Fest, for instance; it’s a two day event up in Tohoku at a place called Michinobu Eco Camp. This place is nowhere near my house. This place is nowhere near ANYONE’s house. This place is about an hour’s drive outside of Sendai, in the middle of the mountains. The festival offered camping, and lots of people took advantage of it - there were hundreds of tents on the festival grounds, and it was a little like a very clean, very well-organized Woodstock. There were a bunch of different stages scattered all over the park, and it took a good twenty or thirty minutes to walk from one end of it to the other. I live in Tokyo, so for shows in the Kanto area, it’s usually a matter of hopping on a local train, or at the very most, an express train over to Saitama. But Arabaki made me work.
My day started at about 4:45am, when I hauled myself out of bed and grabbed my tour stuff. I have packing for tour down to a science, and I can fit everything I need in one backpack; traveling light is one of the keys to convenience when it’s a longer tour, because you can’t take advantage of train lockers and such when you’re hauling an actual suitcase around. If it’s a show day, I’ll usually throw on my show clothes for the trip, so that I don’t have to worry about changing before the show. I opt for comfortable sneakers, a pair of oversized camo pants with a million pockets, and some sort of simple tank top - which is exactly what I wore today. I made it to my station in time for the 5:30 local train, transferred once to get to Ueno station, and made it to the shinkansen gates at about 6:15. I always take shinkansen when I tour - they’re a little expensive, but they’re also very convenient and give you the most restful, comfortable ride from one show to the next. Sometimes on a full-blown tour you don’t end up getting much sleep, so it’s nice to be able to catch a nap en route. The train wasn’t busy this morning, so I grabbed a non-reserved seat and enjoyed the scenic 2-and-a-half hour journey up to Sendai.
We rolled into town at about 8:40, and Miyavi didn’t go onstage until 11, but I knew that I’d need every minute of that time to make it from Sendai station to the actual stage. Tour is really one big game of ‘Where In The World Is Taka Ishihara?’; just because you’ve arrived in the correct city doesn’t mean that it will be a simple and easy thing to find the venue, or that it’s necessarily close by. I planned to take a shuttle bus to Arabaki this morning - but when I found the bus queue around 9am, it was over two hours long! I made a snap decision to spring for a really expensive cab ride. Another rule I have about tour is to always have enough money on my immediate person to cover any contingencies, and I’m glad I had my credit card this morning. My cabbie was a cheerful, pleasant guy, and we chatted a lot during the hour-long drive to Michinobu Eco Camp. Tohoku is one of the most beautiful areas in Japan, and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip through the countryside; I grew up near the Adirondack Mountains in NY, and the scenery was both familiar and breathtaking all at once. One of the best parts about traveling for shows is that you get to see parts of Japan that most people, even the Japanese, never bother to go. Michinobu Park was one of those places.
My cabbie dropped me off in the appointed area, but I still had a long walk just to get to the main gates. Usually for large festivals you exchange your ticket for a wristband, and it’s not always the easiest thing in the world to find the little wristband booth, but Arabaki was well-organized and I had no trouble scouting it out. One more contingency down and out of the way, I floated on in to the festival grounds, armed with only a very vague map and about 45 extra minutes. Turns out I needed all of them to find my way to the Hatahata stage, where Miyavi was due to perform at 11am. The up-side to this is that I got a great look at the festival on my way.
It seemed like half of Tohoku was there; there were hundreds of camps full of everything from batches of young guys out for a weekend to families with small children playing around the tents. Every age group and type was represented - I even saw a couple of other foreigners at one point! People lounged in their tents, or wandered around in groups wearing sun hats and smelling like bug spray. There was BBQ area full of tired-looking showgoers cooking up some impromptu yakiniku and young families rolling out a full meal for the kids. The path that wound through the mountains from the entrance to the Hatahata stage was lined with vendors selling shaved ice, takoyaki, curry, kebobs, and all your standard festival fare in Japan. Hippie vendors set up shop with little white tents full of tye-dye, incense, bongo drums and beaded jewelry. Everything was very spread out, so even though there were about a zillion people there one never got the feeling of being cramped, or crowded. I found myself gazing at the picturesque mountains and lush summer foliage all the way to the stage. The day was hot and sunny, the cicadas were out - all in all, it was the paradigm of a beautiful Japanese summer day.
I forget that I live in Asia. That probably sounds stupid, but hear me out; what I mean is that day-to-day, I’m living the typical life of anyone who lives in a big, modern city anywhere in the world. And plus, it’s just home. It’s like living anywhere else; most days, I’m conscious of my life rather than where I’m living it. I know I’m in Japan, of course, but I don’t notice it.
But today, while I was walking down into the shady little grove where Miyavi would be playing, there was a traditional-style act just finishing up. There were shamisen echoing through the forest and over the mountains, and cicadas singing away in the trees, and it was one of those moments that I noticed. I felt like I was walking through a modern woodblock painting. It was one of those moments where the entire atmosphere converges to take you out of yourself and show you the bigger picture; I was so aware of Japanese culture in that moment - and for the first time, really, I felt like part of it rather than an observer. For the first time it dawned on me that Japanese history doesn’t include me, but that the Japan of today does. Today is just tomorrow’s history, and the Japan of Here-And-Now includes a lot more foreigners than ever before. We’re holding down jobs, learning the language, making friends, starting families. We’re contributing to society in Japan, and even though the culture isn’t our own, we’re loving it, respecting it, and passing it on to our own kids. Walking through the woods on the way to see Miyavi today, I felt like I was walking in the footsteps of some ancient samurai - and for the first time, I was conscious of leaving my own footprints behind on the history of Japan. It was balanced. It was peaceful. Needless to say, I was in a great mood for the show.
Especially when Arisa showed up! She and I were the only two from our crew that made it to Arabaki today, and since it was just the two of us, I wanted to take the time to introduce you to her the only way I can. The truth is that I don’t know much about Arisa. I don’t even know her family name. We talk on Twitter and Mixi, and we rock together at the shows, but we don’t see each other on average days. What we have is this entire realm of our lives that we share with each other - something we don’t share with our family and our coworkers and our friends from childhood. There’s the people in our everyday lives, and then there’s our CoMiyavi Family. Generally they’re separate, and different, but that doesn’t make one less valuable than the other. What I can tell you about Arisa is that she is small, pretty, outgoing, funny, intelligent, and absolutely wild. She can party with the best of them, and she’s as enthusiastic as they come at the shows. We’re two of the people who are pretty much always there, and we’ve had some amazingly good times together, but this is the first time that we’ve ever really hung out one-on-one. She came bouncing up about ten minutes before Miyavi’s set started - perfect (and lucky) timing, considering she took one of the shuttle busses. We both had thought that we might end up being the only ones there from our crew, so needless to say we were happy to find each other.
There were some other CoMiyavi there as well - not anyone we knew, but under normal circumstances that never usually matters. At Miyavi’s concerts, everyone rocks out together, regardless of whether they’re friends or strangers. That’s how all of our friendships started in the first place - and I can tell you that it’s more than enough for the basis of an awesome relationship. The other CoMiyavi there could easily have turned into new friends.
The problem was that we were all separated in a crowd that, by and large, wasn’t really there to see Miyavi, so we really didn’t get that chance to connect with each other like we usually would have, and subsequently the mutual energy that we usually have at shows wasn’t really there today. Another problem was that the stage set-up was really quick, and Miyavi himself had to come out and do his sound check in front of everyone. It seems like being in front of a large group of people and not actually performing is a pretty uncomfortable thing for him, and his energy transferred to the crowd. Usually, his stage presence is so huge that he catches a crowd from the first moment, but today everyone got to see the slightly uneasy person before they saw the musician.
His set itself was wonderful, though! He started out with What’s My Name, and though his entrance didn’t have the impact that it usually had, those of us who were there specifically for him set the precedent for everyone else by greeting him with a cheer. He also played Survive, Torture, Chillin Chillin Money Blue$, and one of his new songs - it’s the one he debuted at Everlust, and though we don’t know the name of it, (my guess is that Miyavi himself doesn’t always know what to call new songs, at first) it’s really starting to grow on me. Part of what sucks about writing about a concert is that you can’t really share the details of the music with people. This song has a very interesting syncopated guitar riff that he loops through his effects equipment and a very simple melody. I really like it, and I think you guys will, too.
Miyavi himself looked a little tired, but he gave it his all just like always. It was a hot day, so he pulled his hair back, and came out wearing black capris and his white Queen of Diamonds tee shirt that he’s worn in some of his Twitpic photos lately. It was too hot for the grey jacket and black hat that he started out with, so he shed them one by one - first, he ditched the jacket, and later he stuck his hat on one of the tech’s heads.
There are elements at an outdoor show that are never usually factors in your typical live house; for example, Miyavi only realized after the second or third song that he wasn’t getting any bass through his effects board - and we only realized when he told us. The acoustics are entirely different when you’re playing outside, so I’m not surprised that none of us really noticed the difference. His skills with a guitar can pretty much balance out any technical difficulties that arise, anyway. He also found a fairly sizeable ant hanging out on his newest toy - the little machine he keeps on a music stand, with dials to control the distortion on his guitar. Instead of sweeping it off, he left it there, and would occasionally talk to it along with the crowd. “Are you guys ready to rock? Hey ant - are you ready to rock?” He rounded off the show with Futuristic Love - only he played it nearly twice as fast as usual! Us fans - and the ant, I suppose - got one hell of a workout, and sent him offstage with cheers and applause.
The day didn’t end there, though! Hot, tired and happy after his set, Arisa and I wandered off to explore the food vendors. We ended up getting huge bowls of shaved ice and enjoying them under a blazing sun. The last outdoor show of Miyavi’s that I went to, I nearly drowned. This time, I nearly caught fire; I have a thoroughly impressive sunburn to show for all the fun I had today. We chatted over our shaved ice in the way that we never usually get to chat one-on-one, then took a look at the schedule to see who was playing where next. Asian Kung-Fu Generation was on the exact opposite side of the park, but The Telephones and Nothing’s Carved In Stone were due to play on the same stage that Miyavi had so recently graced. Arisa had to leave around 2 in order to make her bus back to Tokyo, but I had a hotel already booked, so I had all the time in the world to explore the festival. I stuck around to watch Nothing’s 2pm set. I got to like these guys when they played alongside Miyavi in Shibuya, and I was just impressed with their Arabaki set. Their fans are enthusiastic and funloving - there was a lot of crowdsurfing going on, and I really wanted to join in, but I had my bag with me, and too much stuff in my pockets. The band and the fans interact really well, everyone has fun, and the music is good - which is exactly what I look for in a show. I’ll definitely be checking out their shows back in Tokyo from now on.
I only left the festival when I was too sunburned and tired to keep on walking around in the sun for the rest of the day. Since the performances weren’t yet over for the day, the bus back to Sendai station didn’t have a long wait, and I was able to easily get a seat. I found myself tired enough to simply pass out on my bed after a quick shower once I got to the hotel, so this review is a little behind schedule - I wanted to finish it last night! Today I’ll be spending some time with Uchiko, my dear CoMYV sis who had to work and wasn’t able to make it to the show yesterday.
Arisa talked me into going to the Niigata club event, as well - I didn’t plan on going, thinking that none of my friends would, but the two of us decided to go out there together and make a night of it. That will be on the 30th of September; but, of course, we’ve got the FC event before that! Our little CoMiyavi Crew over here has plans to go out to an izakaya together after the second show, and reconvene in the morning for a CoMiyavi play day in Harajuku, so the review could follow a few days behind the event itself. I will definitely keep you guys posted, though! For now, here’s wishing you peace, love and music from Sendai!