Just got back from the Yoko concert!
Wow.
Just.
Wow.
I don't even know where to start. What an amazing, amazing, amazing experience. I need a new word for amazing because it is just not cutting it. How about Yokotastic? I like it. Oh, I'm so overwhelmed! Ok, well, I got there really early (and I'm very glad I did) to wait in line for the merchandise. The line was INSANE. I've never waited in a line that long. Though it went pretty fast. I waited for about an hour and a half or so and got a sexy t-shirt and this yokotastic booklet thing which included a CD (I'll post pictures in a bit). I had pretty shitty seats but it really didn't matter. The show started with the five female singers coming onstage, including my gal Maaya Sakamoto, Origa, and Mai Yamane. Finally, the lady of the hour, Yoko herself emerged from the stage (with a mother frakking RED piano) and the audience went insane. I remember that Origa and Maaya sang "Inner Universe" first, but after that the order is a bit of a blur for me. Everyone was rocking the CRAP out of every song. When Steve Conte came on I got pretty effing pumped. But when him and Maaya started singing "The Garden of Everything", I lost it. I LOVE THAT SONG. And it was amazing live. I didn't think that would have been included. Oh man, everyone was there. Scott Matthew and Akino Arai too. And all my favorites were covered. Steve did "Call Me, Call Me", "Rain", and "Could You Bite the Hand" and kicked ASS on guitar. We got "Voices" (a gorgeous version of it too), Scott did "Beauty is Within Us" which is a newer favorite of mine, Maaya did "Tune the Rainbow" (acapela), A bit of "Yubiwa", "Gravity", "HEMISPHERE"! and a bunch of others; Mai did "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", of course "The Real Folk Blues" and a couple others; the Seatbelts did a bunch including "What Planet is This" and FINALLY as one of the encores, "Tank!" which was so. Fucking. Awesome. The whole crowd shouted "3, 2, 1 let's JAM!" too. Yoko was just... just...yokofrakkingtastic. Seeing her live really makes you appreciate how insanely versatile this woman is. Not just musically either. She was dancing while she was playing the piano (she did a solo of "Rakuen" from Wolf's Rain and I think I might have started crying. What. They were showing silent scenes of the show in the background.); at one point she had, like, a duck suit on, she danced with ballet dancers and played the freakin' accordion too. She's so adorable! But then, man, she went from these songs - pop, techno, folk - to the crazy ass jazz with the Seatbelts, and then allofasudden there she is conducting the bloody Warsaw Philharmonic. That was so incredible. Just seeing the adoration and following this woman has in a place where, IMO, women still struggle a bit with equality was so inspiring. The show ended up running around 3 hours because of all the encores (I lost count). One of them was "Blue" with the entire orchestra and Maaya singing backup. Out of all of the singers, I was actually most impressed with Mai. She fucking ROCKS. Like she KILLED up there. I've always liked her but, damn, seeing her live made me into a die-hard fan. They all just looked like they were having a great time. And so was the audience. Clapping through almost every song.
Finally, we have the last encore. In the booklet Yoko mentions that the next time she'll put on a concert like this will be in the 22nd century. So I guess she wanted to get everything off her chest...
It's official y'all - Yoko Kanno and Gabriela Robin are one in the same! The Last song was "Moon" and when Yoko opened her mouth - oh man - the whole audience just gasped. I mean, we all knew it was her, but she's had this adorable "secret" persona for so long, I don't think anyone ever expected her to "come out of the closet" if you will. Let the news be heard! That performance was stunning. The orchestra going crazy behind her. Oh damn, I hope they make a DVD. I want to watch that again and again.
Ok, It's almost 1 and I'm beat. I'll be back with more and pictures as soon as I have them though!
What a great effing night.
(Cross-posted to my journal and mameshiba)
Just.
Wow.
I don't even know where to start. What an amazing, amazing, amazing experience. I need a new word for amazing because it is just not cutting it. How about Yokotastic? I like it. Oh, I'm so overwhelmed! Ok, well, I got there really early (and I'm very glad I did) to wait in line for the merchandise. The line was INSANE. I've never waited in a line that long. Though it went pretty fast. I waited for about an hour and a half or so and got a sexy t-shirt and this yokotastic booklet thing which included a CD (I'll post pictures in a bit). I had pretty shitty seats but it really didn't matter. The show started with the five female singers coming onstage, including my gal Maaya Sakamoto, Origa, and Mai Yamane. Finally, the lady of the hour, Yoko herself emerged from the stage (with a mother frakking RED piano) and the audience went insane. I remember that Origa and Maaya sang "Inner Universe" first, but after that the order is a bit of a blur for me. Everyone was rocking the CRAP out of every song. When Steve Conte came on I got pretty effing pumped. But when him and Maaya started singing "The Garden of Everything", I lost it. I LOVE THAT SONG. And it was amazing live. I didn't think that would have been included. Oh man, everyone was there. Scott Matthew and Akino Arai too. And all my favorites were covered. Steve did "Call Me, Call Me", "Rain", and "Could You Bite the Hand" and kicked ASS on guitar. We got "Voices" (a gorgeous version of it too), Scott did "Beauty is Within Us" which is a newer favorite of mine, Maaya did "Tune the Rainbow" (acapela), A bit of "Yubiwa", "Gravity", "HEMISPHERE"! and a bunch of others; Mai did "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", of course "The Real Folk Blues" and a couple others; the Seatbelts did a bunch including "What Planet is This" and FINALLY as one of the encores, "Tank!" which was so. Fucking. Awesome. The whole crowd shouted "3, 2, 1 let's JAM!" too. Yoko was just... just...yokofrakkingtastic. Seeing her live really makes you appreciate how insanely versatile this woman is. Not just musically either. She was dancing while she was playing the piano (she did a solo of "Rakuen" from Wolf's Rain and I think I might have started crying. What. They were showing silent scenes of the show in the background.); at one point she had, like, a duck suit on, she danced with ballet dancers and played the freakin' accordion too. She's so adorable! But then, man, she went from these songs - pop, techno, folk - to the crazy ass jazz with the Seatbelts, and then allofasudden there she is conducting the bloody Warsaw Philharmonic. That was so incredible. Just seeing the adoration and following this woman has in a place where, IMO, women still struggle a bit with equality was so inspiring. The show ended up running around 3 hours because of all the encores (I lost count). One of them was "Blue" with the entire orchestra and Maaya singing backup. Out of all of the singers, I was actually most impressed with Mai. She fucking ROCKS. Like she KILLED up there. I've always liked her but, damn, seeing her live made me into a die-hard fan. They all just looked like they were having a great time. And so was the audience. Clapping through almost every song.
Finally, we have the last encore. In the booklet Yoko mentions that the next time she'll put on a concert like this will be in the 22nd century. So I guess she wanted to get everything off her chest...
It's official y'all - Yoko Kanno and Gabriela Robin are one in the same! The Last song was "Moon" and when Yoko opened her mouth - oh man - the whole audience just gasped. I mean, we all knew it was her, but she's had this adorable "secret" persona for so long, I don't think anyone ever expected her to "come out of the closet" if you will. Let the news be heard! That performance was stunning. The orchestra going crazy behind her. Oh damn, I hope they make a DVD. I want to watch that again and again.
Ok, It's almost 1 and I'm beat. I'll be back with more and pictures as soon as I have them though!
What a great effing night.
(Cross-posted to my journal and mameshiba)