Japan Nite 2008, Part 1: Scandal
(Okay, since I don’t have time to put together one huge post about Japan Nite, and since there are too many pictures I want to post, I’m breaking this up into smaller parts, one for each band.)
Anyway, as I’ve mentioned before, the Japan Nite 2008 tour came to Los Angeles for its final show last weekend. After an amazing show last year, I definitely didn’t want to miss out this year, and this time I got to stay for the whole event!
The show was at the Knitting Factory again, but on a different stage. The turnout seemed to be smaller this year (perhaps last year was the exception because of GO!GO!7188?), but I guess it’s a pretty reasonable size for this type of concert. It’s just disappointing that more people don’t show up, especially when tickets are so cheap.
But whatever. First ones to take the stage are SCANDAL, a band composed of 4 high school girls from Osaka.
From left: Tomomi (bass), Haruna (vocals, guitar), Mami (guitar)
In back (sorry you can’t really see her): Rina (drums)
These girls play a really energetic brand of pop-rock, though I have to say they’re going to need to work a bit on their stage presence. They’re still young, though, so they’ve got plenty of time to improve. They’ve already got talent, so I can only see them getting better over time.
They did try to interact with the crowd, and they were partly successful, getting a good number of people clapping and raising their hands up in the air. They also did a short “Japanese language time” with phrases from Osaka-ben (”maido” and “ookini”), but after seeing the same thing from Oreskaband before (and I really like Oreskaband), I guess it fell flat on me.
My favorite song from their set was “S.L Magic,” though “Space Ranger” and “Koi Moyou”(”Love Pattern” as it’s titled in English) were also good. I was looking forward to “Playboy,” since it was my favorite from the songs on their MySpace page, but in the end I think I like the sound of the recorded version better (that one always gets me energized).
The bassist Tomomi is my favorite from the group, as I felt like she was having the most fun up there on stage. She just kept rocking out with a big smile on her face, occasionally sticking her tongue out for kicks. I mean, they all seemed like they were having fun, but Tomomi left the strongest impression. And in every picture I’ve seen of the group, she just looks the happiest. =)
I definitely enjoyed their performance, but it’s much closer to cute pop than something I could really rock out to (like detroit7, but I’ll get to them later). And I couldn’t help but feel that a lot of the guys in the crowd were into them largely because they’re cute high school girls jumping around on stage in skirts. Sure, that’s part of the appeal, but for me, the music always comes first.
They were selling a CD+DVD of “Space Ranger” for $5, but I waited too long to get it and it was sold out before I could pick one up… sad =(
Overall, SCANDAL is a band I’m hoping to hear more of in the future, even if their live performance was personally a little disappointing. They have a chance to be a really fun and powerful band, and I think this tour was a great opportunity for them, in terms of both exposure and experience.
(By the way, credits for all pictures in these posts go to my brother.)
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:07 am
They played at Sakuracon at well, and I caught both of their shows. As expected, they’re more ‘act’ than ’show’ presently, as each set was identical, we also got the same osakan dialect lesson, and so on and so forth. Did Mami do the ‘behind the back of the head’ playing at the end of the set as well? She did it at precisely the same time both runs here.
From my brief conversations with the girls and their handlers, I got the impression they’re still very … managed. If it gets to a point where they can do more of their own accord they could be really impressive.
That said, it was enjoyable, they seem to be in the front-running to replace ZONE. Even though I could tell right off that the second set was going to be identical, I stayed anyway. And, I’m glad I did!
The one thing that was actually dynamic both times Tomomi, just as you discussed. When I found this post (I hadn’t read this prior to the convention performances), I found that pretty amusing. She is notably more lively and energetic, going so far as to cause some problems for their staff a couple of times, when she’d run out into the aisles and play you could see some nervous watching from the wingworks from the staff. Her active movement actually caused her to detach the strap at one point, and she had to just hold it (amazing, really, given her size) until someone came out and repaired it, and you could tell she was laughing the whole time.
Ketchup Mania felt a lot more ‘mature’ and had moved into the ‘band’ phase and past the ’show’ phase. But I look forward to seeing what Scandal can produce in the future.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I can totally see what you mean. I agree with you that they seem “managed,” and part of the story that will appear later in my report is that they were the only group to not hang out in the crowd at L.A. after the show (I got the impression they were under orders not to), even though they were waving to fans and posing for pictures from up in the balcony area. Based on your story from Sakura-con and reports from other shows I’ve read, I’m not sure why that is.
Also, I didn’t realize they were going to play 2 sets at Sakura-con, and it’s a shame they played identical sets. Though I’m happy that Tomomi was able to cause a ruckus there! She really does seem like a ton of fun
Anyway, I’m hoping for more from Scandal, but I think it could really hurt their potential if they remain just a manufactured act than a real band. It may make them more popular among fans of teen idols, but not as serious musicians.
By the way, saying they’re a possible replacement to ZONE is a pretty bold statement! Let’s see if it comes true!
July 11th, 2008 at 8:17 am
I saw them in Paris last week at Japan Expo.
I have to agree with a lot of your comments,; I thought they sounded a lot better on their CDs than they did live, I’m hoping they can come up with more classic pop/rock songs like ZONE, and they did the teaching Osaka-ben in Paris too; obviously with a bit of French :).
Still, Rina standing on her drum kit was hella cute, Tomomi has an energetic stage presence, and Koi moyou is probably my favourite song of the year so far.