NMFT vol4 gets Robbed
... as in Rob Perry'd with some fantastic video footage from my partner in crime. He's working on getting one song by each band for each show on the tour.Right now 8 clips from the back to back Toronto shows are up @ Rob's vimeo site. Here are four of them:
Absolutely SICK!! Some great camerawork by Rob with help from Vish & Paul and some well-placed Go Pros. It's too bad they couldn't document Hyacca's badassery @ the Rivoli last year. Especially the mayhem that occurred with Hanazono. That performance was the stuff of legend. But "Oooooh SH%T!!" @ the performance of Cold Beat by ZAZEN. Charan's horn section is BADASS (やばい！！）and Momo's smile could melt the Antarcctic. Praha = INTENSE! Mai's vocals from 3:52-4:00 is especially gutwrenchingly awe-inspiring. The energy in the group_inou video! One fan came from California just to see them and since he travelled across N America for the show he decided to make the most of it by crowd-surfing non-stop. He actually got kicked out temporarily and from then on crowd surfing was banned but that didn't stop cp (group_inou's emcee) from getting one stage dive and crowd-surf in for the last song. That was one crazy, energetic set and my t-shirt was drenched in sweat. Love watching these videos and remembering the fun we had on tour.
Galaxy-sized props and THANK YOU to Rob Perry for video-documenting the tour and helping me out on the road !! ______________________________________________________________________
Some unfortunate news for fans in Japan is that there won't be a vol 4 tour finale in Tokyo. But Mai emailed me and said Praha went to hang out with and watch Mukai and his other band KIMONOS play last night. So if the bands manage to keep in touch, maybe there will be an unofficial tour finale in the distant future.
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There are two things I wish happened on tour that could have made an even more lasting impression on Canadian fans:
1. Zazen playing "Asobi." It is such an amazing song to experience live and it would have added a completely different dimension to the sound of their set. Unfortunately they didn't bring a sequencer nor the data necessary to perform the song. But Canadians missed out on arguably the best song they play live.
2. Charan Po Rantan playing a couple songs by themselves. They do rule when supported by CANCANBALKAN but Koharu and Momo as a duo are just as awesome. With the full band they tend to play upbeat, festive songs but by themselves the tempo slows down and the music is more soulful. It would have been a real treat for Canadian audiences to hear "愛の讚歌"（"Ai no Sanka" the Japanese cover of the famous French tune "Hymne à l'amour" by Edith Piaf). Momo mingles and interacts with the crowd when she croons this number and it's probably the most fun song they play either as a pair or as a full band.
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Geoff gave me the heads up and let me know that the review article in the Japanese magazine "bits" is now online:
Rob's video footage is awesome and the audio couldn't be better since it was taken directly from the soundboard. BUT the one aspect you don't quite get is how loudly the audience was cheering because the focus is on the fidelity of the bands' music.
In the videos that the bits team took you can really hear the crowd cheer during and after the songs.
Mukai is so chill whenever he does interviews: