Snap Shot #7

At Narita Airport on 10.16
Bye bye guys...

GPS DAY 5

Monday begins with John and I having a cup of coffee and a chat about where we see things going in Japan prior to Guthrie being spirited away to Young Guitar magazine for the obligatory marathon interview and John sitting with a couple of very nice people from Euro Rock Express for a casual chat. General opinion seems to be that Sunday night's show was a complete success, which is nice.

We have time to kill before Guthrie's return so we all go window shopping in Tokyo's Shibuya district before everybody finally congregates in the Hob Goblin Irish pub for some fine ale and good, stodgy British style food. Ryo and Kiko join us and a good time is most definitely had by all.

The band leave early Tuesday morning - John and Guthrie's lobby call is for 6.15 am! - and we all look forward to seeing them in the near future.

GPS DAY 4

Well, what a day this was to turn out to be. Strap yourself in, it's gonna be a very bumpy ride.

Following breakfast with the band - during which proposed changes in the set for tonight's Tokyo show were tabled, agreed and implemented - we check out of our hotel and say goodbye to Osaka and head off back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen. During this journey, Ryo begins to complain of lower back pain and, after taking some pain killers supplied by the ever reliable Dr. Schellen, falls asleep for the majority of the three plus hour journey. Upon arrival in Tokyo, Ryo is being literally carried as his back pain is so severe. This is not looking good....

We dump our stuff at the hotel and make straight for the venue, where the gear is more or less waiting to be played and sound check can begin. Shibuya On Air West holds about 500 and is a great little venue - fantastic PA and lighting, nice dressing room facilities. A class act all the way. Ryo takes some more pain killers and is propped up on a stool to begin the sound check.

Everything goes to plan and the band takes the stage more or less on time. Everything seems to be going well and Ryo appears to have made a remarkable recovery and is....well, Ryo. Then, at the beginning of ' Since You've Been Gone', John's bass amp dies and the number comes to a halt. John tries to make contact with the overwhelmingly Japanese crew, who largely seem oblivious to what's going on and eventually a new amp is in situ and the number continues.

Following John and Guthrie's acoustic set John takes his bass back from the roadie who has retuned it to find that it is wildly out of tune and John is forced to stop 'Silent Nation' to retune it. He later confides in me that, in 25 years, he has never stopped a song live and he has been forced to do it here twice in one night!

Apart from the above, the night is a complete success and the band snatch victory from the gaping jaws of defeat. Ryo and Jay deliver breathtaking solos and when Guthrie steps up prior to 'Heat Of The Moment' to play a short but mightily impressive solo spot, the sound of jaws collectively hitting the floor is almost deafening. John is in excellent voice and is obviously enjoying himself immensely, jumping around like a man at least half his age.

The sizeable crowd enjoys every second and are rewarded by another marathon post gig signing session. The evening ends with band and entourage holed up in an izakaya (basically, a pub that serves fairly substantial snacks) around the corner from the hotel for a few well earned hours of r&r.

Last full day in Japan today. A couple of interviews and a meeting or two and then home tomorrow...

GPS DAY 3

Last night's show at Clapper, Osaka was not without it's problems - sampler's misfiring, tuning issues etc. - but ultimaterly nothing terminal and overall a success. The set runs close to two hours (this may change for Tokyo this evening) and a bevy of Asia tracks later in the set - including 'Only Time Will Tell' & 'Heat Of The Moment' - sends the crowd bananas. Being his home town show, Ryo's family was out in force, including his aged mum and dad (who were lovely) and the Okumoto show was in full effect. Job done....

Tonight, Tokyo beckons. To be continued....

GPS DAY 2

Following the band's arrival in Tokyo we all prepare to move down south to osaka for their first show in Japan. Guthrie leaves early on Friday morning to do a guitar seminar at the MI in Osaka and the rest of the band (minus Ryo, who makes his own way to his home town of Osaka) leave on a later bullet train. On our arrival in Osaka, we are absolutely amazed to find a group of fans waiting at the station - how do these people know when we are going to arrive? Extraordinary....

We check into our hotel and meet with Guthrie - whose seminar went very well - and then John, Guthrie and Jay rehearse for a few hours as a three piece (Ryo has a show with his lovely soon-to-be wife Kiko this evening and is unable to join us) which is a fascinating thing to behold. Imagine 'New Jerusalem' played by a power trio and you may grasp what I'm talking about here. Instrumentally, this band is monstrous and there are lots of funny moments with the band members dropping in moments from other tracks and generally playing silly buggers. The band's spirits are really high and they are very much looking forward to these two shows.

After the rehearsal, we return to the hotel to drop the guitars off and then head out for supper. After eating, we take a walk around Osaka and eventaully find ourselves back at the hotel. Big day tomorrow, so we turn in pretty early.

This morning (Saturday), we occupy ourselves with forraging breakfast - everybody seems to be taking care of this themselves -and ready ourselves for a midday lobby call to head over to Clapper, Osaka to soundcheck. To be continued.....