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MOTORMAN
Joined: 17 Dec 2002 Posts: 27 Location: A lightning bolt
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 8:52 am Post subject: One of the BEST shows I have ever had the honor to attend!!! |
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This past Saturday night (Dec. 11, 2004), I had the distinct pleasure to be one in a small crowd at a very special show. As you may know, I live on the tiny Southern Japanese island of Okinawa. Down here, we NEVER get any decent shows. We either have to do without, travel to Tokyo or just wait until we go home or whatever on vacations. The music scene here SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! With a CAPITOL "S"!!!!!!!!!!! If it is not noisy punk wannabe crap, it is pop/dance/hip-hop/rap-rock SHIT! So, when I found out about this little publicized MAJOR event, I was not to be denied!!!! Ya see, at the "GLOBE AND ANCHOR" club aboard Marine Corps Base, Camp Foster, legendary Japanese metallers LOUDNESS performed. It was the very first time for this band to perform here. The stage was tiny, the club was not anywhere close to being full, and, the band was here for the first time ever, AND, with the original line-up in tact and in TOP form. The charge for admission was a measely $10.00 and since it was also ladies night, drinks were discounted. I don`t drink, but, my Cola was cheap! The band took the stage at about 9:30pm and it was pure METAL, SPEED, THRASH until about 11:00pm. They were not the hiar band that everyone thinks of them as. While that era of metal is what they are best known for, they were a thousand times that. Akira Takasaki was f**k MAGICAL!!!!!!!!!!! There were only maybe 30-50(at very most) people at the show. So, the band was no more than 2-5 feet away at any one time. They even had legendary Okinawan Keyboardist George Murasaki from the legendary band "MURASAKI" sit in on a blistering cover of Deep Purple`s classic "HIGHWAY STAR" on which George`s son Ray sang lead vocals. LOUDNESS were all about power, energy, speed, and f**k METAL! Takasaki played his axe like it was gold. His solos were blistering and perfect metal jewels. The man has amazing stage presence and can play that guitar better than most others can do live and so close to the fans. In my life, I have seen several hundred shows from Def Leppard in San Diego to Testament in Yokohama, Japan and many others at various times and places outside that. The fact this show was SO small and that made it very personnal, the band was SOO PERFECT but the "live" factor was very much detectable. When one speaker lost power for a minute or two and we had no vocals, to Akira Takasaki taking some of his most famous solos and improvising with them and making them a hundred times better. The bassist did not have the greatets stage presence, but, his playing and his timing were not to be criticized on any level. The drummer was pure muscle and evil. His face was all about intensity and pounding the metal, AMAZING performance!!!!!!! Takasaki was the legend he is and a hundred times more! The vocalist was simply pure electricity. He is the driving force behind this band, while Takasaki is the band`s identity. After the show, my friend and I got to go behind the curtain (or what would back stage at a big venue type thing). I bought the band`s new album "RACING" and the new selfcover album "ROCKSHOCKS" on which the band does remakes of their own best songs with some different arrangements and some varied lyrics. I got them both signed by Takasaki. I got an autographed drum stick from the drummer. I was also lucky to catch Takasaki`s guitar pic when he threew it into the crowd during the show. We also were told by Takasaki himself that he wants to make Okinawa a yearly stop for the band. The band was not originally going to play for the Americans, which would have been fine and very much expected and accepted, but, Takasaki wanted to play on the base and for us. They originally came down here on invitation by George Murasaki at the request of Takasaki wanting to "jam" with him at his club here called "Seventh Heaven". They did that on Friday night and only allowed members of LOUDNESS`s fan club to attend. We got lucky with this one. There was little to no publicity for this show. And, because of that, it was one of the best I have ever seen in my 25 years of concert going. If you can, I HIGHLY recommend you try to get a copy of both the new studio album "RACING" and the self-cover album "ROCKSHOCKS". Both are classic metal masterpieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This band has an energy that seems to give the impression that they will be around for many years to come!!!!
By the way, they are planning a U.S. tour for next year, I STRONGLY suggest you try to catch this band live/ You won`t regret it!!!!!!!!!
For this live show, I give them 4.5 stars out of a possible maximum 5 stars. There always has to be room for improvement. |
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totembird
Joined: 29 Jun 2003 Posts: 156 Location: newyork
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 10:08 am Post subject: |
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Thats cool..Loudness was there huh..I've been to camp foster, crashed there for a week so I understand the area you're talking about... Havent seen these guys forever, good they are still rockin! |
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Bohica
Joined: 14 Feb 2001 Posts: 225 Location: Wichita, KS
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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Wow!! That's awesome.
When I was stationed at Camp Kinser (right next to Naha), the most exciting thing I witnessed was 2 typhoons!!
That was when Loudness basically came out (1986-1987).
I did pick up the Kyoji Yamamoto album... yes... vinyl. |
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