Blog - NOMOTO Karia live at Lounge O
Nomoto Karia live at Lounge O
Last night, Jens and I went to see Nomoto Karia live at Lounge O. DJs were Konishi Yasuharu, who produced Karia's new album "Karly" coming out at the end of the month, and also Iwamura Manabu and Hirabayashi Shinichi (Moodsville Records).
Karia sang about 6 songs from the new album and the latest EPs, including "ADIEU wa kanashii kotoba", "watashi no kuroi koneko wa itazura dakedo himitsu wa mamoru.", "Rock Steady", "jiyūdōri no gogo". Also a bunch of introduction and interlude tracks were played.
All songs were great, and of the ones I heard "jiyūdōri no gogo" is my favorite new song, featuring a catchy bass line and synth leads with a good club beat.
Karia must have changed clothes about 5 times during the evening, most being cute one-piece dresses.
Konishi-san's set was great as usual. It was the first time I saw Iwamura Manabu spinning I think, and I was looking forward to it, but I ended up a bit disappointed. I was expecting some cool Italian-style lounge similar to his albums, but he rather played mostly club tracks, a lot of which I didn't care for.
The event was also I think the first public event at Lounge O, which just opened 2 days before. It was very attractive visually, with a lot of couches and large decorative stuff. That's probably the classiest club I've been to. A lot of people were also dressed up for going out (though there was no dress code), something not common in clubs where I usually go (e.g. Organ b.), but I guess it must be common in Aoyama and Roppongi. There were actually a large number of foreigners, though many didn't seem to be there to celebrate Karia's new release.
The staff was alright (except for some dude who told me to stop taking pictures, and who later scarily jumped through the crowd in front of another guy who was doing the same) but there seemed to be way too many of them.
Entering the place was quite confusing. I don't know if we were supposed to be charged to enter, but we weren't charged anything. That was either because A) the event was free (though there was no mention of that anywhere on the Web site), B) the large amount of useless staff were confused themselves in their wicked system, or C) we're foreigners.
Despite how classy the place was, drinks were surprisingly cheap at ¥500, and there was also some food sold ¥500 for a choice of three small appetizers or desserts.
A nice evening!
Posted on July 4, 2004 at 13:29 | Tweet
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gosh .. this NO PHOTOS is becoming an epedemic ... I recall times back in the 80ies when I got royal treatment in clubs because I brought a camera and peopel thought I was press ... it has so chamged ... what's next .. we have to check our keitais ??? and what about those glasses that have little cams in it ...
that new club sounds cool and 500 for a drink .. well .. must be intro price... I am not too hot about the singer .. but maybe this album will sell me
Posted by Peter on July 5, 2004 at 07:28
Yeah... Makes no sense.
On tour concerts I can understand why they don't allow pictures/video, but at a one time or regular event at a club, why not?
One thing that I forgot to mention and that really annoyed me about Lounge O is that you could hear the constant beat from the floor below. It wasn't noticeable during loud club DJing, but, for example, during Karia's a bit more quiet songs it really sucked.
I think that it's normal for a lounge to have quiet moments, and the Orbient's pumping bass will ruin them. I wish they'd have cared more about sound-proofing.
Posted by Patrick on July 5, 2004 at 08:46
Me and my friend Gabriel were there too... I think Gabriel was the guy who was jumped by security because he was taking pictures!
Agree with all the above: really classy club, Karia was good, cheap drinks. Strangely, we also got in for free! (because we're foreigners? No idea. We just handed over the printouts of the website and they said "you don't have to pay).
This was also the first time I saw Konishi in person, and I even got up and talked to him... that totally made my night, even if I only told him how much I liked P5 :P
Johan
Posted by Johan Nystrom on July 7, 2004 at 04:13
Hi Johan! Thanks for writing! I'm glad that you could make it too and meet Konishi! :)
We were sitting just at the right of the food bar the whole evening.
If they told you that you don't have to pay, it at least eliminates my second assumption (confused staff)! Someone did take my flyer but we weren't told anything at all.
If we go to a same event again, let's say hi! Next events I'm planning to go to are "Indie-bak vol.3" at Edge End on 7/17 (http://blog.pol-ka.net/iensu/archives/000097.html) and Capsule's release party at Aoyama Cay on 7/23 (http://www.contemode.com/).
Posted by Patrick on July 7, 2004 at 08:11