Blog - Zonies live: report
Zonies live: report
On Sunday evening I went to see the very first show of a new band called Zonies. Led by Maezono Naoki (aka Zony), singer-songwriter who appeared on the recent columbia*readymade compilation, the band features Arai Toshiya (Missing Linc) on guitar, Matsuno Hajime (Groovin Vox) on bass, and Konishi Yasuharu on piano!!
Doors were to open at 19:00, but I had heard through the leaves that people might be lining up at Ikenoue small acoustic live bar Bobtail as early as 17:30. So I got there at 18:20 and I was happy to not be late, I was about 7th in line.
Once inside, I got an alright seat behind a lot of people who all seemed to be close friends of the band, such as the nice people from Moodsville, Tokiwa Hibiki (who recently completed an awesome book of record covers together with Konishi-san) and friends. I was happy to later find a few people who I knew too. The place got quite full at about 30+ people.
Playing first was ari, a female pianist singer-songwriter, and despite that most of the crowd was there to see Zonies she was received very warmly and she even found the bar to be strangely too quiet, everyone all ears to her music instead of drinking and chatting. She sang her own songs and also Ōnuki Taeko's "totsuzen no okurimono" (part of the recent cover album "oto no Bouquet" 
).
Next up was, you guessed it, Zonies! Konishi-san sat at the piano, with bongos on a stand beside, guitar and bass sat at the back, and singer Maezono Naoki appeared wearing a black suit and hat.
Although I had seen Konishi-san playing the bass a few times before (such as with Groove Room Orchestra in 2002 and last year at Ino Hidefumi's show), it was the first time I saw him at the piano. Perhaps his playing doesn't rank up with the great pianists, but it just has that "Konishi" sound that hits home for anyone who has listened to so many songs he wrote. It was fantastic! Plus, he even sang chorus!
Back to frontman Maezono Naoki, it was the first time I saw him perform, and he truly has a great voice and charisma. He read lyrics from a little black notebook he held in his hand, and had really good interaction with the crowd. I definitely need to pick up one of his solo albums (I was recommended "kurashi no tayori" (2001) by arcorhyme's manager).
As for the set list, I couldn't remember all of it, but the show opened with a Japanese cover of Gilbert Becaud's "Marie Marie", followed by recent Konishi song "Tokyo no machi ni yuki ga furu hi...", later a song called "suki nandakara", Maezono's "suteki na anata ni", and also a cover of Pizzicato Five's "to our children's children's children"..!
Well that was an awesome show, that left me feeling like I had seen something truly rare. I'm looking forward to what will be up next from Zonies, and let's hope for a release at some point!
Update: Here's the complete set list from Maezono Naoki's report, which includes more photos.
Marie Marie / Tokyo no machi ni yuki ga furu hi, futari no koi wa owatta. / Alicante ~ yoru no Paris / watashi no suki na mono / suki nandakara / kodomotachi no kodomotachi no kodomotachi e (To our children's children's children) / suteki na anata ni / mado ni akari ga tomoru toki / Encore: watashi no suki na mono (reprise)
(And if you look closely down to the bottom of his report, you'll find a link to what you want!)
Posted on June 11, 2008 at 00:25 | Tweet
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