Blog - mona rock caravan: live report

mona rock caravan: live report

Last Saturday was mona rock caravan, an event organized by Shimokitazawa's mona records but held at Buddhist temple Ikegami Honmonji. The event suggested acoustic sets by 5 artists. I was mostly there to see the Maezono Naoki Group and Kaji Hideki, but I really enjoyed the whole thing!

First things first, my friend Miwa and I got there a bit early at 13:30 (start time was 14:00), so we went around the temple and took some photos, and even went to worship twice.

We then headed to the building where the show was being held. It was a large room with church-like benches, and with Buddha sitting at the front. Being that it's a sacred place, shoes and hats were to be removed. Artists were also advised to always face the crowd and not look back at Buddha, rule that none of them were able to respect. :)

First on stage was Yōmō to ohana (羊毛とおはな). The young band, formed just a year ago, consists of a guy (Yōmō) who plays guitar, and female singer. Their style reminded me of Port of Notes. The set included covers of Sting's "Englishman In New York" and the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love", the latter of which their version is being used in a Docomo TV commercial (YouTube), and several original songs.

Next up was the Maezono Naoki Group (前園直樹グループ), featuring Konishi Yasuharu on piano! I had seen the two in their previous band called Zonies last July (my report).

For me the set's highlight was a cover of Sugar Babe's "Show" (audio sample at Tower Records, track 1). It was the first time I heard the song and I really liked it. Singer Maezono Naoki got the whole audience to clap through this and also the following song, Pizzicato Five's "kodomotachi no kodomotachi no kodomotachi e" ("To Our Children's Children's Children"), on which Konishi-san sang his loud back vocals.

Also performed, that I had heard with Zonies, were recent Konishi track "Tokyo no machi ni yuki ga furu hi, futari no koi wa owatta.", and also a cover of a great song called "suki nandakara."

After then was going to be a speech by a Buddhist priest, but we were thirsty so we got to get drinks at the café area ran by mona records. I ran into Konishi-san and was able to say hi! I could also catch up with friends Jens and Kanae-chan.

Third on stage was Yukawa Shione, who I had seen about 3 years ago. She was accompanied by a guitarist, and she also played guitar at times. She surely has a very nice voice that can reach some high pitches. One of the songs she sang was the Japanese ending theme for the upcoming Disney movie "Tinkerbell".

Next up was the most lively show of the day with Kaji Hideki. Nevermind Buddha and the acoustic theme, Kaji-kun wore his shorts, and jumped around while playing his guitar. He was accompanied by Yoshié at percussions and Nari-san who played flute and saxophone, I had seen the two separately recently at in-store mini shows. The show was great of course!

Set list: Sally My Love / Suddenly Sibylla / You are the only one / Green Road / Walking on the Holloway Road / itoshi no Funny Girl / amai koibito / My Boom Is Me

Last up was kotringo, who I had coincidently also seen recently at Momiji-ichi. She played a similar set to that time, except that this time she sat at a grand piano. Very nice voice and playing! I really like her song "Hedgehog".

Well that was a really special event in an impressive place. I will be keeping my eyes open for further editions of mona rock caravan, as the shop's boss said that they were already planning something for next year.

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

Posted on December 5, 2008 at 00:16 | Tweet |

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