Blog - Elohim live report

Elohim live report

On Tuesday this week I went to see Elohim, the recent unit of Arichika Masumi (T.V. Jesus). I had seen him on stage only once before at a TV recording for Pizzicato Five's tribute album on which he sings "la guerre est finie" ("sensō wa owatta"). I knew that T.V. Jesus had disbanded at the end of the 90's, but only recently I learned that he's been active with this new band Elohim, which really has been around for some 5 years.

The show was held at 7th Floor in Shibuya. It was my first time there, although I've often been to O-nest located in the same building. 7th Floor was more like a restaurant/café, all seated, with a nice stage with a red velvet curtain behind it.

First on stage was singer-songwriter Odagiri Dai, who is from a band called Shinjuku Folk, but lately performs solo. He was accompanied with piano only, performed by Shibata Gorō. He gave an entertaining show. I like his song "Oil" that can be heard on his website.

Next was Elohim! The band is formed of singer Arichika Masumi, guitarist Kubota Haruo (Pearl Brothers, Girl Girl Girl), along with Tsurugi Masaki on piano and accordion (he originally played in Arichika's band Variete in the 80's), bassist Yokoyama Hidenori (The Thrill) and Kuroda Makiko on percussions. Their sound and image had influences from French chanson and glam rock. The show consisted of original songs and also some covers of influential songs, all sung with Japanese lyrics.

Here's the set list taken from the blog post by Azumi who has been going to almost every show and from who I first heard of Elohim when I met her through friend Naoto at an Arcorhyme show last year.

Set list: Divine (ディヴァイン) / 20th Century Blues (二十世紀ブルース) / aijin - L'amant (愛人-ラマン) / soshite, ima wa... (そして、今は・・・) (Gilbert Bécaud cover?) / Neon Lights (Kraftwerk cover) / nami no nai umi (波の無い海) / manatsu no Zombie (真夏のゾンビ) / tomoshibi (灯) / kimi, odoru toki (君、踊るとき) / totte totte torimakure (撮って撮って撮りまくれ) / ai no sanka (愛の酸化) / Screamin' Peanut Vendor

Encore: Alabama Song (cover) / La bohème (Charles Aznavour cover) / Harlequin (アルルカン)

The whole show was captivating, all musicians had a lot of talent, and Arichika had great charisma. He also talked quite a bit between the songs. I was also really happy to see guitarist Kubota Haruo, I think for the first time, he's a famous figure of Shibuya-kei.

During the whole show I had been resisting to take photos, afraid to bother the other spectators who watched quietly, but when came the last song, "Harlequin", a favorite that was written by Konishi Yasuharu (originally heard on mini-album "onna no miyako"), I decided it was the time. I was really happy to hear this song live.

Another great moment was "La bohème" in the encore when he called back Odagiri Dai and also his pianist, although they hadn't rehearsed. The two pianists even sat at the same piano and played the song together with great effect and provoking quite a bit of laughter.

An unexpected surprise was a live CD of Elohim sold at the show, titled "elohim live recordings at Theater X". I was quite sure that they didn't have any CD out. I thought I'd look it up later at a record shop, but turned out that it seems not to have yet been officially released... so now I regret a bit not getting it when I could. Those interested, keep an eye on the agenda.

Oh, and on the way out, Azumi kindly introduced me to Arichika Masumi who was standing by the bar. He was a really nice guy! I'll be looking forward to catch Elohim live again.

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

Posted on April 25, 2009 at 15:10 | Tweet |

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