Blog - Weekly revue: 2013 week #47 (November 16 to 22)

Weekly revue: 2013 week #47 (November 16 to 22)

Food: - Fried oysters and fish at Fukutsuru, Shinjuku
- Meals at Andhra Kitchen, Okachimachi
- Dorayaki from Usagiya, Ueno
- Bread from City Bakery, Shinagawa
- Black forest waffle cakes from RL Waffle, Tokyo

Outing: Dropped by mAAch ecute, a shopping mall built inside an old defunct train station named Manseibashi. Parts of the station remain intact, with a stairway built in 1912 (101 years ago!). There's a café and observatory on top that lets you view trains pass right by.

Music events: This week I had the chance to see two great shows! Here are some mini-reviews.

- On Saturday was the 4th edition of "Nanba Tatin", an event series hosted by singer Nanba Shiho and pop duo Tarte Tatin. This time their guest was idol group Negicco. I had yet to see a full show of Negicco, and also I hadn't yet seen Tarte Tatin live even though I love both of their CDs. Lately one of Tarte Tatin's members has been having some health problems it seems, and is being replaced by label-mate Nosa Reina (a wonderful choice in my opinion!). All of these acts were great! You can see many photos at Natalie. The next (and last) event of the series will be on December 15 at Shibuya O-Nest.

Negicco set list: sayonara Music / ai no Tower of Love / sōshin sōai / Negicco kara kimi e / Negative Girls / Idol bakari kikanai de / attōteki na Style / Party ni tsuite. / tokimeki no Headliner

Tarte Tatin set list: koi suru Calendar / irideppō ni deonna / Bou-chan / keep in time / ran raran / epoch making love / chō no mai / tokyo eyes / Cyber Survivor / shōganai My Love

- The other show I saw was "Leboutet Club", organized by singer-songwriter Maika Leboutet also singer of band EA. Of course I wanted to see her show, but I was also very excited about the other bands. First on was shippai shinai ikikata, a band of 6 that sounded quite Shibuya-kei to me, though every now and then it had very noisy moments with the girl singer screaming. Great stuff!

Next was daredemo Esper, an all-star band featuring guitarist Matsue Jun (who I once saw with the Spoozys), keyboardist Hajimetal (ex-Midori) and drummer Nishiura Kensuke (ex-sōtaiseiriron). All 3 of them also sing, though several songs were instrumental. They were accompanied by a bassist. All of these musicians have amazing skills, and the sound was super tight. Their set ended with a funny voice changer pop karaoke song.

The next band was Skirt, which I was also very curious about after several friends had recommended them. Turns out that they're a really cool pop trio that reminded me of True Love Always and my U.S. indie rock fan days. Lead member Sawabe Wataru has a wonderful strong voice and is a great guitarist too. The songs were very good.

Last was Maika Leboutet's set, for which she was accompanied by Matsue Jun (his 2nd stage that night!) and two more musicians. Maika has a great stage presence and a pop star aura. She sings great and also plays keyboards and with a Kaossilator throughout the show.

This event featured all really awesome bands. There should be a 2nd "Leboutet Club" event held around spring next year and I'm already looking forward to see who it will feature.