Last Sunday I found myself going to the Hostess Club weekender at Studio Coast club in Tokyo alone. I bought my ticket a couple months prior and was unsuccessful in encouraging any of my mates to come along.
I was just starting to get itchy feet - I hadn't seen any live music for months (I do not see a Japanese Red Hot Chilli Pepper cover band as adequate I'm afraid) - I needed to go to a proper gig.
It was great. I came late in the day catching the last 3 bands - being the 3 acts I wanted to see. Youth Lagoon - fantastic performace. Warpaint - great as always. After warpaint I was approached by 2 white fellows who I faintly recognised. One asked me if I was Zara. I felt really confused for a second - until I realised that I had in fact seen this guy knocking around the Drunken Duck in Mito. Some ALTs from the Sister City programme. Really nice to bump into some fellow Ibarakians - as by that point I had certainly gotten a little bored of being alone.
The National was great. We watched them together. During the encore, the lead singer jumped off the stage and ran around amongst the audience. This caused people to get very excited. I realised that he wasn't going to run in our direction. I made the impulsive decision that I needed to kiss the singer on the face. I dumped my back-pack with the boys and fought my way through the crowds. At first I couldn't get close. Then I jumped at him, threw my arms around his neck and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. What I experienced was a face full of beard hair. Totally worth it.
