Last night I popped out to King Tut's to see the Polysics. I've always found them fun on record, but not something I'd listen to often... a little too mannered, a little too quirky for their own good, maybe.
Live is a different matter though. I'm now a confirmed fan for life. What sounds laboured and clichd on record is pure, life-affirming POP! music on stage.
Why is it that only the Japanese can bring so much intensity and sheer self-belief to their stage shows? An all-consuming aesthetic, from costumes to deliberatly exaggerated mannerisms means so much in a hyper-energised, hyper-kinetic live context.
And they covered My Sharona in Tokyo new wave mutant style.
I practically swooned.
(image taken on a camera phone, in true Tokyo tech-fetish fashion)
Live is a different matter though. I'm now a confirmed fan for life. What sounds laboured and clichd on record is pure, life-affirming POP! music on stage.
Why is it that only the Japanese can bring so much intensity and sheer self-belief to their stage shows? An all-consuming aesthetic, from costumes to deliberatly exaggerated mannerisms means so much in a hyper-energised, hyper-kinetic live context.
And they covered My Sharona in Tokyo new wave mutant style.
I practically swooned.
(image taken on a camera phone, in true Tokyo tech-fetish fashion)
[Edited on Aug 05, 2004 10:22AM]