First Concert in Japan

When we first found out about his orders to Japan, the husband and I knew we wanted to catch some concerts while here.  So many bands come through Japan, more than I realized actually.  They also have a few rock festivals we will likely catch before leaving.

Last week we experienced our first concert here in Japan.  It was in the Yokohama Arena which is just outside Yokohama, an area we had not ventured to yet so that was interesting.  The Arena was easy to find and very easy to get to.  First take the train to Yokohama then jump to the local subway to the stop we needed.  Only a few blocks to walk to the Arena and we were there.  The crowd was big, we expected that, but we also had a lot of faith in the Japanese organization system we have witnessed over the last year.  (It has been a year !  Can you believe it!)

While we were waiting in that line we noticed the separate line for the vendor booth for purchasing t-shirts, etc.

Needless to say, we did NOT get any souvenirs.

Only a 5-10 minute wait to get in the doors and we were off to find our way around to the right section for our seats.  Easy, well marked sections and the staff were very helpful.  Between sections there was a food vendor booth mostly selling hot buns stuffed with pork, some yakisoba (noodles), chicken on a stick.  We had the bun and chicken before going up to our seats.

We were not expecting much, we bought our tickets late and the seats we got were in the first section (the side of the stage) and the very top row.  We sat down and quickly realized we had pretty damn good seats afterall!  This was going to be great!

Settled in and looking around to take in all of it, the place was packed – probably sold out.  Waiting … waiting… waiting…binoculars out … waiting…

Oh did I fail to mention who we came to see in concert?

BAM!  That’s right, we saw Eric Clapton in concert in JAPAN!  It was amazing.  He still kills it.  The most interesting part of the concert was the Japanese crowd.  Mostly very quiet and subdued.  They clapped when they recognized a song but that was about it.  A whistle or yell out every now and then but nothing major and everyone stayed seated….until…about 2 hours in Mr. Clapton started in on “Cocaine” and the crowd on the floor erupted off their seats cheering and whistling, arms in the air for the entire song.  Of course, when the chorus came up they all yelled out “COCAINE”.  It was really quite funny to watch.  This was the one big song they knew of his and it was about a drug and they were yelling it out, just funny to me.

(Not a video from the concert)

It was a great night!  I can’t wait for the next concert – in May…what will it be?  The Brian Setzer Orchestra….you know, the guy from Stray Cats.  He does swing, big band kinda stuff.  Should be a great time and my awesome friend from Connecticut will be visiting that week so she’s coming too!

I’m a little excited, if you couldn’t tell.