Today was the day of the actual concert, my last concert with RIMB about 2 years after I left her. In the morning we woke up to the news of an earthquake in the north, before setting off for Harmony Hall.
The band hanging around the lobby
On the road
The river next to our hotel
A restaurant
Yet another Alitalia ripoff, I see a lot in Singapore
A small little restaurant
Along the way we passed by many car showrooms including:
Nissan,
Mazda and
Mitsubishi
The railroad crossing near the concert hall
We arrived, got suited up and made our way to the backstage area of the concert hall.
Disembarking the bus
The view near the hall
Myself
Again, with the hall in the background
The view toward the city
Paul
Some monument outside the hall
The 3 J2s outside Harmony Hall
The larger concert hall
A view of the hall, with the backstage lounge in the foreground
Paul and Shuotian
Again
The back gate
A signpost outside the hall
Once inside, we started warming up, waiting for our turn to use the hall for practice
David and Andrew warming up
Samuel and Joseph
3 J2s yet again
Bertrand and I
I pity Samuel
He seems to enjoy this
Paul looking cute.
The rehearsal was... a disaster. I shall not elaborate on how epically it failed.
After the rehearsal we had lunch, and Mr Oura called me and Paul over to meet with the MC... and dropped a bombshell on us. We were supposed to be interviewed in front of the 1300 member audience, right to the front of the stage... in Japanese. Pain.
Lunch was, as usual, impressive, and we sat back and watched the rehearsal, then the first part of the concert. The band played, among other things, First Suite in E flat (3rd movement) and Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Somehow a Japanese secondary school band that is 2 years old can play almost as good as the handpicked best JC students in Singapore led by a renowned conductor from the USA.
Lunch
The view out the lounge
Paul acting cute
The backstage TV.
We then made our way to the stage for the performance, which, while not that impressive, was way better than the rehearsal, and was rather decent. During the MC introduction, I heard some stuff about founded in 1819, caught something about Lee Kuan Yew, and heard her introduce us as the second best band in the world (I had to stifle my laughter here, while I'm proud of the band, second best in the world is ridiculous). The MC then somehow managed to screw up Mr Oura's name. We started with an oldie, The Bandwagon... Prometheum XI memories abound here.
Dance Celebration was a completely new piece, light and really band-sounding. Before this piece, the MC apologised for getting the name wrong, then invited him to give a speech. I recall hearing the word "Jounetsu" over and over again.
After that, Paul and I were called to the front to give our interview. It went slightly better than I expected, at least I didn't say anything wrong, although Paul stole my points.
Finally, we played Merry Widow. Kind of fitting, it was one of the first songs I heard in band, one of the first I played in RIMB and now it's the last song I played with RIMB.
After the concert, we proceeded to watch the remainder of the concert. One thing I notice was that all the soloists for stuff like Takarajima were guest players, including Eric Miyashiro, a renowned trumpeter. Also of interest is that Mr Atarashii, the conductor of Fukui High School Band, is Mr Oura's teacher.
The view from our seats, really impressive audience
After the concert, we packed up, met with Eric Miyashiro for a bit and proceeded to head back to the hotel, as we would meet the Japanese band the next day.
3 of us after the concert
With Mr Oura
The hotel room in Fukui
Dinner was at the same place as the day before, but not many places were open, so in the end we settled on a small Japanese place near the Century Clock. Everything was in Japanese, and the waiters only spoke Japanese, so Paul and I helped the others out here.
Paul at the restaurant
Shuotian
The restaurant
Cute bus.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel, and Paul knocked out while Shuotian and I headed for the bath, hoping for some relaxation. Unfortunately we were joined by the Sec 4 batch, and anyone who knows them will see that our hopes were dashed. It was highly amusing to see what happens when someone tries to cannonball into very hot water, unless you are the one doing the jumping. Sadly, the next day would be our last full day in Japan.
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