Right Place, Right Time

Got super lucky last weekend (Jan 16th).  I went to Sendai (a more or less spur of the moment decision).  I took a bus out of Yonezawa after lunch and arrived in Sendai mid afternoon.  After spending some time shopping I checked in at my hotel around 4:30pm.  After resting for a bit I started checking out club and concert listings.  There were a few that seemed a bit interesting.  The one featuring a "new-half" act was puzzling but didn't get me excited.  Neither did a couple of featuring local bands.  They appeared to be of the emo-melocore variety.  A link to a blues bar got me excited...until I opened the web page and found out they had closed their doors for good back in November last year.  Then I stumbled upon a web page where I thought I saw "Special Others" scroll by.  I waited for it to scroll by again and clicked on the image.  Sure enough, Special Others were playing at Rensa, a "live house" that night.  The time I realized this was 5:15pm.  The concert start time was 6 o'clock.  Needless to say I hurried out to try and find the place. 

I quickly found the nearest subway station and took a subway train to the next stop from my hotel.  Then I  headed topside under the guidance of a map app on my iPhone.  I found myself in a shopping arcade (shotengai).  Spotted a building with a row of signs...one of which said "RENSA" on it.  I headed in and took the elevator up to the top floor.  Yes, tickets were still available.  It was around 5:50pm.  The concert hall had no seats.  It was pretty packed so I found a spot near the back which had a decent view of the stage.  As long as someone taller than me wasn't in front of me then I could see the guitarist, drummer, and bassist.  The keyboard player was visible most of the time though it was kind of hard to see all of his face thanks to long-ish hair..

They played for the better part of 110 minutes.  Had a couple of lengthy chat sessions and came out for one encore tune.  Up to that night I only had one album of theirs and I was impressed with their playing (they're an instrumental rock band whose compositions are more akin to jam sessions that actual songs).  They didn't disappoint me with their live show.  A wee bit of noodling off here and there but that was part of the fun.  Style-wise they're similar to "the band apart" - minus the vocals.  Bosa nova, reggae, jazz, and all sorts of other stuff mixed in.

All in all, I was really happy that I happened to be at the right place at the right time.  :)