Christmas Meeting

"Hikashu's Christmas Meeting"
on December 26th, 2009
at Shibuya Quatro
guest: Yamashita Yasushi (synthesizer), Inoue Makoto (synthesizer), Tobe Satoshi (alto saxophone, vocal), Chikada Haruo (vocal)
opening act: Soutaisei Riron

They made it again. The place was packed, the crowd was enthusiastic, and the band played splendidly. With all the original members and different arrangements of earlier tunes, it became a special night.

The band opened their set by Nicoselon, the first tune of the one-week-old album, Ten Ten Ten. Originally it featured bass clarinet, but this time Shimizu settled on the concert grand, and took a fierce solo. Sakaide also added many double-stop on his bass playing, which was effective and fattened the rhythmic feel.

Although we could hear only two tunes from the new album (the other one was "Justrius"), the audience apparently expected earlier tunes, because of all the original members' participation. And their hope was utterly fulfilled.

The half of the concert was consisted of earlier tunes. Puyo Puyo, Doro Doro, Alternative Sun, Shiroi Highway (White Highway), At the End of the 20th Century, et al. Even some of them were arranged differently. For example, Pike usually has a bass solo introduction by Sakaide, but this time started with rhythm pattern from the sequencer. Yochu No Kiki (Larvae in Danger) featured various sampling sound, like the original arrangement, made by Inoue. (Only the instrument was different. This time Inoue played a Kurzweil synthesizer, not specially-modified Mellotron, of course.) Also Tobe sang his signature song, Morning Water.

Encore was a medley from their 3rd album: To Icecron (very rarely played), then Uwasa No Jinrui.

Soutaisei Riron, the opening act, played short (30+ minutes) but nicely set. Also, as a tribute, they covered Hikashu version of Kraftwerk's Model.

Upon the band's request, Ono Seigen recorded the event. So maybe there will be some release from the concert in future.