DISNEERANDO

NYSQ tour entry 6

Tonight we played at Tokyo Disneyland. Ikspairi is the name of the club and the complex that houses it and I have absolutely no idea what that word means. It is a sumptuous club, high ceilings, a beautiful stage with a great piano, an entrance hall that looks like a ticket booth for some sort of a high end cinema multiplex or concert hall. The food was gorgeous and plentiful, the mall the club is in has shops and probably 50 different restaurants ranging from a Hard Rock Cafe to every variety of traditional japanese food. (Maybe I am just a curmudgeon but Japan seems exotic enough without the Disneyland glitter and kitsch. It's even more out of place and fake looking here than in the US, but I digress.)

Unfortunately, even with the smoke machine going at full blast (and somewhat inexplicably, a small table with a lamp on it--to make things feel homier?--situated between Tim and the piano) it was impossible not to notice the absence of audience members. I think we had about 8 but there may have been one or two more. Still we went the whole 9 yards, playing for about 90 minutes + an encore. (As the old saying goes: there are no small audiences, only small paychecks, or something like that.) The music was fine and dandy and we aren't in it for the money anyway, so everything is hunky dory. Tomorrow, a radio broadcast, then a gig in Sendai and we finish Sunday with Motion Blue in Yokohama.

Onward!