Puffy AmiYumi @ Richard's on Richards, Vancouver 11/11/07
Thanks to the lovely Channel M, we won tickets to see Puffy AmiYumi kicking off their North American West Coast tour in Vancouver. Anyone who's read this blog even once, knows I love Jpop. But, living in Canada and all, this was my first opportunity to see a Jpop concert. (So, yay!!!) It didn't disappoint.
We were part of about 5% of non-Japanese people in the packed crowd. This, as I suspected, resulted in much Japanese-language banter from Ami and Yumi--which was lost on us. They were, however, kind enough to have English notes written on small notebooks adorned with Canadian flags. "We are very happy to be starting our tour here," "We went to Yaletown for dinner and had very good Thai food there," etc.
Ami and Yumi are as energetic as they seem, times 10. They blew through their set without missing a bounce. Wearing respectively, an Ozzy concert t-shirt, and a cryptic baggy one that stated "CANDY STRIPPER DEEP UNDER GROUND," they were locked into a spunky, pop-rock-punk element which focused on their newer material. They still made time for hits like "Teen Titans," "Mole-Like," and "Tokyo I'm On My Way," which drove the crowd slightly more wild then everything else. Then there were Green Day and Ramones covers, and the Japanese version of their hit "Planet Tokyo" (even though they laughed off an audience request for the English one).
Their band was also insanely amped--with the guitarist nearest us constantly jumping up to the platform to jam just a few inches away from our heads. At one point Yumi did the same, leaving everyone around us clamoring to touch her converses or her pant leg. I didn't, but I did wish I'd had a better camera on hand than my cell at that point. (Though flash photography was not allowed, most people utilized it anyway.)
Finally it was time to say goodbye. I bought a bizarre t-shirt that says "amiyumidas" (in the adidas font), and then below that "HIT FUN." I think it describes the show pretty well.