asazuke

I got back from the Haru Ichiban Festival in Osaka delirious with enthusiasm – and fired up to finally get this blog off the ground. We in Daihachi Ryodan were already pretty psyched up as it was maybe our most major appearance since the “No Olympics” concert in Nagoya all those years ago.

Anyway from the time I arrived on Sunday afternoon it was magic. All the music was so nice, there were no ego trips on display and everyone seemed to be one big family – I was taken back to a Grateful Dead concert in the Europe 72 tour. Probably responsible for a lot of that was the impeccable organization – things worked perfectly, the sound system was excellent, the schedule went on time and everything seemed arranged so that there would be no pressure on the musicians, who responded with some great performances. I have to respect the huge team of volunteers who have obviously got it down to a fine art over the years they’ve been putting this festival on.

I certainly hope we get to play again next year, and recommend Haru Ichi Ban to anyone within range of Osaka around Golden Week. It’s pretty much a Japanese scene, i only saw a couple of other foreigners, so if you don’t read the language you might ask a Japanese friend to help you figure out the data.
It’s worth it!