では、今の話題は上記の功績じゃなくて、TMTSの初来日だ！実は去年スコット君が日本に遊びに来てくれて一回ソロライブもやったけどバンドとして初めてだ。しかも、ジャレドとチャリーとアーロンは今回初めてアジアに来た事になる。到着の次の日と仙台に会った時はまだとても文化ショクだった。「ホテルのトイレの鏡は霧防だ！すごい！」「これは俺の名前のか？すげぇー（カタカナをみると）」「自動販売機からビール買えるの？天国じゃなっすか？」っていう色んな印象があったようだ。

仙台のホテルにチェクインをしてから一緒にアラバキに行ってビックリした！でっけぇ！３０，０００人ぐらい入って、ステージが６つぐらい。着いた時は１０−Feet達がセットを終わったばかりだった。そして僕が結構惚れてるUAちゃんのステージに早速行って、結局The Birthdayまで進んだ。Thee Michelle Gun Elephantの大大大好きな俺にとって千葉祐介さんをバクステージから見えたのが素晴らしかった。その後はTMTSが次の日、ライブをやる所を見ておいた。とてもいいスペースだ。ところで、アラバキの現場に桜がまだ咲いているよ！京都は二週間前ほとんど終わったから嬉しかった。やるなアラバキ！とにかく明日はツアーの最初のライブでとてもたのしみにしてる。これからも馬鹿な日本語。。。いや、面白い日本語もあるかもしれないですけどよろしくお願いします。。。

Hey everybody, I’m Andrew.  I’ve been friends with the band for a long time now, but I’ve been living in Japan for almost three years now and I’m really excited to be able to accompany them on their first Japanese tour.  I’ve been buddies with Scott the vocalist since college and I’ve been cheering on his band’s success ever since.  From the original recording of Moonbeams, getting signed to the prestigious Secretly Canadian label, to the release of their current album Creaturesque.  Of course I’ve just spelled out my own bias right there, but I really do believe that Creaturesque was one of the better albums to be put out last year, and I’ve got the itunes play count to prove it.  If you don’t already own it, I highly suggest it.

But the subject of this blog isn’t the bands prior accomplishments, it’s their very first time winging their way over here to Japan!  Actually, Scott did play one solo show over here last year when he came through Asia as a traveler, but it will be their first performances as a full band.  What’s more, Charlie, Aaron, and Jarred have never even been to Japan before.  Still the next day after arriving they were very much in the throws of culture shock.  “The hotel mirror automatically defogs itself!  Amazing!” “So that’s my name huh…  Cool (when looking at Katakana).”  “You can buy beer from the vending machine?  Is this heaven?”

After checking in to the Sendai hotel, a group of us went out to inspect the festival grounds and we were pretty surprised by how big they are.  I think there are something like 25,000 people in attendance, with 7 stages going simultaneously.  When we arrived, 10-Feet was just finishing up their set.  After that we popped into see UA, who I’m kind of in love with, before heading over to check out The Birthday.  For someone like myself who pretty much worships Chiba Yusuke because of Thee Michelle Gun Elephant, it was pretty intense to be able to catch the show from back stage.  After that we went to check out the spot that TMTS would be playing at tomorrow.  It seems like a pretty cool spot and is the only stage in an enclosed tent at the festival.  Also, there were still a fair number of cherry trees still in bloom.  Good on ya Arabaki.  Anyway, I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow’s show and some of the other Japanese performers who will be doing their thing.  TTFN.