最初のパフォーマンスはRyotaro & Mitsu Salmonだった。この二人のステージはよく見た事あるけど毎回違い、全部が面白い。いつもRyotaroがミディアコーディオンをやりながら Mitsuさんがダンスか歌かスポケンウアドを演じる事だ。今回は感情的な踊りからきれいな歌に動いた。観客の目が点になって騙させるぐらいな演技だった。嬉しい事にMitsuさんは僕の友達でいつも彼女の留まる事のない想像力を尊重している。
次はMs. Mekanism & Dodoだった。Mekaは三年間ぐらい京都のシーンに活躍しているけど今夜は彼女の最後の日本のライブだった。今年の夏からドイツに引っ越す予定だからもうすぐ日本を出ることになってしまった。今夜の公演はとてもMekaらしくて非常に面白くて皆楽しめた。今夜は京都の有力なバンド、Dodoのメンバ達も組み合わせて一緒にライブをした。きれいな所もあったしロックぽい所もあったし、少しおかしい所もあって、全体的に見送りにふさわしく、素晴らしい演奏だった。
そして、次はTMTSだった。Urban Guildが大好きだけどTMTSの元気なロックによく似合うかどうかが少し気にしていたけど全然問題なかった。最初の二つの曲がちょっとゆったり目だったけどその後、スコットは「これからは盛り上がった曲になるから良ければ前で踊っていいよ」と言ってから、少しずつ人々がステージの前に移動してバンドがやり始めてからたちまち皆が激しくダンスし始めた。それからセットの最後まで止めずに観客はよく盛り上がって楽しんでいた。時々バンドの音楽が知らない人にとってはダンスさせるまで難しい場合があるけど、今回はバンドと観客が完璧に一体化していた。しかも今回は、キーボード／グロケンスピールのアーロンにとってのTMTS最後の演奏だった。残念だけど彼は博士をすぐ終わって偉いプリンストン大学で研究の仕事をする事になったからしょうがなく止める決断をしたそうだ。頑張れアーロン！
TMTSの後、フランスのdDamageが演奏した。dDamageの音楽はエレクトロなダンスとヒップホップパンクを交えたみたいな音だった。初めは皆を唖然とさせるほどの激しい曲で、この夜のテンションは最高潮となり、また皆激しく踊っていた。信じられないほど楽しい夜のとても良い終わりだった。
そして、残念ながらTMTSの日本ツアーが終わりを迎えた。スコットとジャレドが今日から中国に移動して上海と北京でライブするから朝早く出てアーロンとチャーリーはアメリカに帰るから、彼らも早く東京に移動しちゃった。あっという間に過ぎた感じだったけど皆にとってとてもいい経験だと思うから、またいつか必ずTMTSは日本に戻ってくるだろう。その時までバンドの将来の活動を楽しみにしよう。

This whole weeklong tour has been a really great time, but the final show in Kyoto was far and away the best.  Up until now it sort of felt like I was introducing the boys of TMTS to this country that I’ve grown to love, but for the last show the equation was reversed a bit.  This time I really felt like I was able to introduce all of my good friends in my new home of Kyoto to TMTS and it felt great.  The show went down at one of my favorite venues ever, Urban Guild and also had a few of my good friends giving great performances.  I’d been looking forward to this show for months now, but somehow it even managed to surpass even my highest hopes to become a night I’m sure I’ll never forget.
Starting the night off was Ryotaro & Mitsu Salmon.  I have seen these two perform a number of times in the past and they are always unique and entertaining.  Ryotaro specializes in Midi Accordion while Mitsu combines, dance, song, and spoken word in a way that is always original and interesting.  This time she moved from a beautiful dance piece into an ethereally captivating song.  The combination of Ryotaro’s virtuosic accordion and Mitsu’s gorgeous performance stunned the audience with its beauty and held us in its trance.  I’m happy to say that Mitsu is a good friend of mine and I truly respect her continued creative success.
Next up was Ms. Mekanism & Dodo.  Meka has been going crazy on the Kyoto scene for around three years now, but this was actually her final show in Japan.  This summer she will be moving to Germany so she’ll sadly be leaving Japan rather soon.  Tonight’s performance saw Meka in rare form and gave the audience a great performance to remember her by.  On this particular night she was also joined on stage by rising Kyoto stars Dodo.  There were some pretty moments, some rockin’ moments, and some pretty hilarious moments as well, but overall it was just an awesome performance and a fitting goodbye for Meka whom we will all soon miss.
After that it was TMTS’ turn to get up and do their thing.  Now, I love Urban Guild and all the folks there, but I was a little nervous about how well TMTS’ energetic rock would be received by the crowd.  It turns out that was a very silly way to feel.  The first few songs led off with a little looser vibe to warm up the audience, but then Scott said, “Okay, now we’re going to play some more upbeat, fun songs.  If you feel like coming up to the front for some dancing, please feel free to do so,” and very happily a few people did.  Then nearly the instant they began playing, everybody jumped right into dancing and pretty much didn’t stop until the final moment.  Sometime it can be difficult for a band to make an audience dance if they aren’t familiar with their music, but this time the band and audience were a perfect match that led to amazing times all around.  This was all compounded by the fact that the show also happened to be keyboardist and glockenspielist extraordinaire Aaron Goldman’s final show with the TMTS.  Aaron will be finishing up his doctoral program very soon now and then is taking on a position doing research at Princeton so he unfortunately has to leave the band.  He will be greatly missed, but I’m sure he’ll do fantastic things over there.
Following TMTS was dDamage from France.  dDamage’s music is a mixture of Electro dance, hip-hop, and punk ferocity.  It was incredibly fierce right from the get-go, and shocked people a bit at first but then won them over and had them dancing hysterically in no time.  It was a great cap to an unbelievably fun night.
And so, TMTS’ tour of Japan has come to an end.  Scott and Jared are off to China to play a pair of shows in Shanghai and Beijing, and Aaron and Charlie are winging it back to the states.  While it felt much too short, the tour was a fantastic experience for all involved and I’m sure that someday TMTS will make its way back to Japan for a return visit.  Until then let’s keep an eye out for the bands continued activities and future musical endeavors.

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