The 30th (!) Tommy Bolin Festival takes place in Sioux City (Iowa) at the Marquee on August 3. Billed as the “Last Ride” it features many prominent guests, not least singer Jim Dandy from Black Oak Arkansas. I think it is rather wonderful that they celebrate Tommy Bolin like this.
RISKY MELODY
Japanese rockers Risky Melody has played a lot of concerts in Japan this year in order to commemorate their 10th Anniversary. The tour will end at the Zepp Shinjuko venue in Tokyo (a 1,500 capacity hall) on January 17 2025. I hope that we get a live DVD out of this tour. I feel that they are gaining some traction.
Got one of the Trident “Spice “X”” Limited Edition five track mini albums on import (there exist a full on album as well), with bonus DVD (“Bite The Bullet” video shoot) and trading card (did not spot that until I had already taken this image, very cool though). I like Trident, they are a very competent rock trio and they have their own thing going. It is actually very hard to answer the question “What does so and so sound like” when you talk about Japanese bands, they really operate in their own Universe. Trident rocks but they are not afraid to take the small roads, sonically speaking. That makes the journey all the more fun. If Western rock and metal has become rather stale and predictable, there is very little of that on the Japanese scene (well, there may be some that hold on to the past and that is fine), but the younger generation really is quite fearless. I quite enjoy the music of Trident. My collection started with this release. No going back now.
(My shot of said release, snapshot of bonus DVD content inserted – visit the international shop on their official homepage for cool stuff)
The May 23 Babymetal/Electric Callboy video for “Ratatata” has notched up over 10,000,000 views on YouTube. The official live version well over 1,200,000 in 10 days. Nice.
This Japanese Idol Metal outfit has been going since 2016. They have a European Tour coming up in August, with dates in France, Germany and Austria.
KOIAI
I mentioned their first DVD on this blog not long ago. It sold out within hours. A major label needs to pick this band up, and fast. Some really good live videos can be seen on YouTube.
AYASEN
Japanese singer/song rider (you will get it in a second!) Ayasen will play at the Swedish NärCon Sommar Festival in Linköping this summer. The festival is set to take place between July 25-28. Ayasen will perform on the 25th. She has songs about motorcycles (spot that guitar!) and has an interesting niche going. It is not the first time that she will play in Sweden, she was here in 2022 (in capitol Stockholm) as well. NärCon Sommar Festival is working annually with the Swedish-Japanese Performers Association. 15,000 happy people attended the festival in 2023 in one way or another, according to their offical site. Loads of fun stuff going on. Games and cosplay, everything under the (rising) sun.
(Ads and images are from official platforms, thumbs up from Ayasen regarding her shot)
First Risky Melody product to arrive from Japan is this 2024 CD EP. Four tracks. The title of this release is “Itai Itai Ai”, not that I can see it on the cover… I like Risky Melody though. They were formed in 2014 so they have been around for a decade. I really would like to get my hands on the last two albums, “Reflection” and “Esperanza”. Not available in my neck of the woods at the moment. I will have to see if these pops up over here eventually.
I too, watched a concert once that was cancelled mid-show (like the Babymetal performance at Download the other day), but these things happen. I had travelled quite far to see Rainbow in concert in Malmö (Sweden) a week prior to the first Monsters Of Rock concert in the UK that they were about to headline. The band got to play maybe two thirds of the show before the rain started to really pour down. Don Airey (now the keyboard player in Deep Purple) did his keyboard solo and the last notes was “Singin´ In The Rain” and then the show was cut short. Up until then it had been a fantastic show, amazing version of “Stargazer” (and rare, never heard them perform it again personally). Rainbow were riding high at that time, they had the hits from the “Down To Earth” album and they had a lot of respect in the rock community. Short lived version of the band but I managed to see them twice with singer Graham Bonnet. Experiencing a concert that has to be cut short is a sad occasion for all parties concerned. At the end of the day it is all about safety. In the last few years in Europe alone there has been incidents at rock concerts in which many has been struck by lightning. This is not to be taken lightly, and hard decisions has to be made that nobody really wants to go through. I am sure it was the right decision in Malmö back in 1980 and I am sure they knew what they were doing at Download in 2024. Life goes on.
(1980 press clippings seen here as reprinted in Deep Purple Forever! 26 back in 2000, rare Rainbow bootleg from the show inserted as well)
Hard winds and rain forced Babymetal to cut their set at Download Festival in the UK yesterday. Footage of the exact moment that they were forced to leave the stage during “Distortion” can be seen on YouTube. Apparently, they were gone for a while and then resumed the concert for a brief time. Conditions were bad and the call to cut the concert short was correct. Sad day indeed but safety has to come first.
(Images seen here: part of festival ad, NASA space shot and screenshot of YouTube clip)
Darren W Ritson saw the live premiere of the current Lovebites tour in London yesterday (Friday the 14th) and I asked him to write a few words for a short report here on Trinkelbonker (I had noticed him at the excellent Lovebites Fans We Play Heavy Metal facebook page and we got in touch). I just love to be able to present little glimpses from classic concerts around the world. Here is Darrens report. Enjoy.
– They are Lovebites and ‘they’ play heavy metal. And in London they played their metal to 350 die hard fans that well and truly relished the small, intimate venue, and revelled in the fact that they all got so close to their favourite band. To me, it was a dream concert. I was located side-stage next to Midori, and I mean ‘next’ to her, one step forward and I could have been in the band on stage… if I could only play, of course. Band / fan interaction was nothing I have seen before, with many fans high fiving, fist bumping and getting thumbs ups from the girls – myself included, with a wave and a smile from Asami which melted my heart… a fist bump from Midori, and Fami posing for a photograph! They rocked their way through fourteen thunderous tracks, each one inciting the fans to jump, scream and punch the air in sheer delight as the deafening roar of the now famous oi..oi..oi…oi… chant reverbated around the venue almost perferating the ear drums of those lucky enough to be inside… and quite possibly those outside the NEW CROSS INN too! Masterpieces such as, “We The United”, “The Hammer of Wrath”, “Stand and Deliver”, “Glory to the World”, and “Judgement Day” were part of this ultimate headbanging fist pumping setlist, but by far ‘my’ favourite of the night was “Raise Some Hell”, it was sheer metal magnificence… watching Midori scream into her mike with such meaning, effort and 100% dedication is something I will remember forever. “MAKE SOME NOISE, RAISE SOME HELL!” All in all, despite a little unjustified griping from a few, suggesting the stage was “too small” I think Lovebites proved otherwise as it was a stage they played on with no problems; and play on they did… to me it was a dream and my 600 mile round journey to witness this Japanese rock phenomenon was worth every last penny. Would I do it again? Hell, YES. In the grand scheme of things, who really needed the meet and greet package? simply turning up at this venue provided that – more or less. Darren W. Ritson (End of report – now here are some images from the night)…
(All photo credits belongs to Darren W. Ritson, except the shot from behind the stage that Lovebites has put out through their official platforms – no malice intended in borrowing this for this report)
Along with the upcoming Lovebites DVD (that I blogged about yesterday), they will also release “Lovebites EP II” on August 28. The limited edition will also include a rerecorded version of the first EP, with the current lineup as a bonus. Not sure if August 28 is worldwide, we shall see.
Well we have some news today about upcoming releases from Lovebites and Muses, two of the most talented acts in Japan. Lovebites will release 2DVD/2CD editions of a new live set called “Memorial For The Warrior Souls” on August 28. Recorded at the Showa Women´s University Hitomi Memorial Hall in Tokyo in September last year, it will feature several songs not released live before, plus a one hour documentary with footage filmed in several cities on the “Judgement Day” tour. Meanwhile, before that, we have a new Muses DVD-R titled “Muses Live 2023-2024 – Live At Blue Mood + Blues Alley Japan” coming up on July 16. Probably a limited edition affair that will disappear very quickly. A good chance to hear some of the tunes from the two Muses albums surely. These bands represent very different branches on the Rock Family Tree. Lovebites is pure heavy metal, Muses is way more on the soul side of rock. Both are brilliant though.
trinkelbonker 