I have just returned from the Piano's show in NYC....

no words.

Well, maybe a few: I was able to bring my N80 and get a roll of pics, but they're all from only one angle and I was on the right side expecting Manabe to be right in my face so I could snap tons of close ups of his soloing, but Jun was there instead; not to mention there were no lights on him either. I'm going to get this developed tomorrow though and take more tomorrow night. Must go, goodbye.

That's one hell of a post.

heh.. enjoyed the review.. the pillows sound more and more awesome as these go around. thnx!!

[quote] i think he was 5'5" or 5'6"-[/quote] thats so hott~! thats only 2-3 inches taller than me..

[quote="indivi"]noodles was good. Ayumi and Yoko are insanely cute.

I talked to four of the fans there, and they were pretty casual fans compared to us -- some of them didn't even know the pillows' names, much less that Suzuki isn't a member of the band. They knew the FLCL music, but that was about it. I asked if they'd heard anything besides FLCL, and one of them mentioned that he downloaded Living Field but was "ashamed" to know that it was the pillows. [face_rolleyes]

After the concert, I was terribly dehydrated and had to get a drink (the bartender asked me if I had been at the front, I said yeah, and he went "Man, those guys fucking rock").[/quote]

ayumi is hot sex for me.

those 4 casual fans should be exterminated with extreme predjudice, espeically that one that said he was "ashamed."

that bartender should be praised for not being a narrow-minded asshole and for recognizing good music.

if i am able to go to the LA show, i will be screaming at the top of my lungs for them to play kanojo wa kyou or strange chamleon. in fact, i'll be screaming for almost anything that was not featured in FLCL. not that i hate the FLCL songs, but i just don't want their set to be all FLCL or Penalty Life. they need to play the other stuff.

glad to hear you had a blast.

I feel jealous beyond belief towards all, most especially towards flyp.

lucky bastard.

but seriously omg. i would kill to see them play.

The show at Pianos was incredible. I taxi'd down there at like 4:30 because I couldn't wait (it started at 9:30) and I walked right into the Pillows' soundcheck. It was a really casual environment, and their camera man and a couple translators were there, as well as the Noodles. They played through I think I can and Crazy Sunshine at the soundcheck. Already I couldn't believe it. I chatted with Jun, who's english was suprisingly decent at times. "Hey, I'm Jun. Bass player." Well, it was better than Sato, who opted not to say anything. BUT sato had a leather jacket on, and he was doing the Fonz thing and grinning like mad. Sawao was really shy with his english, after I told him I was a big fan he was like "are you hear for show at 8:30? Okay, See you later!" which was cool. I didn't aproach Manabe at this time, assuming I'd get the chance later, as it was extremely laid back at the time. The Pillows went for a little meeting in a mexican restaurant. Jun stayed back (I guess he really isn't a part of the band! ) and flirted with the Noodles' frontwoman. Seriously.
Later that evening, it started getting really crowded. I was getting scared, because I was not 21, and the poster said "STRICTLY 21+!" I walked right by the bouncers anyhow. The schedule was Future 86 first, then noodles followed by Pillows, and in the bold letters for the head liner, Daddy. or DADDY - whatever. I walked past the crowd to the upstairs lounge and listened to some very mellow acoustic tunes played by a few amateurs I'm assuming are just trying to start their music career. When I returned downstairs again, the place was beyond crowded. I went to pick up my tickets, giving them my name. Once I got my hand stamped, the man asked me what band I was here to see. "The Pillows" I said proudly, assuming I'd be one of the few die hard fans actually showing up. The man at the little desk whistled as if he was impressed, and wrote 'pillows' beside my name, where countless other names were marked the same way. Looks like more fans showed up than I thought. There were two people here for future 86, where a big 86 was scribbled by their names - but it turns out they [i]were[/i] future 86. I remained near the ticket desk, as I wanted to be in the front row where manabe was playing during the soundcheck and it seemed now impossible that everyone would even fit into the tiny live room, let alone would a spot at the front be possible. So I turned around and looked at the other peopl waiting. I saw tons and tons of different people of all races and age. There were a couple guys near middle age chatting away about the pillows next to me, as well as kids I knew were not 21 but who had gotten in easily enough anyway. Looks like they had a group of kids too, and they seemed very happy that they all made it in.
The manager, Jasper (who is like 4 feet tall) is running around trying to find a bartender and go over all these last minute details. At one point, I saw him talking to some people at the bar. "Yeah, we made some changes. The pillows is what this show really is all about. They're [i]legendary[/i]. Moments later, the same schedule was replaced with an updated one. it now read PILLOWS at the top of the page, meaning they would play last. I started to get very excited now. When we were let in to the live room, I walked immediately to the front and stood by the monitor. I then looked at around at my choice of location. There's going to be this massive Marshall facing me directly about 5 feet away and this overhead speaker going right into my left ear. I knew it would be beyond too loud but I didn't want to move - not for any reason during the first three bands - I wanted to be right up there with the Pillows. So the first band walks on. At first it's just a dude with an old LP. No effects, nothing. He just plugs in to an old gibson twin and starts warming up. Then the drummer, who looked very psyched to see all these people. Finally, a singer. She was wearing a very, very short skirt. No bass player though. They explained later they needed a new one anyway. If they had a bass player, they could have been much better, but they sounded great for an opening band. The guitarist had plenty of neat riffs, and the drummer was having like the best time of his life. He broke the bass drum by kicking way too hard, blasting off the plastic rim around the mic and putting a small tear that would grow gradually throughout the night. So Future 86 finishes their set, and the noodles walk on shortly after. It was pretty cool to see that massive bass in action. The Noodles' set got better and better every song. As did future 86's, actually. But still, it got pretty good by the end. Somebody couldn't control their feedback though, so their was a ton of that in between every song, but oh well. Their drummer was insanely cute. She advertised their CDs and T-shirts extremely well in english.
It was something like
"We sell -- CDs and T-shirts!
Please buy -- CDs and T-shirts!"
it was very, very cute. They all were, actually. Even when our ears were being slaughtered by heavy feedback, we were laughing. Although this show was hardly intense compared to the next performer who was easily twice as loud. Daddy came on, and at first I did not like them. The guitarist was extremely talented and unique. He had all kinds of delay tricks that he actually used effectively. Very stellar bass. Great double kick on drums. But, well, their singer - was just - horrid. I can't help but say it. Everything about her screamed cheesy metal, even though their band wasn't. If they ditched her and got someone else, I really could see the band going big. lucky, she was drowned out alot of the time too. Oh, and her skirt was even shorter than the girl from future 86. In fact, she made the singer from future 86 look like a saint even though she wasn't particularily evil - just poser like. And kind of ugly.
After a very faithful cover of Raining Blood, they walked off. 5 minutes later, every single person went insane as the Pillows marched their way up. I was right there at manabe's feet. It was incredible. Sawao and Manabe clashed their guitars together in the air at the end of a song once, it was sweet. Someone had a poster of a buster dressed as the statue of liberty. Manabe loved it, he laughed really hard. Manabe was happy to see me and a few others watching him play, as the main focus was on Sawao. He looked down at me and smiled mid-solo during terminal heavens rock - it was pretty cool. Sawao's english was pretty good upstage. It was pretty broken up, like - with - long - - - pauses - in - between some words. But it was great. Everyone cheered every time. Even if we didn't know what he says. I know how the whole "Oh yeah!" thing is really old, but it would have been hard
After going off, they were cheered back in minutes later. "[i]not[/i] to cheer when Sawao shouted it. I know some requests were flying around - Someone requested razorlike blue - which was awesome. Too bad they didn't play it. Blues drive monster got nods of approval from all. After one guy requested it, everyone repeated. "Yeah, blues drive!" It didn't get played immediately, rather, it was their encore. They were cheered back on stage. Everyone went ballistic during blues drive, knowing it may be the last song they hear the Pillows play live. At one point Sawao stepped up far over the crowd and placed his guitar overhead the people below. Everyone reached up and touched the neck of his guitar before he stepped back down. I was in awe. Afterwards, I got my t shirt and copy of penalty life. I have their autographs of course now too.
With a crowd like this, I think they could end up on Late Nite with Conan one of these days. America loved the Pillows.
Yeah, it was all in all pretty impressive. I still don't believe it though.

They let you in?


Shit.

Dude, I hung out with the pillows at soundcheck. They didn't just let me in. I have pictures I will have soon. wheeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[quote="kelp"]They let you in?


Shit.[/quote]

It was supposed to be 21+, but there was even a 16 year old girl there with her father and friends. They said it was her birthday. I think she took their water bottles.

Yeah, I remember that. Some lucky girl crawled on stage on got the set list. Lucky as hell. It might have been the same girl. Man, sawao was like "oh, its your birthday!" I was hoping he'd pull out an acoustic guitar and play his song...

I honestly just want to thank Indivi and Ciidric for posting their pillows experience. Both of you sound like you had such a great time. I wish I could envy you but I don't. To be honest, I love reading this shit, seriously.

On another note, long story short, the club manager at Studio Z in San Fran is a complete dick. He compared the pillows to an indi/alternative Britney Spears simply based on the email reponses he got from the pillows younger fans wanting to attend the show. I emailed the guy and told him I thought it was unprofessional of him to make a statement like that about a band he never even heard before. I also requested that he remove that statement and that I hoped he would be there that night to see them preform because once he did, he would eat his words. Well the guy stubbornly refused to remove the Britney commment and was a complete ass about it.

I hope the guy likes crow.

no joke. reading it's the best i'm gonna get this time around, so i'd like to say:

[size=24][b]THANK YOU SO MUCH![/[/b]size]

[quote="Mellie"]
Well the guy stubbornly refused to remove the Britney commment and was a complete ass about it.

I hope the guy likes crow.[/quote]

did you see his response on the blog?

http://studioz.tv/log/archives/000118.html

i think it's hilarious.

Man, I really want to see them live now. If only to chat with them.

Has anybody bothered calling King King to see if they'll be lenient on the 21+ law?

[quote="Culen"]Man, I really want to see them live now. If only to chat with them.[/quote]

I know the feeling. It drives me crazy that I'm probably not gonna get that opportunity.