Thursday 3 December 2015

Sam Smith Tokyo Concert 2015

Sam Smith cancelled a concert earlier in the year, as he was suffering from a vocal hemorrhage. Fans were, understandably, disappointed, but I simply glanced at the news and shrugged, as I had been unable to get tickets. He’s quite popular even here in Japan, so seats were sold out. However, he announced a new tour date and I rushed to the convenience store, and was able to get tickets! So, four of us made the trip out to Tokyo on a Tuesday night to hear his dulcet tones. Tickets were ¥8000, not including taxes and other charges.

The Yoyogi arena seats about 15,000 people or thereabouts, so even though we were up on the third floor, we had a good view of the screen and could still make out the people on the stage without straining too hard. Japanese and Korean music companies are extremely strict about fan recordings, but English-speaking artists don’t seem to mind. This can be good or bad, but the seats were sloped enough that anyone holding up a phone (no professional recording equipment or cameras were permitted into the stadium) could snap some shots.

It’s always interesting watching an English-language artist in Tokyo, because the crowds are a mix of Japanese and non-Japanese, with a good amount of English-speakers, so people react in real time to whatever the singers say. In some concerts, the singers have a translator, and you can tell who understands what language by when they react. However, Sam Smith forwent translation and talked to the audience, who cheered audibly at appropriate times, so it obviously wasn’t a problem!



On the other hand, however often he asked the audience to sing actual lyrics, it wasn’t very successful; as much as people love his music, it’s pretty difficult to memorise lyrics in another language. When we asked us to create the backing track for “La la la”, the audience went at it and did fantastically, but dancing and singing was a bit beyond us!

Near the end, many fans got out their phones and turned on a flashlight. A lot of Korean and Japanese companies have jumped on the merchandising bandwagon and made official concert fanlights, but for artists who don’t have all the extras, music lovers just use their phones. We all waved our phones from side to side in time with the music, twinkling along with Sam’s gorgeous voice. Perhaps that’s why he called it “one of the most beautiful gigs I’ve ever done” – although to be honest, he could easily say that at every concert and we’d never know! Still, it was really lovely to join in with the crowd and wave back and forth, bought together by our love of music.



Two songs which he mixed up a little were “Not in That Way”, which he added some classic “Can't Help Falling in Love” (Elvis Presley), and “Money on My Mind”, which segued into “Finally” (by Cece Peniston). It was a short concert – over in 90 minutes, but he is, after all, just one man, and he didn’t take many breaks between songs either!

One of the best and most exciting Tuesdays I've experienced in a while!

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Quizu