Yesterday, I saw a solo performance by an artist I used to have a crush on. I lost interest in him around the time I left Tokyo about 15 years ago and haven't kept up with him since, so I thought I might be able to enjoy his performance again — but honestly, I couldn't. His name is Suto and he's from a band called HiGE. They were really good during their indie days, but they lost their charm after they signed to a major label. Classic story, really. But the first time I listened to their songs, I really fell for him because of his lyrics. Before that, I hardly listened to any Japanese artists, except for instrumental music like techno. He opened my eyes to the world of music with Japanese lyrics, so I'm really thankful to him. Today, I won't say anything negative about his recent activities. I just want to write about an old story. I saw them live more times than I can count, but this isn't my experience. I just read it somewhere online:

On that day, the band HiGE performed at a small music festival in Osaka. They had some technical issues and couldn't start playing at the scheduled time. The crew were in a rush to fix them because the set time was very limited. Suto elegantly started introducing the band members one by one as if nothing had happened. As I said, I wasn't there, but I can imagine how well he held the audience's attention. He talked about the drums first, and went to the bass in detail to buy some time. Then, the moment he got the signal that the crew had fixed the issues, he wrapped up the introduction by just saying, "Guitar Saito, Vocals Suto" and started playing without even counting in. Only with eye contact, the start was perfectly synced.

Incidentally, both lines have seven morae (syllables) in Japanese: gi-ta-a-sa-i-to-o and bo-o-ka-ru-su-to-o, which happen to be the same number of morae as the latter half of our short form of poetry called tanka. And it rhymes to boot. I love this anecdote because it reminds me of the magical days when we craved to hear their sounds as soon as possible, as long as possible. It totally ended. It's a bit sad for me, but I know all things shall pass.