Ahhh....Only 6 days until I finally make a move and leave France... This will probably be the last entry for a while, as I don't think spending time hunched over a computer - no matter how appealing it sounds - would be the appropriate way to make memories on my first (not so much)hard-earned holidays.I'm thinking - except the obvious cultural event in Saitama - going to the Yokohama art Triennale, which looks alright.(-"So, what did you do during you holidays in such a peculiar country?" - "Art exhibit." -"Oh. Japanese traditional art ?" -"No." -"Oh.")I will, as usual, stare at everything and understand nothing, but at least I'll be trying.Art's probably not my thing. Well, too bad. And yeah, language barrier, that one IS to be used in that country...Still have to watch Lost in Translation before I leave, I've been told it would be a shame not to... Still don't know where I'll sleep after night 5, which is great. Except if rain decides to greet me. Well, well, well... Lots of fun and cold fingers ahead. I'm rushing, things aren't ready yet, even if the most important stuff has been done last weekend (JR Pass & RH ticket & list of cities to visit is now prepared.). Let me grab my sleeping bag and "I'll make the speed of light out of this place" as the song goes. No purple shoes yet.So yeah, was in Paris last weekend, to get tickets, you know. As a happy coincidence, I was contacted two days before by a friend of mine who got stuck with too many NTM gig tickets. I accepted mostly to help him, as I didn't think I appreciated the band enough to see them outside a festival. Did they actually do festivals ? I'm so ignorant of hip-hop...Anyway, there I was, rushing to get everything done for Japan, and leaving for the now-familiar Bercy place. So much more relaxed than last June...Outside and in... Well, beer is still expensive as fuck, but well... The two bands before the main course were crap, but it was to be expected, right ?, however one the DJs had the interesting idea to mix some bits of music from the last 50 years, which was a good way to introduce me to the let-s-get-back-in-time-and-see-how-much-you-aged trip that was the gig.NTM have aged, that's for sure. Their audience as well - 30ish people were the majority - so the rythm of the concert itself was a bit jerky. They cut the fun with solos - from the rappers as well as DJs and dancers. That's still in the idea of hip-hop but a bit obvious, really. And yeah, the girls dancing didn't meet my high feminist standards, but I was expecting it, so no offense taken.But I didn't think I'd have such a good time. Except for the slight crowd phobia I felt when the lights went off (a bad memory of my only Cypress Hill gig), it was actually quite nice. Friendly crowd (so much more than in pop/rock gigs, that's unbelievable....Oh wait, maybe that's because there were more guys than girls...), good setlist. Lots of interaction with the audience, which is really much better than what we are used to with... anyway, I heard all the tracks I wanted, especially Laisse Pas Trainer Ton Fils and Qu'est-ce qu'On Attend which are favourites of mine (like many others ;).Laughed my ass off with the "punishment" we went through when we weren't being loud enough : fucking awful 80's music blasted at full volume by the DJ until we boo'd it enough for him to stop. That was sooooo good !Lots of fun on the Carnival proposed by Joey Starr where the whole crowd was jumping left and right like idiots. Well, that's interaction ! I had forgotten that NTM can also mean good fun. Yeah, Passe le Oinj was good as well and the whole venue will probably smell pot for a while. And, as one always completes the other, sadness came with Kool Shen and his Ange dans le Ciel. I'm not much in favour of "memory songs" about dead people, but this one was actually well written. And, even if it must have been performed dozens of times, emotion is still there. She must have been a great person.So, yeah... That was good. Opening and closing the gig on the same track but with different orchestrations is definitely a great idea. And yeah, maybe because it was "Seine Saint-Denis Style", it's such a fucking great song.My mission next week ? Bring French rap to Japan. Joking, joking...Next time I might have finally listened to this Japanese band called Polysics I've heard on NoLife tv yesterday... Weird stuff with keyboards, sounds funny, hmmm...Read more…
