A taste of Canadian music in Japan! Montreal bands Simple Plan and Your Favourite Enemies in Osaka

I'm now proud to say that I have seen Canadian band Simple Plan in four different continents over the last three years. That's nothing compared to their biggest fan, Gary Greenbaum, an American guy I know who has actually seen them in six continents (this includes both North and South America), because he's seen them in Brazil where they are huge and get mobbed at airports! Check out some of the crazy videos taken by their Brazilian fans on YouTube and you will realize it's true!

The show at Hatch was more packed that it was for Bullet For My Valentine a few days before and even the balcony was all full up. It was a sold-out concert and I was the only photographer yet again! Now I know it's worth getting photo passes for shows in Osaka, because there is hardly any music press here compared to in Tokyo. Support band was Your Favourite Enemies, who are also from Montreal, so there was a big French-Canadian vibe going. Simple Plan made jokes onstage about "washlets", which are Japanese toliets, and have built-in automatic bidets. Nothing like anywhere else in the world. I got this part of the show on video and you can view it on my YouTube page, along with a few more snippets from the show.

As everyone in bands does when staying in Osaka, the guys in Simple Plan all came to Rock Rock after their show on May 26th and partied on until late, apart from bass player David "Diva" Desrosiers who was AWOL for all three days the band were in town and nobody had a clue where the hell he went to, apart from knowing that he went to bed right after they returned from the venue and let-down a lot of his Japanese fans who waited at Rock Rock patiently for him to appear. Shame on you, David! All those poor Osaka fans are now missing an autograph on their Simple Plan CDs. The Osaka show was the first date of the Japan tour and the band took the famous bullet train to Tokyo the next day for two shows in the capital city.

Next time I see these guys will be in Germany in less than two weeks for Rock Im Park, just like with Bullet For My Valentine. Simple Plan perform on the Friday, June 6th, then go onto another festival in Sweden, followed by Rock Am Ring.

More info here: www.myspace.com/simpleplan

Live photos of Bullet For My Valentine at Namba Hatch

Here are some of the best live shots I took of the Osaka show. Check out the video captures at:

www.youtube.com/sophiecalifornia

are a couple of videos I got of a Japanese fan from the audience being invited onstage to sing along to "Hand of Blood", but because of the language barrier, it was more like roaring down the mic and just a bit of screamo fun than "singing" and replacing Jason James' backing vocals!

It was a good show, though and a totally different kind of audience to what I'm used to. First time I've ever felt out of place at a rock concert, as the audience were all Japanese. I think this was the only time I've ever been asked more than several times whether I was touring with the band, and only about the 4th or 5th occasion within ten years that I've been the only photographer in the pit and that was fucking great! I got to the venue at 7.50pm, just in time, as Bullet For My Valentine were on at 8.00pm, which is early by headline band standards. Any later and I would have missed my photo opportunity and that would have sucked! Everywhere else I've been to, wherever in the world, it's usually 9.00pm for the headline band.
After the show, everyone (well, almost everyone, even the whole of the front row of fans who were at Hatch) went onto Rock Rock to hang out and the band signed cds, took photos and did the usual rounds for every one of their admirers who came to the bar. No sign of Matt Tuck, though, unless he made it there much later on, because I was so tired and left by around midnight.

I'll be seeing Bullet For My Valentine again in a couple of weeks, but that will be in Nuremburg in Germany for the Rock Im Park festival. I still haven't heard back from the press people from the festival regarding my pass, so that's another thing to chase up. All the photos I get at this festival, and in fact any festival I attend, will be for the No.1 festivals website and that's here:

http://www.virtualfestivals.com/

Get all the info. photos and news on all the biggest and best Summer music events all over the world there. There is so much going on and I wish I could go to all the events I want to go to, but it costs too much in travelling expenses. I am hoping to really make the most of Rock Im Park, as the bands this year are just as awesome as always. For info. go to:

http://www.rockimpark.de/

The website can also be viewed in English.