Daftfacemeltingfunkfest / I've wanted to dance for 3 months.

I saw Daft Punk in Tokyo last weekend.

For some of the people who might read this (Does anyone really read this? The whole blog idea still feels like an exercise for the ego.) that means absolutely nothing, but for those that do understand what Daft Punk is and everything that it means, I know they're already as fired up as I was when I first heard they were coming to Tokyo and tickets were available.

The Famous Pyramid

For those of you that don't know, however, Daft Punk are a Parisian electronic music duo who have been doing their thing for about ten years now. They were around as electronic music was just getting started and were among those fighting to legitimize a genre of music that many people hated. Basically, they're awesome.

On the way to Makuhari Messe, a large convention center in Chiba in between Tokyo and Tokyo Disneyland, there were a lot of foreigners on the train and I was pretty confident that most of them were going to the concert. In fact, I knew lots of people who would be going and lots more who wished they had bought tickets in time. Our arms were sore from the Typhoid Vaccinations we'd gotten just hours ago in preparation for India, and we were tired from a cold night in our capsules at the hostel in Shinjuku. But none of that could drown out the excitement we were feeling at seeing one of our favorite artists at such a huge venue... and in freaking TOKYO!

The Pyramid and Graphs.

When we got off the Subway I took a mental note of the scalpers selling tickets right outside the train station. I was so glad I already had my ticket. We got in line, got searched, and I handed my ticket to the woman. "Honto?! Kono wa Ashita!"

Crap.

I didn't look at the calendar when I bought the ticket at the convenience store and accidentally bought one for the next day. Not to be discouraged, I gathered all of my (and my friend's money) and we sprinted back to talk to those same Yakuza scalpers that I'd noticed earlier. The two grown Japanese men in white track suits were really friendly and gave us a much better offer than the first Russian guy we talked to about swapping the tickets. I suppose maybe you shouldn't buy tickets from the Japanese mafia, but I prefer to think of it as correcting a mistake rather than doing something downright evil. After all, someone had to buy those tickets. If not, both my ticket for tomorrow, AND the one he had for that day would have been wasted. Really, I'm a hero.

When the curtain on the main stage lifted, the famous pyramid of light was center stage, the two Frenchmen were wearing their robot suits and masks (Google Image them if you want to see), and people were shoving hard for the front. It was like a tide, there would be a hard push forward, and then a hard push back a few seconds later. As the duo opened with "One More Time," a classic, the pushing was still going on, and it would be another five minutes of awkward dancing/ pushing/ standing in one place because there was no space to dance, until those that were tired of being pushed retreated, and the rest of us secured our dancing space.

Red Lights. It was awesome dammit! You could never understand!

It was amazing. The music was incredible and on a whole other level than listening to the CD for the Daft Punk parties like in College. The lights on their pyramid and the rest of the stage were awesome. Then, they turned on some red lights on their suits and helmets. Everyone went nuts. It was just lights... but... yeah, I know it sounds stupid now, but it was awesome then! The set was far two short at one hour and the brief encore did little to make me feel otherwise. But despite that, it was without a doubt the best DJ set I've ever seen.

At the end of the show, it was 8:30 or so (early I know) and once again, we had no hotel that night. As usual though, we met some people at the concert. After the train ride back to Tokyo, we spent a couple hours looking for a hotel in Shibuya, and were told every single one was full. Not much of a surprise at midnight though I suppose. After retreating to the 24 hr. McDonald's to contemplate our next move, and admittedly, I was ready to sleep at the McDonald's if need be (Lord knows I wouldn't be the first) the Japanese punker we met at the show offered to let us crash at his place a little ways north of Shinjuku. We hopped in a cab, picked up a couple beers at the convenience store and then stayed up a little longer watching an old Fugazi (DC Hardcore Punk band from the heyday back in the late 80's) that definitely made me miss D.C. until we all fell asleep on the floor.

It was another great trip to Tokyo, and yes, another example of making a Japanese friend and having them save us. Can't wait to go back and do it again.