Thursday, March 10, 2011

Life in the Fast Lane

Somewhere in between Japanese classes, workouts at TAC, Gavin's school + extra curricular activities, a newly founded book club and the day to day grind, I've actually acquired something that I've been missing for awhile - a social life!!  I won't bore you with the gory details, but am slowly but surely meeting some great new women and exploring Tokyo in the process.

One of the highlights of the past weekend was going to see The Eagles live in concert at the Tokyo Dome. I had booked the tickets months ago and really had no idea what to expect.  I last saw The Eagles at the O2 in London when I was 8 months pregnant with G(3 years ago) and  loved the show.  The Tokyo Dome hosts a number of concerts, events and exhibitions throughout the year but primarily functions  as a baseball stadium for the local Yomiuri Giants.

After leaving G with his fave babysitter (a teacher from his school), the Husband and I jumped on the train for the 30 minute journey to the Dome.  The doors opened at 3:30 with concert to begin at 5 pm.  We had been briefed in advance, that this timeframe would hold - there would be no 3 hour delay in the performance. Apparently I had not received the "no camera in the Dome" notice, or I did and it was in Japanese.  Either way, I had my camera confiscated (along with about 500 other people) as we entered the Dome and was told that I could pick it up post concert ala the style of a coat check.  Fabulous and oh so convenient considering this is a building with over 40,000 seat capacity and The Eagles sold out the majority of it.

Seats were good, food was not.  I was actually surprised at the popularity of this early to mid 70's American country rock bank in Japan.  When Joe Walsh played the opening riff of "Life's Been Good (to me so far", the crowd went wild.  Well, as wild as they do here - basically a few hoots and hollers and clapping with some bobbing of the head.  Definitely a more "restrained" crowd.  Was coveting a concert tee but could not bring myself to spent 4000 yen (over $50) for it.  The band played for close to 3 hours with a great mix of old and newer songs from their Long Road out of Eden album.  I successfully retrieved my camera post concert as the Husband and I sprinted for the train during the first encore.   I had a great time and on the train ride home, perused the upcoming concerts:

 Night Ranger, Toto, Mr. Big and Maroon 5 are all scheduled in the next few months with ticket availability - shocker I know.  In case you were wondering, Justin Bieber is sold out.

Sayonara
Michele