Free Choice

Well, it certainly has been a while. For my free choice, I've decided on the topic of music. I recently went to a death metal concert at Club Quattro in Shinsaibashi, where Revocation, Behemoth, and Job for a Cowboy were playing. I haven't gone to a death metal concert before, and I've never really heard of the bands that were playing before, but I figured hey, I like metal, why the hell not? They look pretty badass too. I mean, come on, wouldn't you expect a good performance from guys like these?:
Behemoth is actually a band from Poland -Yes, Poland - that, for some reason, decided to stop in Japan. After the concert I went to, however, they probably won't come back. I'm not just saying this, either. The band literally spoke of their distaste in the crowd, and even stopped performing and just left the stage without saying a word, which is how the concert ended.

The club itself was very small, and a lot more personal than what I first imagined it would be like. Not many people were present, to say the least. As you might imagine, there aren't many Japanese people into the whole death metal scene...The people in the crowd were very amusing. Besides me and my other foreign friend, there were about three others. Among the Japanese, there were salarymen with their briefcases and suits just chilling in the back, listening to the music. There were also quite a few girls in heels, fake eyelashes, fake nails, the works - that one just wouldn't expect to find among a death metal crowd. Hate to say it, but I think they were probably someone's girlfriend. Some of the tshirts people were wearing were also quite humorous. By humorous I mean so controversial and unacceptable, I just wondered if they even knew what the tshirt meant. You can see one in the picture above.

The concert itself was excellent - great bands, sound, setup, atmosphere - but the crowd was such a mood killer. Usually when one thinks of a death metal concert, a rowdy crowd of headbangers and moshers might come to mind. Maybe even with a bit of alcohol thrown into the mix. Well, in Japan everyone was plenty sober. There was 1 headbanger, whom everyone moved away from, and he was also the only one who tried to start a mosh, in which people once again moved away from him.
The above picture is me attempting to capture this one brave moshing soul, despite the lethargy of the crowd around him. Look at that picture more closely - they wouldn't even put their hands up or cheer for the band. This made the intermissions incredibly awkward. Just imagine the sound of heavy metal deafening your ears, followed by full on silence whenever the band members wanted to take a drink.

The friend I went with, who is from Argentina, has been to many Behemoth concerts and told me this concert was far from the concerts she's been to. Nonetheless, we still had a good time.