Allister & ElleGarden

The concert totally rocked! We were packed in a small livehouse that only holds 300 people. I pushed my way close enough to get a good view while keeping away from the jumpers and crowd surfers. Ellegarden was supposed to be the main show, but I was more looking forward to Allister and wish they had more time. I absolutely love their music - it fills me with energy and my body just starts moving. And I still can't believe they came to Japan and played here of all places!

I was the only non-Japanese person in the crowd and I think the only one who knew any of their songs, which makes sense since they're American and were here as the opening band for Ellegarden. Allister played all the songs I was looking forward to hearing and after they got off stage I was hoping to get a chance to talk with the members, but they didn't come out to mingle in the crowd. Don't get me wrong, I like Ellegarden too, but a lot of their songs sound the same to me so in my opinion Allister is the much better band.

After the concert I went outside to the booths selling shirts and stuff. Everyone was congregated around the Ellegarden section giving me the chance to leisurely check out the Allister merchandise. Then when I looked up it was the bassist standing at the table! It took me off guard. I got so nervous that I couldn't think of anything to say and ended up blubbering a bunch of nonsense that probably made him think I'm some weirdo. I love these guys so much it was like meeting a superstar and my mind just went blank. What I wanted to say was "I absolutely love you guys and can't believe you're here!" but what came out was "You guys are good." He introduced himself as Scott and instead of saying "Nice to meet you" I was busy thinking "I know" and didn't even respond.

I ended up asking him how he learned Japanese (he did all the talking while Allister was on stage - his Japanese is fantastic!). He said after the band came to Japan for the first time four years ago he started studying on his own - must be some kind of language genius. He asked why I'm here and I muttered something about teaching English. I mentioned living in St. Louis and he said he's from Chicago. All in all it wasn't the conversation I wished I'd had and I felt like a dolt. And yes, I know putting them on a pedestal is dumb when they're just humans like you and me, but I really like these guys. And did I mention the lead singer is hot?

After my failure with the bassist I lingered around waiting for the whole band to come out so I could accost them and take a photo with them or something before they got into the van. A half hour of waiting in the cold passed. Ellegarden came out and went straight to their van, then waved to the few of us waiting outside from the van window. That's all? I would have stayed longer for Allister to come out but I had to rush to the train station for the last train back to Beppu. Darn.

Well, if the bassist is studying Japanese they must be planning on having more Japan tours. I just hope they come this far south again!