Since Buck-Tick's Fish Tankers Only Tour 2017 ended almost as quickly as it began, we've had precious little news from Buck-Tickistan, but for the following two strange announcements.
1. Between February 8th and February 10th, the Astro Boy x Buck-Tick collaboration goods (shown in the photos below) were exhibited in the Tezuka Productions general exhibit room at the 83rd Tokyo International Gift Show, held at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center. Since this is a trade show, it was not open to members of the general public, only to persons with business-related invitations, and at the time this announcement was made, pre-registration had already been closed. Therefore, it's a mystery why they bothered to put the announcement on their site. Was it an invitation to Buck-Tick fans who happened to be attending the gift show to come on over? Or was it simply a necessary bragging opportunity, since let's face it, Buck-Tick hardly ever get general exposure anymore? Either way, we're glad these Tezuka nerd goods are still hanging out in public where people can see them, because we don't think that the stares our tote bag attracts as we putter around our neighborhood grocery store really count.
2. On March 8th, Higuchi Yutaka will participate in a talk show sponsored by the music magazine Ongaku to Hito and hosted by Kanemitsu Hirofumi, one of Ongaku to Hito's senior writers who has covered Buck-Tick since around the time of their debut. Entitled "Just Before The Curtain Rises! We're Musicians Who Love Pro Baseball!", this talk show will, you guessed it, feature a bunch of musicians who love baseball, talking about baseball. Yutaka's been writing a monthly baseball column for Ongaku to Hito for years now, so this is really no surprise, especially given that his buddy Kanemitsu is involved. The performers announced so far are:
Ueno Koji (The Hiatus, Ka.F.Ka) - supporting the Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Okamoto "Moby" Takuya (Scoobie Do) - supporting the Chicago Cubs
Great Maekawa (Flower Companies) - supporting the Chunichi Dragons
Higuchi Yutaka (Buck-Tick) - supporting the Hanshin Tigers
Oh yeah, and it say in the announcement that Kanemitsu also supports the Hanshin Tigers. Is this going to be biased talk? Just maybe.
Amazingly, the tickets for this event are only 3500 yen plus at least one drink, but the thing is happening at Loft Plus One, which between you and us is a VERY small venue, so good luck getting tickets in the first place. Tickets go on sale from 10AM on February 15th through eplus. A disclaimer on the announcement reminds potential attendees that though the participants in this event are all musicians, they will NOT be talking about music UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, so don't let that get your knickers in a twist. But if you're aroused by the though of hearing Yutaka talk about some Serious Hard Ball, well, this is the event for you.
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I met a Japanese fan who followed the band for some 25 years mention it's weird they're not doing a parade for their 30th anniversary. Is it possible something special might come up later this year?
ReplyDeleteBut doing a Parade like the ones of the 20th and 25th anniversaries would have meant guests ...
DeleteIt's even more weird that they don't seem to be planning a live house (standing) tour for their recent album.
DeleteIt's not as if the Japanese fans who've followed the band for 25 years necessarily have any special knowledge or insight. I don't know that it's weird that they're not doing a 30th anniversary festival, but it's definitely disappointing.
DeleteIf I had to guess, I'd say the three main possible reasons are 1) the difficulties with contract/logistics issues for other bands who might perform at a festival, 2) money issues, and 3) feedback from single-minded fangirls who don't want a festival because they literally only care about Buck-Tick and have no interest in other bands.
Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of fans like this...a shame, because a lot of the guests at their previous festivals were great, and performing "Muma," "Aku no Hana," and "Hamushi no You ni" outside in park doesn't seem grand enough for a celebration of 30 years, plus they already did that at Climax Together last year (minus the outside in a park bit).
As to the money and logistics things - what's the point of going back to Victor if you don't call on their resources in the event-organizing department, eh? And I'm certain they could have recouped their losses from the goddamn FT Only tour if they'd been sensible enough to add some general admission dates. But it's not like Buck-Tick's management listens to Cayce.
I don't know if something extra will come up later this year or not. I hope it does. If it does, it's likely to be announced in the March issue of FT, so sit tight.
People said they got no.2500 in Zepp, 1600 in Namba Hatch, something like that. If B-T didn't make ultra giant sets for FT only, I think they wouldn't have deficits?
DeleteTokyo and Osaka are the only places where Buck-Tick can fill big venues, which is all the more reason why they should have played more Tokyo dates. In the past they've done five or six shows in the Tokyo area for standing tours. This time they did only two, and a lot of people who wanted tickets to both only got tickets to one or the other. That there is a waste of money!
DeleteMeanwhile, Sendai barely sold out and Rensa barely fits a thousand people (ditto Nagoya Diamond Hall and Fukuoka Drum Logos). As for giant sets...I'm pretty sure the set they used this time was re-used parts and pieces from the DIQ 2015 (and Sakurai's costume was mostly recycled from the DIQ 2015, too). Either way, the set was pretty minimal, even by standing tour standards. But sets are only a small part of the cost of a tour. I bet it cost more for them to produce all those silly umbrellas.
Also, a lot of casual fans would probably have been interested in going to a concert or two on a standing tour, but not interested enough to join Fish Tank. I think the management were hoping to use a Fish Tank only tour as a way of luring in new FT members but instead what it did was shut out a bunch of people who like the band enough to see them play but not enough to spend an extra 6000 yen to join the fanclub. With such narrow-minded thinking, the band will continue to lose popularity, as the management continues to pander to the core fanbase while not bothering to reach out to the general public.
DeleteSomething that would help them reel in new fans? A 30th anniversary festival with a killer lineup. But Buck-Tick's management do not listen to Cayce.
Well, they should tbh. They're being weird with all these faux pas-es.
DeleteIf we email Imai, would it be of any use? Judging by that time Imai invited fans to guess dog's name, at least some people read emails?
DeleteWe should do something like a flash mob thing and email him all at once :3
DeleteCayce, do you believe they will make it past 30 years?
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that they will continue the band as long as they remain alive, so let's just pray for their good health :)
DeleteDo you think they will ever do a Europe tour or world tour ? Is there anything we could do to show how many fans they have outside Japan who love them !? I would go to Japan in a heartbeat but i'm still at school, too poor to buy a Ticket to Japan
ReplyDelete