OGRE YOU ASSHOLE oneman!

nov. 20th, Club Quattro, Shibuya

Ogre You Asshole did like three onemans for the release of their latest EP "shiranai aizu shiraseru ko", and of course I had to go to one of them. I was still bummed out that I missed their oneman in January. It was their first oneman ever, and I could've gone but it was at a little club in shimokitazawa and it sold out way too fast. According to an interview I read the other day though, the audience in Tokyo were pretty lame. The audience this time was no different, but more about that later. They played at Shibuya Quattro which is quite small, but still pretty big for a band of their size I suppose. I've seen the likes of Sufjan Stevens and the Shins there before, and they definitely would've played at a bigger venue in Norway. The show was sold out this time as well, but not until like one day before or something. Nonetheless it got pretty packed in there.


The new record is great. I guess I like them too much to be objective though, but even so. The new songs are more pop-inspired and they sound a lot more lush and melodious. At the same time they still have their trademark guitars (or more precisely Built to Spill/Modest Mouse trademark guitars - which is exactly why I like this band so much). The lyrics are also, as far as my japanese knowledge goes, pretty good. My favorite tracks are "katappo", "nadaraka nanda" and the title track.

This is probably really insignificant, but I'll go ahead and write it anyhow: Before the gig they always play music over the speakers right? The day before I had the pleasure of hearing the same four Bowerbirds songs played on repeat for the entire evening, and at Crystal Castles it was the latest Cut Copy album on repeat. I don't mind those bands at all, but hearing the same songs over and over again makes waiting even more boring. This time someone had made a playlist and it was really good. Modest Mouse, Death Cab, Wolf Parade, Built to Spill, Band of Horses etc. More or less, it sounded like something Ogre would've picked it out, but do bands usually do that?

Anyhow..

Deto said that they were planning to play the longest set they'd ever done and they played around 20 songs. Which isn't bad for a band who has a total of maybe 30 tracks. The setlist went a little bit like this (after my memory so it's not entirely correct):

ひとり乗り
しらない合図しらせる子
なだらかなんだ
どっちかの角
カポ
J.N
ロボトミー
フラッグ
バックシート
コインランドリー
おまじない
サカサマ
かたっぽ
アドバンテージ
ラムダ・ラムダ・ラムダ

En.1
マスク
ドーナツ

En.2
辺りはここ
また明日

I love how "nadarakananda" builds from the bridge and out. The same with "sakasama". I guess it was during the first that I realized that the five rows in front of us weren't moving an inch. Not even nodding their heads, nothing. The people behind us were a little bit better, but all in all not much enthusiasm to spot. I'm not the one to say that everyone in the crowd should jump around like crazy, and I honestly think that people have different ways of enjoying music. Just because your not moshing doesn't mean that you're not having fun. But I did find the crowd here a bit strange. And ultimately, boring.

Also, in Norway you clap when the song is done, even if you don't know the band/liked the song you can always muster up a halfhearted applause. In Japan, the land where they give applause all the time in any other situation they don't clap after the songs - unless the band says "thanks" in the mic right after the song is finished. Maybe it's just me who is unacustomed to this, but it becomes these unbearable silences between the songs. Are people being too polite, or what's the deal here?Shouldn't the crowd give the band some kind of response? No wonder they always have anquete's at gigs, when it's impossible to get a hint of what's going on inside people's heads. It's usually better when it comes to more popular bands, or at onemans because everyone's there to see the same band, and they all like the music - one would assume. But no, not at Ogre apparently. There were some clapping at the beginning, but it gradually stopped. If I were the one playing I'd think "great, they're already tired of us. Let's get off this stage". In fact, upon commenting on their first oneman Ogre thought the audience was so quiet that they were almost wondering if people had really come to see them or not...

Not that Ogre You Asshole make a lot of themselves either. They're pretty much just doing their own thing up on the stage. Not everyone can be B-Club, I guess (and thank God for that). Deto was actually a bit more talkative than usual, although he claimed to be the opposite. The entire show was broadcasted live on tv, so apparently there were "lots of things he wanted to say, but couldn't". He did however manage to talk about meeting an old friend at the super market, changing wheels on the van etc, and don't think he has said that much before ever.

They did two encores. "mask" is probably my favorite song on their second album, but they haven't played it live recently so I was happy to hear it. "doughnuts" is the b-side from the tanishi-single. 7 minutes long, perhaps a bit more experimental, and very awesome. For the second encore they played two fairly mellow songs "atari wa koko" and "mata ashita". I was disapapointed that they didn't play more songs from the first EP. "pullring" is one of their best songs, but apparently they've only done it live once. I'm really curious to know why they don't play it. "mata ashita", the first track off the first album, a great opening track and also a great ending to this show.

Ogre You Asshole definitely deserves all the attention they can get, but I have to admit that I like to be able to see them play small venues like this, or even smaller (O-nest ftw). I already have a ticket for a show in January where they will play together with The Novembers. That should be awesome.

I found a live clip from the concert on youtube:

OGRE YOU ASSHOLE - カポ (live)


Ogre You Asshole - しらない合図しらせる子 (PV)