Sorry it’s been so long since my last event report!

Saturday night I went to the velfarre revival event at ageha and I’d say it was the best club event I’ve been to in the last year, maybe even the last three years.  It was amazing being able to experience the energy and passion of parapara events of the early 2000′s which you don’t really see in modern events.   I’d been to velfarre maybe 4 or 5 times before it closed, but that was back in 2005-2006 when I was still new to the parapara scene, and new to going out at night, so I wasn’t able to really appreciate it.  My first time at velfarre was the day after I arrived in Japan for the JET program.   I remember thinking that techno time was cyber trance because I didn’t know what hyper techno was yet. 

The velfarre (or age-farre) event was the same night as SEF DX, the modern reincartion of the velfarre event SEF Gold, and they were encouraging people to go to SEF DX before ageha.  They were offering discount entry to anyone who went to Maharaja before ageha.  Entry to ageha was only 3500 yen to begin with, which is pretty good for ageha (I paid 7000 yen one New Year’s Eve).  So I was expecting maybe a 500 or 1000 yen discount, but we got guest list and entry for 1000 yen with one drink!

We took the free shuttle bus from Shibuya.  Awesome views of Rainbow Bridge on the way.

We got to go in through the guest line instead of the general admission line so there was only a ten minute wait.  I heard that later on some people were having to wait several hours to get in.  Security is really tight at ageha so I smuggled my camera in in my bra, which led to problems that I will describe later…

The main floor was cyber trance.  I never went to any cyber trance events but I know the music from the Trance Paradise CDs, and from the occassional trance sets that would be played at parapara events.  But this was nothing like the trance times at 9LoveJ where everyone sits around and drinks except for the two or three people shuffling around on the dance floor.  I don’t know how to say it in English so I’ll say it in Japanese. 盛り上がってた！ Everyone was so into the music and it was fun jumping around with everyone.  really good music to dance to.  They had the DJ booth set up so it even kind of looked like velfarre.  I kind of regret not spending more time in the cyber trance room but I was worried about missing something in the parapara room so I spent most of my time there.

Watch cyber trance 3 in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The parapara room was absolutely packed.  The music was all second and third boom eurobeat.  The old SEF dancers like Rena, Kahori and Omami were all on the otachidai.  My only complaint is that it was ridiculously hot in that room.  I thought I was going to faint at one point.  I actually bought a bottle of water at a club for the first time in my life I think.  The techno was all old Techno Rave songs, a lot less major than the eurobeat song selection.  There was a noticeable lack of representation of the techno scene – no bodycon, no feathered fans.

Watch cyber trance 4 in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Watch cyber trance in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

It was interesting being at a normal club with all the parapara people.  You’d be walking around ageha surrounded by swarms of people and then suddenly see a familiar face and be like “yay I found someone I know!”

There was a parapara lesson, the same song they taught a few hours ago at SEF DX -  SEB 4 U/SEB All Stars.  It’s going to be on SEB 221 which will be released in January 2013.

Also, this happened.

I talked to Luna Teresa Mori!  I was suprised she can speak some English too!

Satoko and Ryoko from the Parapara Allstars were there at the end.  Ryoko’s getting old…

So back to the camera incident… the first time I got caught I pretended I didn’t speak Japanese and then ran and lost the guy in the crowd.  The second time he actually pulled me by the hand to the exit but I played innocent and said I didn’t know it was against the rules and he let me go.  kind of embarassing, but it was worth it for the photos and footage I got.

Watch cyber trance 5 in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Watch cyber trance 6 in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Watch cyber trance 2 in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Overall it was an amazing night and I hope they do something like this again!

So I’m sure the buzz is all around the internet by now, but in case any of you missed it, Avex has released a statement on the official Super Eurobeat site regarding the SEB 221 release. Due to whatever circumstances they finally decided to address us as an audience and tell us that it will be back. So no worries everyone, SEB is not dead yet! (But, when will it be released???…)

I wish I could say I wasn’t worried, but to a degree I was. It was pretty obvious that Avex wanted to focus more on other projects within the genre, such as their vocaloid release with Super Hatsune Beat.

With a delay in the latest Super Eurobeat album, we’ve been lucky enough to find some alternate routes to fill the void, including new and consistent releases from indie-labels like Portland, Oregon based Disko Warp Records and Quebec, Canada based J-Mi and Midi-D. We’ve also seen the first “fan-made” Eurobeat compilation Eurobeat Forever, published by the indie-Eurobeat label Paradise Last, including work from Disko Warp, Travis Stebbins (Ken Blast of Delta fame) and others. But… where’s our “Domino?” “Ace and Fastway?” “David Dima?” – the top contenders in the crazy world of Eurobeat? Pressed on a CD sitting on the shelves of Avex Japan HQ collecting dust?

I’m afraid that if Avex starts delaying this release more and more without a concrete explanation, and if there is no alternate way of accessing new tracks, the genre is just going to fizzle out. Since the livelihood of this genre is largely based around new releases, if no new songs are released the fans are going to lose interest fast and move onto the next “thing” (and trust me, it won’t be vocaloid and it will be a genre of music not published by Avex.)

To generate some discussion, if you had the ability to gain better access to new Eurobeat, without having to wait for Avex to release their monthly compilations, what would you prefer to throw your money at? If the big Italian labels decided to start releasing their songs through other mediums, what route would you like to go? For example, if they decided to go old school and start pressing new tracks on vinyl – would you buy them? What if they included one-time download link for the songs on the vinyl for your iPod/MP3 player? Or, would you prefer to buy physical CD albums? Digital downloads from iTunes, Amazon, JunoDownload, etc.? How much would you be willing to pay?

Starfire this month was the 12th anniversary event.  Congratulations on 12 years, Starfire!  I remember going to the 7 year anniversary at Club Code.  It’s been five years since then, wow.

Even though it was the anniversary special, they didn’t do anything special other than give out anniversary keitai straps like they do every year.   No prize raffle, no performance, no drinking game.  There were so few people at Starfire this month too, even less than on a normal month.  Bancho said they’ll do something big for the 15th anniversary.  I wonder where I will be during the 15th anniversary.  Age 32, still going to Starfire?  Hopefully

It was sad when Many, the Canadian exchange student, went back home a few weeks ago, but now we have yet another new gaijin paralist joining us in Tokyo for a few months – Felipe from Brazil.  I was surprised that he knows a lot of dances and he speaks Japanese really well, so I’m sure he’ll fit right in.

The euro lesson this month was ALIX / MAXMISIN’ from SEB 215.   Techno was a techno remix of the SEF euro In My Arms.  Both were average in my opinion.

After the lesson DJ Teru announced that he’s taking a leave of absence from Starfire.

Bancho also announced that in May they’re doing a Nagoya tour.  I really want to go!

Then they brought out the tequila and made the Tequila 5 get on stage and drink.  They were using the tequila instead of champagne for people’s birthdays last night too, yuck.  It wasn’t nice tequila either.  I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to drink at Starfire because I came down with tonsillitis a few days earlier, but I was back to normal by the weekend so I decided to be bad and skip the antibiotics for a few days so I could drink, haha.  Drinks at Pasela are really strong now, almost as bad as at a-life.

In Ginza in the morning as we were leaving Starfire they were setting up for the Tokyo marathon. But I went home and slept.

Happy 12th Anniversary, Starfire!

Last night was the first SEF of the new year and the first SEF at its new venue at Maharaja.  If I had to describe it in one word it would be “small”….   Everyone I talked to was saying the same thing. “It’s too small”  “It’s so crowded” “I knew it would be small but this is too small.”  They made three small circles on the dance floor during the euro sets and even then everyone didn’t fit on the dance floor.  The second most popular comment of the night was “There are too many events at Maharaja and they all feel the same now.  I can’t tell if this is SEF or Magical Rave or Tenkaichi.”  I felt that way too.  In your head you associate an event with the venue.  A-life was a good match for SEF but I guess it was too expensive.  But all that aside it was still a fun night.  All the regulars were there so even though I was there by myself I had fun mingling and dancing all night.  And I do like how I’m friendly with a few of the bartenders at Maharaja now so it’s nice to have them greet you by name and come talk to you, etc.

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