As a kid growing up I remember blaring "Motown Philly" everywhere I went. Granted I was 6 years old when it came out but I've always had a love for R&B. If I had to pick the top R&B group of my generation it would hands down be Boyz II Men. They just got that soul that's missing in a lot of today's music. (Crap I'm already saying back in my day, I'm getting old haha). A few months ago, I randomly bought a Boyz 2 Men CD I found on the clearance rack at a second hand store. Since then, I've been blaring there music from my classroom and driving around Sendai.
As luck would have it, my friend and I found out that they were going to be playing in Sendai. In all honesty, I would have listened to the Wiggles live just to hear a group that speaks English perform in Japan. Luckily for me it was a group that I've always appreciated. The tickets were 8500 Yen ($110) but Japanese money is like Monopoly money to me so I figured what the heck, I'm in. Now in the US, if I paid over $100 for a concert I'd expect to have seats on the stage and an all access pass. In Japan, thats a pretty average price for a main stream concert from what I hear. Basically, I just had to answer the question: When will I ever see Boyz II Men in concert in Japan again?
Tonight, they did not disappoint. I was almost as interested in going to see culturally how Japanese people interact at this concert as I was to see them perform. Most of the people were probably mid 30s-40s from the looks and many looked like they came from work to watch the concert. From the opening number on, everyone was having a good time. I kind of got lost in the moment and felt like I was back in America listening to them sing.
Going into the concert, I wasn't sure how they'd sound. I've heard bands in the past as they get older losing a little something. We even joked before about them going from Boyz II Men to Men II Depends. From the opening number, their vocals were on point. You'd hardly notice they were missing a member of the group.
Some of my favorite highlights were their Motown renditions that would rival the original artists and their cover of Journey's "Open Arms". All their hits were awesome. Every time bands that have been around for a while start saying "Hey this is off our new album" is usually my cue to use the bathroom. But honestly, even the new stuff sounded pretty great.
The only low of their set was toward the end when they had a dig at America that kind of sounded like Sour Grapes. They thanked Japan for still having love for them even though back home people in America don't "appreciate" them anymore. Though its probably true that they don't get Bieber hype, there's no need to talk down to your American fan base that may actually be in the audience. Also, it was kind of funny seeing the language barrier as they talked with the audience. Obviously, I was probably about 1 of 10 fluent English speakers in the audience but they sang and talked in only English. They almost sounded like they were talking to kindergarteners at times until they brought out a translator at the end.
All in all the Boyz still got it. It was definitely a great decision for my Wednesday night. Definitely one of those situations that I think: how did my life come to this point that I'd be sitting here listening to Boyz II Men in the middle of Japan.
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