Aaaanyway. Medium-sized; nice toilets with rather fiddly locks; nice,friendly cockroaches; Malts decanted from a can into a small plastic cup. Stage about 40cms high, I think, with decent lighting, and a split level floor so viewing's not bad. They allow re-entry. The map on the website is a bit crap so do this: get out at Shinsakaemachi on the Higashiyama line. Take exit 2 then turn right at the Starbucks and head a short way up that street to the next intersection. Cross towards the "Orange House" cafe which has some sort of primate with an orange in neon on it and turn right up the street. Apollo isn't as distinctive as it used to be but you shouldn't have too much trouble. It's before the Lawsons.
| Apollo Theatre, Nagoya. |
Ell Fits All, next door, holds around 250 but is otherwise similar, with excellent staging. It's all on one floor which is split level and visibility is good. No re-entry and no smoking in the auditorium but smoking is allowed in the space outside, within the livehouse. Pleasant staff and lovely toilets. They're good places if you can overlook (as I grudgingly can) the tight-arsed beer policy.
They are very close to Osukannon station on the Tsurumai line. Take exit 2 and walk up the street. If you find Osukannon you've gone the wrong way. If you see this you've gone the right way.
| Electric Lady Land (R), ell. FITS ALL (L), Nagoya. The witches hats are for coralling the punters. |
If you're from out of town like me I recommend going to the tourist information place in Kanazawa station. You can get a free map in English and they'll even mark vanvan on it for you. Then you head south-east out of the station until you hit route 157 and the Omi-cho Market and hang right. Keep going through the Korinbo shopping district until you get to the APA hotel on your left and turn left up Saigawa Odori. It's a fair way along to a Sunkus on the left and then you turn right at the next lights. If you happen to be driving, vanvan has no parking space and please don't park in front of the Sunkus. The livehouse is full of frantic notices asking you not to, so obviously they cop a lot of shit if people do so.
| vanvan V4, Kanazawa |
JJJ is small and smoky. The stage is about 50cm high. The sound and lighting is ok. They have those annoying backlights but they don't use them much. The night I was there they were underdoing the lighting, if anything. Two, J-style ladies toilets. No re-entry. Pleasant staff... Beer! Your 500 yen gets you a choice of Malts draft or Carlsberg, Heineken or Corona, with no tricky extra charges.
| Jam Jam Jam, Shizuoka. |
Gig is on the second floor of a building in the nicely paved shopping street in Motomachi, closer to the sea end than the Ishikawacho JR railway station end. It's over the river from Chinatown. Sounds simple enough I know but we took ages finding it. Possibly because we used the pretty picture that passes for a map on the Gig website. And that's pretty much all that's on the website too. It doesn't seem to have any of the standard stuff like a schedule. It does have a picture though but I'll chuck in another for good measure.
| Gig, Yokohama |
Getting to FAD from Ishikawacho station wasn't difficult. There's a map on the (pretty good) website and links to another although they're both in Japanese. Best to head out towards the north through the decorated Chinatown gate just outside the station and near the Maccas. Once you get to the main road the Denny's is a good landmark for the street you have to head up. FAD is in Chinatown so there's plenty of interesting stuff to see in the surrounding area and a there's also a FamilyMart nearby if you don't fancy pig-giblets-inna-bun.
| FAD, Yokohama |
The lockers are outdoors and a bit pricey. Your drink ticket gets you draft Heineken. No smoking in the auditorium, in fact, no smoking indoors. And another sign that they are concerned for our health... this is the second venue I've been to in Tokyo (and, so far, it's only been in Tokyo) that has a vending machine dispensing, in Ax's case, not only water but sports drinks, and at normal vending machine prices too. They even have a vending machine with Calorie Mate and Soy Joy bars. Truly impressive.
You can get to Ax from Shibuya station but it's actually closer to Harajuku station, and closer again to Meijijingumae station on the Chiyoda line. Exit 1 from Meijijingumae has an excellent bilingual map of the area with Shibuya Ax marked on it at the top of the stairs. Ax is not hard to find. It's big and it's right next to the the two big Yoyogi sports stadiums.
| Shibuya Ax |
| Fever, Shindaita |
Draft Magnum Dry with your drink ticket then you can get more variety if you pay for it, including Malts for 600 yen. Some food available. No re-entry. Three women's toilets in the main stage area, adequate even with a sold out crowd, and there are three more, little-used, toilets in the bar area too.
Loft is pretty easy to find. Go out the east exit of Shinjuku station and look for the Alta building. Go down the road to the left of it. Keep going through the intersection with Don Quixote on the opposite corner (it's written in katakana, actually, but you should be able to recognise the penguin) and up the road until the "Koma" building stops you. Walk around it to the right and continue to the end of the block and Loft will be on the corner to your right. Looks like this.
| Shinjuku Loft |
| Lush, Shibuya |
Blitz is big, has two floors and holds over a thousand standing. Actually if I read the sign correctly it holds 1298. Piss off, you two, we're full.
No smoking in the auditorium, there's a space near the lockers. Good, well elevated stage with rather fierce lighting so sunnies can be a bonus. Draft Asahi Super Dry. No re-entry. The loos are on the guitar side.
| Akasaka Blitz. The signs in the railway station will tell you which exit to take. It's not hard from there. |
The Garden website is pretty informative and the map is useful, but Japanese. Go out of the south exit from Shimokitazawa station and turn left at the McDonalds, then turn right just after the Baskin Robbins and just before the First Kitchen. It's a short distance down on your left, between a Sunkus and a 7-11, in the basement. Et voila.
| Garden, Shimokitazawa. As you can see it is guarded by Sith Lords. |
Duo is medium-sized. I'd guess it holds around 300-400. The stage is 90cm high. The lighting and sound are great. There are three ladies toilets. It's all non-smoking. No re-entry and the beer is ludicrous. 500yen for your drink ticket gets you Nodogoshi (happoshu. Alcoholic, beer-coloured water) and if you want a can of Kirin Ichiban instead you have to fork over an extra 100yen. Sometimes I'm really glad I live in Kansai.
| O-East Duo Music Exchange, Shibuya |
They have shelves to put your stuff on so you don't have to pay for a locker! The stage is really low, maybe only about 15cm up, which isn't great but Look is pretty small, and there's a very small amount of elevated seating at the back if you want to be able to see without getting the crap squashed out of you down front. Good sound and lighting.
The website is an absolute dog's breakfast though, and the map is not too brilliant. From Chiba station you can wind your way east throught the side streets or head up the main drag and turn left after the NTT building and go towards the Washington Hotel (which I recommend using if you're from out of town. Nice and reasonably priced as long as you're sharing) then hang left (i.e. northwards) up the road with the monorail and a small canal running along the middle. Look is a short walk from the hotel. The photo below is taken from the western approach, so you can see the monorail station behind it.
| Chiba Look. |