West of Kinki Live Houses

• Crazy Mama 2nd Room, Okayama     Crazy Mama 2nd Room has an excellent website. Very clear and with quite a lot of English on it. The map is great and bilingual and I had no trouble finding the place at all. The photo is of the ground floor and it's on the 5th. Inside it's small but not tiny. The stage is reasonably well elevated and the front of stage is wide and shallow and even slightly split level so that visibility is excellent. The bar is very limited, just Magnum Dry on tap or Zima in bottles and there's only one toilet but since the capacity isn't high that's not such a big deal and it's awesomely decorated. The owner must be a big Kiss fan. Crazy Mama seems to be all about the music and they kicked us out with unseemly haste once the gig was over but the staff were really nice about it. Unusual "cloaking" facilities. For 500 yen they'll put all your stuff in a garbage bag. I didn't take them up on it.




Crazy Mama 2nd Room, Okayama




• Crazy Mama Kingdom, Okayama     Kingdom is medium sized, a fair bit bigger than 2nd Room. It's also a lot further from the station and if you're pushed for time it may be worth taking the streetcar to Daiunjimae stop rather than taking the 20-30 minute walk south east of Okayama eki. Magnum Dry on tap, plenty of toilets, no re-entry or smoking in front of the stage. They had us queueing to go in in a park a block away which was fine in summer but if they do it in winter or when it's pissing down I can see it getting old fast.




Crazy Mama Kingdom, Okayama




• Mo-Gla, Okayama     Wasn't really paying proper attention the only time I've been here. In my defence I did have to go full tilt after finishing work in Ibaraki city at 4 and needing to be at the gig by 6, and you can buy beer on a shinkansen. The map on the website is good but in Japanese. Mo-Gla is within spitting distance of Daiunjimae stop on the Okayama streetcar, so obviously that's the way to go, if you're having trouble reading the map. I actually caught a cab with a friend since we were short of time and, for that matter, it's not a very long walk. About 15-20 minutes, say, from the station. Mo-Gla is small and friendly and I think they have Kirin but wouldn't swear to it. Traditional style toilets I remember, since they're always fun when you're tanked. Stage about 60cm, I think. Mo-Gla also has the same curious feature as Crazy Mama, so I assume it's an Okayama thing. In lieu of lockers they offer to charge you 500 yen to chuck your stuff in a plastic garbage bag and stack it with other people's stuff. I declined, and so should you.




Mo-Gla, Okayama




• Image, Okayama is smashing. Nice staff. Kirin Lager. 65cm stage. Good sound and lighting. Two fantastic ladies toilets, entrance to the right of the front of the stage. Capacity varies between 230 and 300, probably depending on whether they use the tables and chairs I noticed stacked up upstairs. No smoking near the stage on the day I was there but I noticed signs asking you not to drop your butts on the ground, so I think that's a variable. Re-entry also varies according to the type of gig. It wasn't allowed the day I was there.
  There's a link to Google maps on Image's rather excellent website. Beyond that I can't help you much because I got driven there. It's on a Dutch-themed shopping street, I noticed, and it's within walking distance of Okayama station.




Image, Okayama




• Club Grindhouse (formerly Jitterbug), Tokushima     I really liked Jitterbug. It helped that it was an amazing show (probably my favourite ever 50 Kaitenz gig, which is saying something) and a really nice crowd but the place itself has to get some credit. It's small and well laid out, broad and shallow with the stage elevated about 50cm. One, clean, toilet. Kirin Tanrei on tap and Budweiser in bottles. Very nice staff but that's Shikoku for you. The website is no great shakes, messy and not gaijin-friendly and the map is a disaster for anyone who isn't a local. If Google Maps doesn't help try this...head eastish along the main road that runs parallel to the front of the railway station building until you get to a big intersection of five roads. There's a big Toyoko Inn on the corner (NOT the only one in town so beware) and if you get to the post office you've gone a little too far. Head southish along Ryogokubashi-dori (it's signposted) on the west side of the street. Cross the bridge with the Awaodori dancers and keep going until you see the place in the photo below. It took me 15 minutes. I haven't been to this venue since it changed names. It hasn't changed places but how much else has changed I have no idea.




Jitterbug, Tokushima




• Dime, Takamatsu     Generally I'm a fan of Dime, although the place did strike me as being a little uptight. They share the weird garbage bag "cloaking" system that I thought was peculiar to Okayama. It seems the influence has crossed the pond. Three ladies toilets, all traditional style. No re-entry. No smoking in the main room so the smokers create a gauntlet on the way to the loos, but that's massively preferable so I won't whinge. Really nice, high stage. Very well lit and with scaffolding for stairs and equipment at the sides giving something for rock and roll athletes to play on and jump off. Nice, functional lighting too. Nothing too fancy, it just lets you see what you paid to see. The acoustics are a bit iffy though, maybe due to the high ceiling.
  Malts in cans.
  It's not hard to find, despite the subtle frontage. The map on the site though, like the rest of the site, is in Japanese. It's in the shotengai that leads west from Kotoden Kawaramachi railway station but what I did myself is walk south from JR Takamatsu station. It's only a couple of clicks and shouldn't take more than half an hour and you can find some nice sanuki udon on the way. There are two shotengai running north/south. The more easterly one is uncovered for part of the way and waaaay cheesier and Dime is just to the east of where it joins the east/west shotengai. This photo is taken from the eastern approach.




Dime, Takamatsu




• Drum Be-1, Drum Son, Fukuoka     This links to an index page that covers the "Drum" group of live houses in Kyushu. So far I've been to Drum Be-1 and Drum Son. The maps on the website are all in Japanese and not much use to non-locals either. I found my way there with a map I'd cobbled up from Google Maps and with the help of the "Fukuoka Now" free English-language map available in Hakata station from the tourist info booth, which I recommend arming yourself with if you're from out of town. Drum Be-1 is marked on the map. It's northwest of Tenjin station, just off Oyafukodori, opposite a park with a police box in it. To get to Drum Son you go down the alley to the right of Be-1 towards the faux-Gaudi building then hang left. It's in the back of the Be-1 building.
  Drum Son is OK. The stage is well elevated. It's small and was a bit cramped when I was there since there were three popular bands playing. Two toilets definitely weren't enough and there's no re-entry, so the blokes can't help out by going over to the park. Be-1 is bigger and there are three ladies loos upstairs.

  A plague seems to have befallen the Drum group since the last time I was there. Once upon a time there was a choice of five different beers with your drink ticket. Now it gets you half a cup of happoshu. No kidding. Be warned.

  Oh, and after the show take a walk around the park to Yamachan's for dinner. You may have to queue but it'll be worth it. If it's on the menu that day go for the shisomaki as well as the ramen.





Drum Be-1, Fukuoka





Drum Son, Fukuoka