Rising sun rock and roll?

July 6, 2008 8:56 AM

Tokyo Damage Report's list of shows and venues has sold me on going to see bands play while I'm in Japan, are there any resources like this for cities besides Tokyo?

Turns out that going to a show alone isn't so bad when you're in a foreign country and your cultural/language skills are that of a 2 year old - I just need to know where to go! My musical taste in this case is just guitars and energy; I'll take anything from hardcore to twee to psychobilly. I think my guidebook has things like jazz pretty well covered, but feel free to bring suggestions from that end of the spectrum as well.

I'm going to be hanging around in indeterminate cities between Tokyo and Nagasaki for the next ten days, so the net is pretty wide. Show lists, venue lists, or even venue names would all be really helpful.

(And while I'm at it, if you have any amazing suggestions on less rock-n-rolly things to do or festivals in the next week, you can drop that in, too!)

posted by soma lkzx to Travel & Transportation around Japan (6 answers total)

Shan-gri-la and Club Quattro are both really cool venues in Osaka. I don't know anything about any of the acts this month (maybe all the good bands are getting ready for FujiRock), but at most of the shows I've gone to here the random opening bands have been just as fun as the headliners. Club Tree in Tsuruga has great DJ sets most Saturday nights.

As far as festivals, I wish I had time to hang out in Kyoto for Gion Matsuri this week and next.
posted by Espy Gillespie at 9:47 AM on July 6, 2008

Best answer: I put "Osaka" into the search on HearWhere (via MeFi Projects) and found 635 shows within 25 miles!
posted by mdonley at 10:15 AM on July 6, 2008

Kansai Scene is an English language magazine that will have stuff about shows and other non-music events in the Kansai area (mostly Osaka, also Kobe, Kyoto, and sometimes stuff in Nagoya and all the cities in between).
posted by whatzit at 2:35 PM on July 6, 2008

Too funny that this gets posted now, I'm the creator of HearWhere.com (referred to earlier in the comments here), and this is exactly the reason I built it.

Seeing a live show while travelling is a great way to get into the culture, discover new artists etc.

Lots new coming with the HearWhere project, enjoy!
posted by pedalpete at 5:34 PM on July 6, 2008

Here's a couple others:

SeekJapan
Asoboo Events (scroll down for other cities)
posted by ejoey at 6:44 PM on July 6, 2008

Response by poster: to further answer my own question: this page lists a bunch of venues in different cities, as well
posted by soma lkzx at 8:46 PM on July 9, 2008