japanese concerts: an experience

ok... before all this kyoto stuff i gotta say something about japanese concerts.. I went to see Lite, Art School, and yes, Ogre You Asshole (name of the band, i swear) last night in Takasaki. A friend of mine had heard about it and I tagged along having no idea what i was getting into.. Unlike American shows where they say the show starts at one time and usually the main set doesn't go on until at least 2 hours later, the woman at the ticket stand said the main band would go on at 9:05.. they went on at 9:06. We entered the venue and were just about blown back by how loud it was.. completely deafening.. why you wonder? to drown out the loud and rambuncious crowd perhaps? no.. the crowd was SILENT. i mean after these bands would rock out.. the crowd would politely clap and wait silently for the next song. I mean I was nearly whispering to my friend between the songs and still was making a scene. And dancing!? zilch.. jurawa- you would have horrified them. The most I saw were some head bobs and twice a hand go up in a sort of awkward fist pumping way.. I wouldn't categorize it as dancing. Now onto the bands. They were kind of alternative/indie (I didnt really know this before I went)... I actually liked Ogre You Asshole the best.. The main set, Art School, were so full of angst and inner turmoil that it was pretty hard not to laugh. The main singer (all of the main singers had EXACTLY the same haircut) was so emo, he barely spoke, except saying "arto" after every song. I think we saw the face of the guitarist twice the whole time.. all the other times he was head-banging (oh yea.. its totally in right now) or had his long angst filed hair covering his face entirely. But it was still a great time and i hope to see more silly shows here in the future...
a taste of some other bands' names? meat buns, price albert, mask de pizza, your song is good, morton the on, seattle standard cafe', and the really popular, bump of chicken.

Ogre You Asshole http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gOCz8xe9PU