I cannot believe that I actually for a moment considered giving RSR a miss today because I was just feeling lazy. If I had done that, I would have retrospectively shot myself because really, tonight’s show, was sheer magic, there’s no other way to describe it.

So I was a bit bummed when they set the stage up for Ringo’s solo show and there was just a grand piano and a few stands for score sheets. i.e. no guitars, i.e. no rock show. But oh man if she sounds this good ALL THE TIME without guitars, I don’t care if she doesn’t do another rock song ever again.

She did most of her set on her piano, with an accompanying string quartet led by Saitou Neko. She looked gorgeous (this is fast becoming a cliche), wearing this white coat thing over a white blouse and what looked like black shorts/skirt. She opened the set with an unfamiliar English number which soon revealed itself to be a cover (That ‘What’s it all about?’ song from Alfie) - beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Her voice has never been in better shape. I really teared at a few moments just because, you know, you think you might die cos you will never experience such a beautiful moment ever again.

That was followed by a rather predictable but well-executed version of Poltergeist, and then a solo version of ‘Keshou naoshi’ on strings (I fucking LOVE this song, so you can imagine how ki-siao I was when she played this). The whole time she was just so composed and perfect and flawless I really couldn’t take it. Then they tore into a desperate rendition of ‘Tsumi to batsu’, which was great against the chilly wind, actually. She did another cover somewhere, called ‘You’ - it’s one of those English classics, I think, but I cannot place it, and I cannot remember enough of the song to google the lyrics. Surprisingly, she did a solo version of ‘Ekimae’, which was just as awesome without the crazy guitar jamming that phase 1 Jihen gave it. She closed the set with a PERFECT rendition of ‘Onaji yoru’, accompanied by just Saitou Neko on keys this time.

You know, she’s evolved so much as a musician over these years, and so many fans have hurled accusations of her mellowing out and thus selling out, but really, I have never seen her happier during a live performance (in comparison to the videos I’ve seen la). She looked 100% happy to just be there and to be able to sing her heart out - which she did. Her voice was gorgeous. I couldn’t get enough of it. For the whole of the short 50minute set, the entire crowded was tamed and silent and everyone was just paying attention to her music. I am so happy I got to be a part of this.

Setlist:
1. Alfie (apparently that’s the correct title, after some googling)
2. Poltergeist
3. Keshou naoshi
4. Tsumi to batsu
5. Torikoshi gurou
6. You
7. Ekimae
8. Kabukichou no joou
9. Stem
10. Onaji yoru

Oh yes, and, I also caught Mr. Children (really, I was only interested in these 2 shows today - I would have liked to catch ZAZEN BOYS and Yurayura teikoku and THE BACK HORN, but I also really wanted to get somewhere warm and cosy early, so I left immediately after Ringo’s set, haha), and they were pretty awesome too. It was unfortunate but I think they had some sound glitches during their set (oh the ACOUSTICS were pitch perfect during Ringo’s set, it’s srsly awe-inspiring how good those strings sounded in a field setting), but that didn’t make it any less rousing when they performed GIFT, and the sun was setting in the background, and all that jazz.

WAH TODAY WAS REALLY PERFECT! JUST TWO SHOWS OF NOTE, BUT PERFECT. I managed to sneak a couple of photos of Ringo. You can’t really tell it’s her so you will have to take my word for it. I am sure I will miss the cold Sapporo weather when I return to Tokyo tomorrow.