Wild Peace Tour

For my birthday Akiko bought us tickets to see Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra in Kamakura on Tuesday. This was a big deal for me. I had never been to one of their live shows before. Seeing them play was at the very top of my list of things to do on returning to Japan.

Skapara must be one of the hardest working bands in show business. Since the release of their first EP back in 1989, they have produced 12 studio albums, 3 live albums, 3 soundtracks, countless singles, and multiple side projects. They've been on tour non-stop for the past six months, across Japan, Europe, and parts of Asia promoting their latest CD.

I'm a lousy music reviewer, so I can't think of much to say aside from "Damn, what a good show." Most of what they played was recent material from their past three or four albums. The few older numbers they included were an unexpected treat - Vampire, my favorite song off their debut album, and a steel drum version of Skoal from 1996's Tokyo Strut.

I'll dig around YouTube to see if I can find a good video of a recent performance, to give an idea of what the show was like.