bjork live @ budokan

I saw a live show of Bjork in Tokyo. Though I hadn't listened to her latest CD and was not interested in her music recently, the show was exciting enough. Really enjoyed it with my friend, Rika. After coming back, I am listening to her music every day and cannot stop. "Earth Intruders" is my favorite now.

Indeed I was surprised with the huge crowd of people coming to her live show― I mean, the number of people who bought the expensive ticket which cost more than 10,000 yen. Seeing the big hall filled with thousands of people, I was thinking how profitable it is for foreign artists to make a tour to Japan. 10,200 yen-ticket is kind of affordable for working people, but it is too expensive for only 2 hours' entertainment. Still, the tickets sold well to fill that huge hall. Some years ago, the Japanese were really rich people in the world, but now we are in business recession and see a lot of news about "working poor"; a growing rate of us Japanese who have difficulty in making lives. I thought about this strange country. Rich ( and stupid?) Japanese people were still there.

先日友人に誘われてビョークのライブを観に行きました。最近のアルバムは聴いていなかったし、特に熱心なファンでもないのですが、それでも素晴らしいステージは圧巻で、１階の最前列と席も良く、大いに楽しんできました。チケットは１万２００円。決して安い値段ではありません。払えない金額ではないけど、なんか自分の金銭感覚が麻痺してんじゃないかという気もします。武道館をぎっしりと埋め尽くす人たちを見ていたら、日本人ってやっぱお金あるのかなぁ、日本ツアーって儲かるんだろうなぁ、などと余計なことばかり考えてしまいました。ライブは本当によかったけれど、はたしてそれが１万円以上の価値があるのか？そんな金額をぽんぽん払う私たちってちょっとおバカなのかな。と、不景気とは無縁な会場で考えたのでした。