Live Report! the pillows “Return to Third Movement! Vol.3 Tour” 2021.07.16 at Shin-kiba USEN Studio Coast

July 16th was the final Tokyo date for the pillows’ “Return to Third Movement! Vol.3 tour”. 

The “Return to Third Movement!” series of tours are “reproduction tours” for their earlier albums. Vol.1 was held during the end of 2017 and covered the albums “Please Mr. Lostman” and “Little Busters”. Vol.2 was held in May and June of 2018 and covered the albums “Runners High” and “Happy Bivouac”.

Finally, after the pillows’ “long vacation” following their 30th anniversary in October of 2019, they returned in 2021 for Vol.3, which covers “Smile” and “Thank you, my twilight”.

Each tour corresponds roughly with the albums’ 20th anniversary. Around 20 years ago when Smile and Thank you, my twilight were released, I was just a teenager in America who could only dream of attending the album tours. So, some 20 years later, being able to attend the “reproduction tour” was an incredible experience and felt like fulfilling a childhood dream.

The most unique thing about these series of reproduction tours is that every single song from the albums are represented in the setlist. This leads to some incredibly rare performances of songs that the pillows never play.

The venue, USEN Studio Coast, is just a short walk from JR Shin-kiba Station and is located on the waterfront. It usually seats around 800 people, but there were far less than that due to limited audience restrictions.

(My first view of USEN Studio Coast, walking from Shin-Kiba Station.)

Speaking of limitations, this tour was also unique because COVID-19 prevention measures were still in effect. These included the mandatory wearing of masks, multiple hand sanitation points, temperature checks, and limited audience capacity with designated standing positions.

When I arrived outside the venue, they had just opened the merchandise stand. For this tour, they had made new t-shirt designs, a new mustard-colored cardigan, pouches in the shape of their mascot character “Buster-kun”, and vinyl record editions of both the Smile and Thank you, my twilight albums, among other goods.

(Front of USEN Studio Coast and merch booth/people lining up. The marquee is really cool.)

Another really cool thing about the “Return to Third Movement” series is that they release vinyl editions of the albums to correspond with each tour. Vol.3’s release of the Smile and Thank you, my twilight records brought the total of pillows’ LP releases up to seven (with “Please Mr. Lostman” and “Little Busters” being released with Vol.1, “Runners High “ and “Happy Bivouac” with Vol.2, and a two LP set for their “best of” album “Fool on the planet” released specially for their 30th anniversary in 2019). I bought them when they went on sale online so I wouldn’t have to lug them around at the venue.

(The vinyl editions of both albums, featuring Buster-kun with his own mini versions.)

During the past couple of years, I have made more of an attempt (and have become more confident with my Japanese language ability) to become more of a part of the Japanese pillows fanbase. I made several friends online, and meeting them in person was also a highlight of the experience. One of the friends I met, Koji, is one of the only other fans I have ever met with a similar passion for the pillows. We both collect any knickknack with even the slightest relevance to the band and both have an encyclopedic knowledge of the pillows. It was fun chatting with him while we waited for the venue doors to open and he introduced me to some other fans.

In Japan, tickets are issued with numbers and you enter the venue based on how low your number is. The lowest numbered tickets can only be received by entering ticket lotteries via the pillows’ official fanclub. Since I’m a member, I entered the lottery and ended up being issued ticket number A247, which allowed for a pretty decent spot inside the venue.

Another thing with concerts in Japan; it is very common that you are required to buy a “drink ticket” at the doors of the venue. In this case, the drink ticket costed 600 yen. One of the other covid-19 measures in Tokyo was the restriction of alcohol in restaurants, and I guess this also extended to the venue’s bar, since no alcohol was available on the menu. I got a pink lemonade.

Designated standing spots were marked with stickers inside the venue. I stood at one that gave me a dead-center view.

Honestly, being spaced apart from other audience members made for one of the most comfortable concert experiences that I have ever participated in. Normally at pillows’ concerts, if you want to get close to the stage, all sense of personal space is lost and everyone becomes a single mass of humanity. Also, once the band comes out, everyone normally rushes and shoves to the front. I was curious if anyone would try to do this given that we were under different rules, but I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the Japanese audience completely respected the restrictions and stayed put in their spots.

The music playing on the venue speakers while everyone got ready was songs by the American indie rock band Dressy Bessy. The pillows’ “walk on” song is most famously “Kelly’s Duck” by the band Salon Music, but they previously used the Salon Music song “Stompin’ Wheel”. For the reproduction tours, they went back to using Stompin’ Wheel, which was a cool little touch.

(Stompin’ Wheel by Salon Music)

the pillows opened the show with the opening track from Smile, “Good morning good news”.

01. Good morning good news

This song is one of my absolute favorites and one of the songs that I most wanted to hear live, so right out of the gate, the concert started on a high note. The opening verse of Good morning good news translates to “have you noticed that this ship, rocked by despair, is gradually drifting to the ocean of resurrection?”, which seemed fitting for the current circumstances.

02. WAITING AT THE BUSSTOP

Good morning good news was immediately followed by the fun and upbeat number “Waiting at the busstop”. This song also follows sequentially on the album, though we would deviate from the album track arrangement shortly.

After Waiting at the busstop, frontman Sawao Yamanaka addressed the audience shortly, telling us that they’d be playing every song from both the albums Smile and Thank you, my twilight, “including that song”. We all knew the song he was referring to (which I’ll write about later).

Sawao said “let’s have fun tonight”, and that led into the next song, “FUN FUN FUN OKAY!”

03. FUN FUN FUN OKAY!

04. WINNING COME BACK!

05. Skim Heaven

At this point, Sawao said “rare songs are coming up” before performing various songs from Smile one after another.

06. Monster C.C

This is a That Dog inspired track with lyrics about how African American people were treated in America in the 60s. The “C.C” stands for “Cassius Clay”, which was the birth name of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. Near the end of the song, Sawao sings “what’s my name?”, which is a quote from Ali’s famous 1965 fight against Ernie Terrell.

07. Vain dog (in rain drop)

08. THUNDER WHALES PICNIC

This song is an instrumental, and one of my personal favorites of the pillows’ instrumental tracks. The studio version on the Smile album contains no vocalizations, but when performed live Sawao shouts out “god bless you! Yeah!” throughout the song.

09. Calvero

Calvero is fun because the pillows have a special way of performing it. They will hold their guitars up in front of themselves while playing. Before they performed it, Sawao walked up to each member and they exchanged bows, which was pretty funny.

(A live performance of “Calvero” from their 20th anniversary concert at Nippon Budokan in 2009.)

10. Hibi no uta

11. Smile

This is “that” song that Sawao mentioned at the beginning of the concert. It’s one of the pillows’ most unique songs, and one of their most dynamic. It starts off mellow with Sawao singing “free, you have freedom”, and erupts into chaos midway through, with Sawao screaming “kutabare ningendomo!” (“drop dead, humans”). It’s a rarely performed song, so it was one of the most anticipated of the tour.

During the intro, some cool looking lights projected onto the ceiling of the venue, and during the “chaotic” part, the stage became bathed in red light. Seeing this song performed was bucket-list material and definitely a highlight of the concert.

12. Konoyo no hatemade

This would wrap up the “Smile” portion of the show, and from here the tracks from “Thank you, my twilight” would be performed. Several of the songs would take advantage of pre-recorded sounds, so drummer Shinichiro Sato wore headphones for a good portion of this part of the concert.

13. RAIN BRAIN

14. Biscuit Hammer

15. Rookie Jet

This is a silly and fun track that closes the Thank you, my twilight album. Most often, lead guitarist Yoshiaki Manabe performs the band’s guitar solos, but there are a handful of occasions when Sawao takes charge. Rookie Jet is one of those occasions, and Sawao had a lot of fun, foot on amp, deviating and extending the solo, and even goofing around with a bit of light shredding.

16. My Beautiful Sun (Irene)

This is another unusual pillows song; a “dance number” inspired by 80s pop music and disco. On the studio version, there is synth present in the track, but for the live version the synth was replaced with a pretty wild sounding pre-recorded guitar. It was a really fun performance that got the audience moving a lot.

17. Come on, ghost

“Come on, ghost” is one of a small handful of songs where frontman Sawao Yamanaka ditches his guitar and goes “hand-mic”, carrying a microphone while roaming around the stage and singing. It was a fun performance and at one point, Sawao really played it up to one of the cameras. It’s going to be fun to watch if this is the concert that gets the blu-ray/DVD treatment.

18. ROBOTMAN

This one started with the pre-recorded voice saying “the girl and I look just like hedgehogs, but… I’m…”, which I recently learned is spoken by Sawao’s older brother Hidetoshi.

19. Winona

20. Shiroi natsu to midori no jitensha, akai kami to kuroi guitar

(The music video for “Shiroi Natsu…”)

21. Babylon tenshi no uta

22. Thank you, my twilight

This one has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years after it was prominently featured in one of the new seasons of the “FLCL” anime. Well, I don’t really know much about that, so I can’t tell you much, but it was great to finally hear this song performed live.

23. Ritalin 202

“Ritalin 202” would serve as the “end” of the concert. Although this song is featured near the middle of the Thank you, my twilight album, it worked very well as a closer.

the pillows would leave the stage, and Salon Music’s “Chilled in Tacoma” would play over the speakers while the audience clapped in unison for an encore. Some minutes later, the band would reemerge and Sawao would be holding a new guitar; his recently acquired Fender Powercaster.

He previously told the story about how he ended up with it in his blog. During his “Nonocular Violet” solo tour, his guitarist Yusuke Kimura (from the band ArtTheaterGuild) found the Powercaster while browsing a music store and told Sawao about it. Sawao arranged to have it purchased, intending on giving it to Yusuke to use in his band, but once he tried it for himself, he fell in love with the guitar and decided to keep it. Funnily, he never told Yusuke about any of this, opting to just post about it in his blog and at one point writing “Yusuke is finding out about this right now as he reads this”. Sawao would also quip about how he feels like he “stole a woman from his apprentice”.

Sawao played a little bit on the Powercaster as a demonstration, then the first encore song was performed.

24. Sonna fuu ni sugoshitai

This is a laidback, reggae-flavored song that appeared as a b-side of the “Shiroi natsu” single. Not only is it a rarely played track, but this performance was particularly great because guitarist Yoshiaki Manabe played an extended guitar solo near the end of the song. It was really cool. 

After, Sawao spoke to the audience, saying:

“I was reminiscing about the artists that I liked during the time I made these albums. Because I liked The Breeders, I made songs like Rain Brain and Biscuit Hammer. I listened to artists like Smash Mouth and 80s’ pop, so I made songs like My Beautiful Sun (Irene) and Come on, ghost. ‘Come on, ghost’ is… very similar to another song. I shouldn’t make material like that”, which received a laugh from the audience. “Over our 30 years, we probably have at least four songs that are like copies”.

The song he was referring to that “Come on, ghost” is heavily inspired by is Smash Mouth’s “Sister Psychic”; a connection original brought to my attention by GR of the English pillows community.  

Sawao continued, “I’ve tried many different styles of music, but the lyrics have always stayed the same. You all have been listening for a long time without getting bored. I love you.” He elaborated with, “now that I have grown up, I can say ‘I love you’ in business”, before leaving the stage.

“Hibi no uta” played over the speakers while the audience clapped and sang a-long, and when it ended, the pillows returned to the stage for a second encore. Yoshiaki Manabe, Shinichiro Sato, and Yoshinori Arie were all holding cans of Sapporo beer. Sawao had a canned highball. They were all in high spirits, and Yoshiaki joked around a lot.

25. Fool on the planet

“Fool on the planet” was another of my most sought after songs that I wanted to experience live. For several of the other dates of this tour, they performed the song “No Surrender” as the encore. I was pleased that they went with Fool on the planet for this evening.

The band left the stage again, and the audience clapped in unison until they reemerged a couple minutes later for one last encore.

26. Hybrid Rainbow

(Music video for “Hybrid Rainbow”, which was shot in London.)

Their well-known song ‘Hybrid Rainbow’ would end the concert. They’d promptly leave the stage after, and Dressy Bessy would play on the speakers as the audience made their way out of the performance room of the venue.

In the venue lobby, a congratulatory bouquet of flowers had been set up, sent from the band Glay.

(My view of the stage, taken after the concert had finished.)

Once outside the venue, I took in the sight as the crowd dispersed.

(The marquee looked even more cool at night.)

I met up with Koji again, who gave me some gifts from Sendai.

(My merch score and treats from Koji.)

The CD, “for Once Deja vu”, is a new collaboration mini-album by Sawao Yamanaka and NT Connection, which was sold exclusively during this tour at the venues and online. It’s really great and features Sawao, bassist Tatsuya Kashima, and keyboardist Tadashi Ueda joining up for the first time since the “second movement” era of the pillows.

Recently, it was announced that USEN Studio Coast would be closing in January of 2022. It will be sad to lose such a great venue. I am grateful that I had this opportunity to see the pillows perform there.

Also, just a couple days ago, news broke that this specific concert will indeed be the one released on blu-ray and DVD. The release will also contain the audio from the concert on two CDs. It will be sold exclusively online, and will be released on September 16th, 2021 (the pillows’ 32nd anniversary date!).

(The trailer for the video release.)

I’ll wrap up this post with various links. ✌️

A lot of the items sold online won’t ship overseas, so you will have to use a proxy shipping service like Zen Market.

Those cool vinyl records? They are only sold officially from KING e-SHOP. Buy them there through a proxy service instead of being ripped off by Discog resellers. 😜

Other cool merchandise, including the video release of this concert and various goods, can be ordered from the pillows’ online store BUSTERS SHOP, as well as Sawao Yamanaka’s Red Bat Shop.

Wanna chat? Need help? Catch me in my pillows discord server.

🦡