Motoharu Sano with THE HEARTLAND

In February of my first year of high school, I went to my first live concert. It was Motoharu Sano's "Visitors Tour," a national tour promoting his fourth original album, "Visitors," which had been released the previous year. This album, "Visitors," was a groundbreaking album that incorporated rap for the first time in the Japanese major music scene, and it was a huge shock when it was released. Unlike Sano's previous pop and catchy sound, it incorporated rap, which was not present in the music scene at the time. The public's evaluation of the album was mixed, and I, too, had difficulty liking it because of the stark difference from his previous works. It was during this time that Sano went on tour, and I thought this was a rare opportunity, so I spent my allowance and New Year's money to buy two tickets and participate. I remember that a ticket cost 6,000 yen at the time, but 6,000 yen 27 years ago was still expensive. As for the content of the live performance, I hardly remember anything (laughs). I think the setlist mainly consisted of numbers from "Visitors" (although only 8 songs) mixed with popular numbers. I only remember that Sano said to the audience, who were all standing, "I want everyone to sit down and listen to this song" (I forgot what it was), and during the performance of "Rock and Roll Night," Sano pretended to sleep after "midnight, sleep tight..." and someone from the audience shouted, "Motoharu, wake up! (laughs)." After seeing this live performance, I came to love the songs from "Visitors" very much. I learned that live performances have different arrangements from albums, and that people who like the same artist gather in the same space, share the same time, and sing together, which I wouldn't have known just by listening to the album. Here's a youthful episode related to this live performance. I was supposed to invite a female friend (or so I thought) who attended a different high school, but she unexpectedly confessed her feelings to me (laughs). I thought we were just friends and had no intention of dating her, so I thought, "This is no good!" and quickly invited another friend (♂) to go with me. After that, I became distant from her... Youth is bittersweet. Since then, I've been in the "friendship between men and women doesn't exist" camp (laughs). After all, I've never gone to a live concert with a woman alone.