Yeah, let the weekend begin! And nothing could be better than watching The Collectors (ザ・コレクターズ?), a Japanese rock band formed in 1986, perform on the White Stage. The band rose to fame initially through their music which channels late 60’s rock and roll, ie the Beattles, Who, and the Mod movement. They also got lucky by writing the theme song for a popular the anime series.

Frontman Hisashi Kato (加藤ひさし) is one charismatic fellow. He’s also quite good at self-promotion as his suitcoat has been carefully fashioned from a flyer used to promote their upcoming show at the Budokan on March 1st, 2017. As they say, its a big venue and it’s gonna be quite a challenge to fill this venue. By my estimation, they have a shot at it with their back catalogue o 20 some albums.

At one point in the set, Kato spied our photographer (a foreign fellow) near the front of the stage and implored him to help him promote the band exhorting him to “take a picture of me and make The Collectors famous around the world.”

By this point, the White Stage was nearly full with everyone enjoying the razor tight guitar riffs and well rehearsed numbers in the bands set list. If you havea chance, check out more of this band, and turn out on 03.01.2017