First thing I really noticed is that Japanese shows start on time. The show said it would start at 7:00pm, and the lights went down exactly at 7:00. I guess this is to allow people time to get home before the trains stop or something. :)

Next, the place isn't anywhere close to being sold-out, even though fra-foa is from Sendai and this is their first show there in a while (I believe). Besides the normal rock concert crowd, there are also a number of older gentlemen and women in nice suits/clothes in attendance along with some young children. All are wearing "guest" stickers. Maybe these were family members?

After fra-foa plays their first song and the feedback stops, a baby in the crowd started crying. Chisako sort of chuckled and said, "Daijoubu da yo! Kowakunai yo! (It's ok! It's not scary!) Haha. :) She also said it was good to be back in Sendai after such a long time away, after which she stopped herself and said something like, "Ah!! But we were just here for that in-store appearance last week!!! Sorry! I forgot!"

As the show progresses, it's obvious that Chisako is extremely nervous.

She keeps leaving the stage after every other song or so for a brief moment. From my point in the crowd I couldn't see if she was getting some water or trying to settle her nerves. She often sang with her eyes closed, not really taking in the crowd. The lead guitar player did most of the talking between songs (I don't think the bass player or the drummer said anything.)

Sometime during the set when Chisako has left, the guitar guy tells an interesting story about how though this is only the 2nd stop of the tour, his guitar already broke down. He set it down for a bit during a rehersal or something and when he tried it again it was broken. He also mentioned that this tour is the "13 leaves" tour, named after their new album...

After being a a few great punk shows recently, it was really shocking to come to a more rock-orientated show and see the crowd just stand very still throughout the entire show. Only the first two rows really did any movement at all, standard head-banging and fist-pumping mostly.

Their encore was 'Chiisana Hikari', and the show finished at 8:22pm. Sorry I can't give anymore details about setlists, etc., but I really don't know the songs all that well. I do know that they didn't play 'Aojiroi Tsuki.'"