The Samurai Guitarist Plays The Foundry For "No Sleep Til Tokyo" Tour - i99Radio, Philadelphia's Alternative Rock!

Bayside returned to Philly this past week for a two night stand celebrating their music both old and new. i99Radio was on the scene to capture night one of two. For the first night, Bayside brought songs from their early years, 2004 to 2008. For many of us, it takes us back instantly to the songs of our childhood, middle and high school years, and the audience spanning Gen X to Gen Alpha came ready to rock.

Long Island, NY’s The Sleeping started the night off and brought their unique blend of post-hardcore and raw energy to the stage that really got the audience going. People thrashed around and sang along, and even a toddler hopping up on his dad’s shoulders to get a better view of frontman Doug Robinson, who climbed up to the barrier, putting his microphone up to fans to sing along with them, and eventually even crowdsurfing above their heads at one point. The band has been experiencing a revival since their reunion in 2022 and their fantastic newest album, “I Feel Like I’m Becoming a Ghost”, dropping in 2023.

Bayside then took the stage, kicking off their set with the classic track, “Montauk”, from their second self-titled album. Frontman Anthony Ranieri commented how their idea for the “Errors Tour” came about when they wanted to play 44 songs in each city, instead of just 22. He talked about how the band has so many songs that fans love from all across their career, but not enough time to play them all, so they thought, “why not just play 2 nights in every city?”

The night of classic nostalgia continued on, with the band delivering high-energy versions of much loved tracks from their third album, 2007’s “The Walking Wounded”, like “Duality”, “I and I”, and the ballad “Landing Feet First” (of which started a massive audience singalong). The band also reached far back in their discography, playing tracks from their first years as a band, like “Masterpiece”, “Guardrail” and “Kellum”, off of the first album, 2004’s “Sirens and Condolences.” The audience was audibly excited by this, as these tracks are very rarely played live. The audience cheered loudly and unleashed a constant stream of crowd-surfers to the front of stage as they ripped through these classic tracks. The “newest” songs they played for night 1 were tracks from 2008’s classic album, “Shudder”, like “Boy”, “No One Understands” and “The Ghost of St. Valentine”. Again, many of these tracks haven’t been played since the Shudder Tour in 2008 so hearing these songs was certainly a treat for the audience.

Bayside’s show at Brooklyn Bowl was a testament to how the songs we grew up with are forever engrained in our DNA, the music grows with us and becomes a part of us as we grow older, but we never forget the songs that influenced us almost two decades ago. The 1,000 people in the audience who turned up to sing every word of these songs that are almost 20 years old now proves this to be true and Bayside to be a band close to so many people’s hearts.

Photos by Dave Avidan

On August 20th Miyavi, also known as the Samurai Guitarist, led a screaming crowd in an extremely energetic concert filled with loud music and light-hearted yet also sincere talk. Born and raised in Japan, he gained his reputation and nickname for his unique style of “slapping” the strings.

The stage set-up was simple, with long-time drummer Bobo, a DJ, and Miyavi himself on guitar and vocals. Though there was a stand-up mic, he mostly used a headset so that he could sing while playing and constantly moving around the stage. Many of the lyrics are in Japanese, but don’t let that turn you off. The majority of his songs are either Japanese with English mixed in, or all English. Even with a language “barrier,” it won’t keep you from enjoying yourself if you stay open.

The show officially began with “Stars,” as Miyavi reached up toward the sky and fans followed suit; a common and uniting gesture used throughout the night. From the moment he walked on stage, he seemed determined to hype up the audience so that we were as energized as he was. The studio recordings of many of his songs could hype a crowd even without his personal motivation, but he made sure that it was a night of jumping, fist-pumping, and cheering. Overall, his genre could be described as Electro-Rock, but he likes to mix it with other genres like Hip-Hop and some Pop; always with a strong guitar presence. One of my consistent thoughts was this: I’m not a fan of clubs, but if there were one like this that played all his music…I would gladly go from time to time. The music got so loud that towards the end, I couldn’t tell if the volume had made the sound quality somewhat distorted or just my hearing quality. Whatever was happening, I embraced it.

Of course multiple times he took time to just stand and talk. He discussed some of his good experiences here in the U.S; that he appreciated being welcomed when he moved to LA with his family several years ago, and about recently playing the national anthem before a Dodgers game. But he also acknowledged the difficult times that the country has been going through, to which one fan responded “Miyavi for president!” and the rest of the audience enthusiastically agreed. When he playfully expressed skepticism, they started suggesting positions like Vice President, Mayor, etc. He seemed to brush it off at first, but given his own societal views and work as an ambassador for UNHCR, he implied that one day perhaps he would like to take up a political position, or at least one more politically involved. On a related note, he later discussed politics in music. He explained how he likes to include a message in his songs, that it was a main focus in writing the promoted album “No Sleep Til Tokyo,” and that these messages are so important because “those who don’t listen to speech might listen to music.”

Through almost every moment, this show was an insane amount of fun and absolutely worth attending. Miyavi’s performance and stage presence was fantastic; from his charisma and numerous winks to stage right, his energy that kept him running around the stage, the passion that was so clear as he played, and the affection he showed for his fans. Enough affection to make little interactions and then just before leaving, reach out so he could touch the hands of as many as possible. To conclude, if you ever get the opportunity to see Miyavi in concert…take it.

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The Samurai Guitarist Plays The Foundry For “No Sleep Til Tokyo” Tour