The Show Must Go On

The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t killed live music. It has just led to a change in beat for many performers and fans.

WORDS OWEN ZIEGLER

YUUKI IDE Steve Gardner

It was shaping up to be a banner year for Crystal Kay.

With 2020 marking the 20th anniversary of her debut as a pop idol in Japan, Kay had plans to record another album, which meant daily sessions in the studio. On top of all that, she had landed the part of Motormouth Maybelle in Japan’s debut production of the Broadway musical “Hairspray,” scheduled to open in June.

But then the world had other ideas.

“We were supposed to start rehearsing from April or May,” says Kay, whose given name is Crystal Kay Williams. “And I was just wondering, after everything else got canceled, I was like, ‘This is my one hope.’”

When the spread of the Covid-19 virus finally forced the organizers to pull the plug on the musical, Kay was left with an empty calendar.

“That was the last big thing scheduled that year,” says the Club Member, who turns 35 this month. “So now that it’s canceled, it’s like, ‘Oh, my god, I really don’t have work right now.’”

With that, the singer joined the countless other musicians, performers and entertainers across the world who found their livelihoods put on ice by a rampaging pandemic.

More than a year after Japan recorded its first coronavirus case, live performances in Tokyo and beyond have settled into an uncertain equilibrium. Attendance at shows is capped at roughly 50 percent of the venue capacity and fans are not allowed to shout or sing along to their favorite songs. Merchandise, a major source of revenue for many performers, has moved entirely online.

“Most artists that I produce, they’re all taking a hit,” says Member and music producer Jeff Miyahara. “Most of them are in the red. They’re basically taking money from their coffers to do these concerts anyways—just to maintain that performer status.”

For smaller acts, Miyahara, 44, explains, it’s all they can do to use their savings to put on shows in an effort to stay visible in a notoriously fickle business.

Add in a wave of closures of Japan’s so-called “live house” venues and you have a new level of precariousness for artists across the country.

The Club itself has long welcomed musicians of all genres for evening events. While live entertainment was initially suspended last year, the Club later adapted its offerings to ensure a safe environment for performers and audiences alike.

Crystal Kay

MASANORI NARUSE

“I DON’T THINK WE’RE EVER GOING TO SEE CONCERTS OF 50,000 [PEOPLE] AGAIN, AT LEAST NOT FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS” –Jeff Miyahara

This month, the Winter Garden Melodies series continues, with local pianists helping Members unwind with Friday evenings of laidback vibes in the Club’s spacious lounge.

“[The Club] has been impressed by the musicians’ passion,” says Miki Ohyama, chair of the Culture, Community & Entertainment Committee. “For young pianists, we just wanted to support them by offering opportunities.”

Kotomi Hasegawa, 27, is one of those pianists. The soloist and piano instructor, who switched to teaching lessons online last year, says the opportunity to play at the Club (she next performs in March) “encouraged me and I enjoyed it very much.”

Even when musicians do have the chance to perform live now, the ambience can be much more subdued, according to Steve Gardner, a Mississippi blues guitarist and longtime performer at the Club.

“My whole goal is to be able to try and offer the opportunity for others to enjoy themselves with me,” the native Mississippian says of his performing ethos. “It’s more and more difficult to create that atmosphere with people so fearful [of the virus] all the time.”

Gardner, 64, who has played with such blues greats as BB King, says that the current restrictions on audience “participation”—with singalongs and dancing out—mean live shows can miss a degree of their natural free-spirited fun.

For performers like Member and singer Donna Burke, the chance to connect with an audience trumps whatever precautions are necessary.

Last autumn, she performed music from the Metal Gear series of video games with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in front of a smaller audience at Tokyo International Forum.

“There is something so magical about being in a group of attentive humans who all made the effort to come out and experience and feel something together,” says the 56-year-old Australian. “In October, fans were not allowed to cheer or speak loudly, but they were allowed to clap, and it was so thrilling to hear how loud everyone wanted to applaud as it was the only way to communicate.”

With countries starting to vaccinate their populations, it’s natural to wonder when the music scene will return to normal. But Miyahara and his music executive colleagues believe that there will be some permanent changes to live music.

Kotomi Hasegawa

“I don’t think we’re ever going to see concerts of 50,000 [people] again, at least not for the next few years,” he says.

Burke, who has been collaborating virtually with other artists and releasing material directly online over the last few months, says the pandemic could leave a more enduring mark on the way artists and their fans interact.

“Getting up close to fans will not be possible. Signing T-shirts and merch will be done remotely,” she says. “I think we’ll see people worldwide attending shows wearing a mask, not just Japanese fans with allergies!”

Such drastic transformations to the industry mean that more and more artists and their labels are finding creative ways to reach their fans. Though livestreamed concerts were a thing before 2020, online platforms are likely to become an additional live option in the future.

“You will never see a venue even now that has no cameras in it whatsoever,” says Miyahara.

With every crisis comes opportunity, stresses the American, who highlights the example of K-pop group SuperM. After canceling a concert in front of 50,000 people at Tokyo Dome last spring, the all-male group reached 75,000 paying viewers in more than 100 countries through a new concert-streaming service.

It’s one example of the accelerated adoption of technology in the entertainment sector. According to Miyahara, fans can expect more immersive music experiences through online features like virtual and augmented reality.

Kay herself took part in a groundbreaking concert last year. Livestreamed from a Kanagawa beach in August, the event’s viewers at home were encouraged to purchase digital fireworks to “launch” on screen while their favorite artists performed. The evening culminated in a real fireworks display on the shore.

“Fireworks are a huge part of Japanese summer culture,” says Kay. “So to be able to do an actual fireworks [show] and be connected at the same time through livestreaming, people could still feel like they were enjoying the summer.”

Music may have “charms to sooth a savage breast,” as the English poet William Congreve once wrote, but it also has the power to always find its audience—no matter what the challenges.

WINTER GARDEN MELODIES  February 12, 19 & 26  Winter Garden  Details online

Donna Burke

“THERE IS SOMETHING SO MAGICAL ABOUT BEING IN A GROUP OF ATTENTIVE HUMANS WHO ALL MADE THE EFFORT TO COME OUT AND EXPERIENCE AND FEEL SOMETHING TOGETHER.” –Donna Burke