Hall&Oates Trading Concerts

Daryl Hall and John Oates German Website

Hall&Oates: At The Budokan (Earthday) Tokyo 4/22/1998
(SBD, A, Time: 69 min.)

Romeo Is Bleeding (6:03)

Out Of Touch (4:41)

Promise Ain't Enough (5:58)

One On One (6:34)

I Can't Go For That (7:40)

The Sky Is Falling (6:33)

Mercy Mercy Me (5:51) (With 'Sing Like Talking')

Maneater (4:52)

Rich Girl (3:51)

You Make My Dreams (4:14)

Sara Smile (4:12)

Kiss On My List (4:17)

Private Eyes (3:59)

On April 22, 1998, the sky was blurry but the music we heard at Budokan was as vivid and colorful as a marigold against a big clear sky. Daryl Hall/John Oates performed for a special Earth Conscious Day event at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. "We love music, We love the Earth" live was broadcasted simultaneously by both domestic and international FM stations in three different languages: Japanese, Chinese and English.

The host appeared on stage at 7pm sharp to start broadcasting it. He spent a few minutes sending hello to different parts of the world and then called for a Japanese trio, Sing Like Talking. They opened the show with "Season's of Change". They had a dozen musicians backing them up and performed approximately 45 minutes.

After a good 15 minutes of intermission/panel discussion for a stage set change, there came our heroes, Daryl Hall/John Oates at Budokan. Hall in black T shirt with black pants started singing "Romeo is Bleeding " from their latest album "Marigold Sky". Hall's vocal ever soulful with his signature phrasing, Oates along with Hall smiling and backing his vocal as he always does. It sure is a magic when these two get together. I can not quite figure out what it is between these two which makes their music so special, but one thing for sure is that just one of them does not make quite the same effect on the music. What a magical combination.

Hall made short comments and announcements on almost each song. "Here's from Big Bam Boom" said Hall and started 'Out of Touch'. Following 'Promise Ain't Enough' was 'One on One' introduced as "It's really about being on the road and wanting to go home". Then Hall sat in front of the keyboard spelling out one of their rich and full-flavored hits ' I Can't Go For That' followed by 'The Sky is Falling'. It was 8:50 pm and as I wondered how and when Sing Like Talking would join H/O, Chikuzen Satoh, the singer of SLT appeared on stage introduce by Hall, "We'd like to bring out a very special group". H/O together with SLT dueted a Marvin Gaye's "Marcy Marcy Me".

I imagine that the live broadcast ended beautifully with all of them singing together, and then the show went on with H/O. According to the song list I was handed at the door, a few songs from their latest album were scheduled to play. However, they just made their "greatest hits" show from there and the people just loved every moment of it. Some artists like to experiment contemporary sounding on their old songs and make them anew. But that kind attempt usually end up sounding like having done a cosmetic surgery. But H/O delivered their hits as they were and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. They sounded ever fresh and vivid, and as impressive as we first heard them in the late 70's and early 80's. All those great hit songs, Maneater, Rich Girl, You Make My Dream, Sarah Smile, Kiss On My List, and Private Eyes were very original and nobody but Hall/Oates can perform so well. We dig them for as long as they can perform. Hooray for the most successful duo of our time!

Sing Like Talking may not be the most popular group in Japan but they are very much known as a sure source of great music with everything mixed together like Rock, Soul, Pops, and Country. A trio consists of Chikuzen Satoh (vo.), Chiaki Fujita (key.) and Toshihiko Nishmura (gr.), all three of them from the same hometown and attended same high school formed the band in 1982. They landed a contract with Fun House by winning a grandprix at the "Sound Contest 86".

Then in early 87 Chikuzen was selected to sing "I Feel Coke" for Coca Cola commercial which made the whole nation hear his voice everyday. They have released 9 albums over the years and produced a number of hits including 'Spirit Of Love' which sold close to 200,000 copies. Their latest album is "Welcome To Another World" in 1997 and expecting their forthcoming album later this year. The voice of Sing Like Talking, Satoh, has created a couple of solo albums and Nishura's first solo work, "Graffiti" has just hit the street in June. SLT has recently joined Daryl Hall/John Oates on stage at Budokan for a song 'Mercy Mercy Me'. Chikuzen looked ecstatic exchanging vocals with one of his singing idols, Daryl Hall.