tokyo is a illin' now, we all miss our very own institution, that is spacelab yellow closed its door for the very final time, on 25th of june, to be exact, mon., 5am, after a mad 30 hour session which started off with legendary frenchmen, francois kervokian manning the decks til, don't know when, til joe, danny, laurent garnier played with fk, back 2 back. 4 those of u in another sphere, might've checked, i wrote that the club charged 10,000 yen on the door, for the very special 1, er, 2 nights of mayhem.
well, though I went to a few nights before the last week, actually, went, CAN U BELIEVE IT?! 3 nights in a week to yellow, to see Miguel Migs + Lisa Shaw (who I wanted to personally meet since I worked with her for Flower Records. she sang on 2 tracks for Kentaro Takizawa's 2 albums), DJ Spinna, & the incredible theo parrish who totally wrecked the joint! But decided 2 go for the next 2 last night, 2 see another frenchmen, the mighty Laurent Garnier on fri. whaz up with all of the frenchiness!? ioi! was gonna write mustard but might be banned from writing this blog so....
well, I decided on the night, saying to meself, yeah, guess i need to pay my last respects to yellow,etc., etc. So, went to see a mate first for a blast, if u know what I mean... and on 2am made my way to yellow..... thinkin' it must be supa packed, shinjuku station, fri night, last train to hicksville style... I go in and MAN! da joint was ROCKIN! like it never is! WOW! I was blasted away, totalled by this amazin' party vibe. IT WAS SOME KINDA NEVERLAND PARTY VIBE! the b2 bar, normally always having silly chairs and tables, nonadat, full a partying punters, vibing off each other, too full so went to the dance floor. OH BOY, OH BOY! Laurent Garnier was on fire and the sound system as well! Man, thought to myself, hey, yellow soundsystem never sounded this good!? So, since I am a dude who feels something super, started to dance my pants off! can you believe it! yes, I was boogieing hard, like muthafxxka! Yes, as you know, am not one to dance, groove, though I love to, am a true hangouter, always hangin' out with the boys mostly in front of bar, drinkin' me beer and shit, or in the booth, checking out the tunes.
Was sooooo into the music that Laurent was a playing, a few house classics which sounded soooo good in the system that arguably was built for HOUSE MUSIC. I totally forgot to take a few photos to document for history. Like all great parties, you forget to do certain things, totally forget, time, clued in to the vibe! well, that is what happened, guess I was in a trance, naturally getting HIGH from the music, vibe, party, music, vibe ,party, like Sly says, Gonna Take a Higher! Higher! YES, OUI, HAI, HIGH in the friendly sky! So excited that was a SHOUTING like a lunatic, madmen! Feelin' it, like I was possessed at the Shrine, or something like that. Well, another frenchman, my great friend, Alex From Tokyo, was scared shitless of my lunatitical (is there such a word!?) behaviour and probably thought I was losing my mind and gonna wreck some shit, or something (he was probably having flashbacks of the past when I did some crazy shit to him, sorry, man!) and went away, ioi! but man, I was geniunely having alot of fun & when I have tons of fun, the warewolf of london in me, comes out and takes it to another level!
like I said, when you are havin such a lovely time, shit happens, well what happened was, I decide to take some photos and started to BUT my bloody camera was ouuta batteries, for crying out loud! can't believe it! shit always happens like dis, WHY! WHY? I went to the bar upstairs where they had stuck loads of flyers from the past, I took one photo of the wall and batteries ain't happening, off to vacation in acapuco, in a siesta!?
man, they also had a folder with all of the monthly yellow mags of 17 years which punters can flick thru and boy! it was amazing! just looking at it, man, amazin'! it covers the history of not only yellow but also club music in tokyo from the early 90s! was checking it out, totally drunk with a mate of mine, checking out from the 92 or 93 , early era, amazing read indeed. there was one yellow mag from 92 or 93, they had the last yellow gig(s) by walter gibbons (for some reason or another, yellow or the promoter who brought these legendary djs of ny, at the time, the djs would play 2 weekends in a row! walter gibbons, as well). then going onto the next few months or the next year folder, there I see a RIP of Walter Gibbons...history. Dimitri From Paris came to dj around I think 94 or 95, well before he released his classic album from Yellow which surprised me. I kinda remember going to see Danny Taniglia at a joint in Roppongi around 95 or 96, and going thru the yellow flyers, think he did not dj til later but maybe am wrong. well, like I said, if my camera was workin! I would have remembered...... of course, 99% of the great djs played here, domestic and international. the early line-ups of djs were a whos who of tokyo club music scene! Since it was such a great read, a lightbulb lit in my bluured mind,
wouldn't it be so great if the Yellow monthly flyer turned into a book! man, I was totally about the history, 17 years of parties there and monthly flyers, mos prob, around 204 months in total!
well, in the end, tried going home around 6am but having so much fun and hanging out with all these happy people having loads of fun, started shouting shots of tequila!
but was not that mashed, come to think of it, well, maybe I was, but when you are having such a good time, there is no pain, just too much gain! effortless! in the end, went home around 8:30am...... full of happiness! good times, suntory times! er, though yellow only serves asahi ioi!
for trainspotters out there, fyi, the last track that was played at yellow, was vangelis' track from bladerunner s/t, love theme, not love is the message..
ken hidaka
here are some photos of my last night at yellow as well as some photos at yellow from the past, from my library, (er, harddisk) with some familiar faces...