New Year's Eve Gigs 2016-2017

ROCK & POP

Unfortunately, the huge 4-day Countdown Japan festival at Makuhari Messe is already sold out for New Year's Eve. There are some tickets remaining for December 28th though. On that day you can see a large range of Japanese artists from Polysics to Perfume.

Koenji High have some of their favourite bands playing, including shoegaze outfits like Cruyff in the Bedroom and electro-pop groups like (M)otocompo.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15512

Marz in Shinjuku is hosting Countdown 2016→2017 with some up-and-coming indie bands like Tempalay and Denims.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15511

The Pillows are putting on Countdown Bump Show at Shibuya O-East where they are playing alongside Tomovsky, Pop Chocolat and others.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15341

O-Crest in Shibuya are having a Year End Party with a collection of local rock bands like Large House Satisfaction and Necokicks.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15505

At 7th Floor in Shibuya, they are holding quite an eclectic Count Down Party with artists such as Elekibass and Katsu Marley & The Soul Kitchen.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15499

For a whole bunch of hardcore bands, head to Antiknock in Shinjuku for Burning Spirits 2017. Bands include Systematic Death, Die You Bastard! and System Fucker.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15515


DANCE & ELECTRONIC

An interesting range of live electronic musicians and DJs including Solar and DJ Nobu will gather for Future Terror at Unit in Daikanyama.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15349

Liquidroom's New Year Eve Party 2017 features the Japanese techno DJs Takkyu Ishino and Fumiya Tanaka.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15470

Over at Contact in Shibuya, catch Francois K and Toshiyuki Goto.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15477

Ageha in Shin-Kiba are hosting another massive Count Down party with DJs like R3HAB and Yasutaka Nakata.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15510

New Year Countdown to 2017 at Womb will include Techno and house DJs Josh Wink, DJ Sodeyama and more.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15469

Taicoclub, WWW and Frue are planning a big NYE Countdown to 2017 at WWW and WWWX in Shibuya. The lineup is yet to be dropped.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15471

Tecnho legend Ken Ishii is playing with other DJs at Vision New Years EVE Party Count Down to 2017 at Sound Museum Vision.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15468

Drinks Out for Harambe is planned at Cross Point in Shibuya with a bunch of DJs and alcohol.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15525


JAZZ

Shinjuku's Pit Inn is planning another of their massive All Night Concerts with loads of jazz legends including the Takeshi Shibuya Orchestra and Orquesta Libre.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15315

For smoother jazz, FOURPLAY are serenading Blue Note in Omotesando.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15502

The acoustic jazz duo of Kazuhiko Obata and Natsuki Kido are performing at Cafe Tone in Urawa, Saitama.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15400

An interesting performance event including dance, art and music called Joyamai is planned for Kid Ailack Art Hall in Meidaimae.
tokyogigguide.com/gigs/event/15422



Full list of New Year's Eve gigs

New Year's Eve events 2013-2014

Planning to catch some live music or dance the night away on New Year's Eve 2013/2014? Here are some suggestions from Tokyo Gig Guide:


If you'd like to catch some indie rock bands live, shoegaze group Cruyff In The Bedroom will be performing at two gigs on the same day.

251 ALL STARS SPECIAL
LIVE: cruyff in the bedroom, Response, 安頭, wash?, aeronauts, Lamp in terren, The nonnon, Proxyon, nano sound museum, THE TEENAGE KISSERS, fifi, バイザラウンド, Large House Satisfaction, wilberry
@ Club 251, Shimokitazawa. Opens 15:00. Advance Y2300/door Y2500.


KOENJI HIGH 6th ANNIVERSARY 前夜祭

LIVE: KEYTALK, cruyff in the bedroom, Cosmo-Shiki, MIX MARKET, 1000say, PLASTIC GIRL IN CLOSET, cigarette in your bed, JUN FANTATHEATER, Kit Cat

@ High, Koenji, Opens 14:00. Advance Y2500/door Y3000.

For more live alternative rock, The Pillows will be hosting a larger scale gig at DUO.

The pillows presents COUNTDOWN BUMP SHOW!! 2013→2014

LIVE: the pillows, TOMOVSKY, noodles, BUGY CRAXONE, シュリスペイロフ, POP CHOCOLAT

@ Duo Music Exchange, Shibuya. Opens 18:15. Advance Y3800.

For some more unusual live music, head over to one of these punk events in Koenji, Shimokitazawa or Akihabara.

YEARS END MEGA HITT NIGHT 2013-2014

LIVE: GROUNDCOVER. , FIREBIRDGASS, TERA, RUIN, BAD ATTACK, キャノンボール, 黄金狂時代 , HOW, BULL, for521, ホトトギス, the quiet, 驢馬, kyu-shoku, HOMMヨ, Fashion

@ 20000V, Koenji. Opens 15:45. Advance Y1500/door Y2000.

カラバッシュ COUNT DOWN PARTY2013→2014
LIVE AT BASEMENT BAR: THEこっけんろーるBAND, ひらくドア, Nippon-Paper-Parking, まがりかど, イエスマン, NATURAL VYBZ, DJ BASEMENT CREW ＆生ものガールズ
LIVE AT THREE: salsa, 撃鉄, アンダーボーイズ, BOY FROM HELL, HATENOHATE, Zews, DJ ファンクおにぃとひょっとこ (集good!!!), more
@ BASEMENT BAR & THREE, Shimokitazawa. Opens 20:30. Advance Y2500/door Y3000.

GOOD VIBRATION COUNT DOWN 2013-2014 #FINAL

シャー クニャークス, ヤーチャイカ, worst taste & Special Magic, アーバンダンス, 「ricca」, ソコラノグループ, スライディングが普通の歩き方, ワールドバンパク, 宇宙遊泳, よみかきそろばん, papalion, 長江章文, DJ: レコード水越

@ Goodman, Akihabara. Opens 17:30. Advance/door Y1000.

The swing/ska/punk group Asakusa Jinta are holding a fun show at Tokyo Kinema Club.

Swingin’ Blood-浅草炎上の章-

浅草ジンタ (special guest: GOCOO), Katteni Shiyagare, Charan Po Rantan, WUJA BIN BIN,  DJs 矢部直 (U.F.O.) , ギュウゾウ (電撃ネットワーク）

@ Tokyo Kinema Club, Uguisudani. Opens 20:00. Advance Y4500/door Y5000.

Over in trendy Daikanyama, dance at this eclectic gig featuring live hip-hop, dubstep, house and techno DJs, and more.

UNIT/SALOON/UNICE NEW YEAR’S COUNTDOWN PARTY2013-2014
UNIT: DORIAN, GOMA meets U-zhaan, Takeshi Kubota, LUVRAW&BTB, 七尾旅人, more
SALOON: GONNO, GOTH-TRAD, HARUKA, KEIHIN, more
UNICE: COFFEE & CIGARETTES BAND, CRYSTAL , FORCE OF NATURE, KENJI TAKIMI, Kez YM
@ Unit/Saloon/Unice, Daikanyama. Opens 21:00. Door Y2000.

Live dance groups, DJs, lasers and dancers galore at this huge party out in Ageha.

ageHa COUNTDOWN 2014

BOOM BOOM SATELLITES, DJ KAORI, DJ KENTARO, MITOMI TOKOTO, RYUKYU DISKO, many more.

@ Ageha, Shin-Kiba. Opens 21:00. Advance Y4980/door Y6000.

DJ Yasutaka Nakata, producer of Perfume,Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Capsule, is headlining an electro/house party over at Club Asia, while just down the road, another countdown dance party is happening at Vision

CLUB ASIA COUNTDOWN 2013-2014

中田ヤスタカ (CAPSULE), ☆Taku Takahashi (m-flo, block.fm), DE DE MOUSE, GOTH-TRAD, DJ DYE (THA BLUE HERB), more
@ Club Asia, Shibuya. Opens 21:00. Door Y4000.

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY - COUNT DOWN TO 2014

SURKIN, CANBLASTER, SHINICHI OSAWA, DEXPISTOLS, 80KIDZ, MASATOSHI UEMURA, PUNKADELIX, more.

@ Sound Museum Vision, Shibuya. Opens 21:00. Advance Y4000/door Y5500.

A number of other dance events are happening in the Shibuya vicinity.

liquidroom presents 2014LIQUID

Takkyu Ishino, Fumiya Tanaka, Yoshinori Sunahara, Nobu, AOKI takamasa, more

@ Liquidroom, Ebisu. Opens 20:00. Door Y5000 (Y4000 before 9:30).

WOMB PRESENTS NEW YEAR COUNTDOWN TO 2014

 Daniel Bell, AKi, Sodeyama, Satoshi Otsuki, Pi-Ge, more

@ Womb, Shibuya. Opens 21:00. Door Y5000 (Y4000 after midnight).

AIR NEW YEARS EVE PARTY "COUNTDOWN TO 2014"

DJ EMMA, KEN ISHII, Special secret guest live, more.

@ Air, Daikanyama. Opens 21:00. Door Y4000 (Y3000 before 11:00).

If you want to spend new year's eve with some of Tokyo's best jazz musicians, the only place to be is Pit Inn.

ALL NIGHT CONCERT 2013～2014

Fumio Itabashi Group, Orquesta Libre, Isao Suzuki Trio, Takeshi Shibuya Orchestra, Fumio Karashima Quintet, Dairo Suga Trio

@ Pit Inn, Shinjuku. Opens 19:00. Advance Y4000.

For something completely different, over at WWW, they're holding a "Black Opera" with music, art and all sorts.

BLACK OPERA vol.001《COUNT DOWN》

Music by: KILLER-BONG, JUBE,  BABA, Fumika Yamakawa, Atsuhiro Ito, HIKO, AyA (OOIOO), DJs Keiji Haino, Shhhhh, more

Unfortunately, Countdown Japan, the biggest new year's event, is completely sold out. You might find tickets on Yahoo Auctions.

COUNTDOWN JAPAN 13/14

Elephant Kashimashi, Chara x The Novembers, Polysics, Triceratops, group_inou, The Mirraz, many more.

@ Makuhari Messe. Sold out.

More New Year's Eve gigs on Tokyo Gig Guide

New Year's Resolutions & eplus

By Liza

Last year, I made a New Year's resolution I had no trouble keeping!

It was simple -- go to at least one gig a month, be it a major international act, bratty teenage garage band or a non-routine DJ set. And I succeeded in my mission!

I felt good about this because I missed my days of living for shows, before I moved to Tokyo. In my native Florida, gigs are super cheap and start well after work. Plus, there's no language barrier keeping me from discovering new acts (unless you count Spanish!)

However, in Tokyo I found myself working too late for the early-starting shows, and too broke after drinking away my hard-earned yen while lamenting my glorious rock and roll days.

No more! With the help of this site (and a job change!) I'm back on track. Learning a bit of Japanese has also helped, and I discovered the glory of pre-ordering tickets.

As dorky as it feels to buy gig tickets often months in advance (like I did with the Pavement reunion show in April!) it's much better to know I have my tickets to see the bigger international acts and don't have to scramble to a ticket machine on a weekend morning.

Here's a little info on how to use the eplus presale system. You'll need to have a bit of Japanese ability but with the help of a friend or Google translate it's not too difficult.

1. Open up an account with your e-mail address. (it's free)
--Click the "はじめての方" button next to the "Top" button near the top of the screen.
--Scroll down to "会員登録" button on the bottom left and click.
--Hit the yellow button to agree to the terms of service.
--Enter your info. You can pick how you want to pay for tickets. I had trouble getting it to accept my (American) credit card, so I selected the option to pay for and pick up tickets at FamilyMart. (more later)

2. Find the show you want to see. The search bar at the top left of the screen will search by artist, and I find that the names of most foreign artists are in English, not katakana.

3. It will list all the shows for that artist in Japan. Click the yellow button to pick the one you want.

4. Here's the page for an upcoming show of the very excellent Shibusashirazu Orchestra (渋さ知らズオーケストラ). You can see the venue (with venue info button underneath) , then the date, then the info we want: the pre-order period ("プレオーダー" is the magic word), and then the public on-sale date. Looks like this show is available for pre-order Jan. 22-28, and general on-sale from Feb. 13.

5. Now here's where you'll have to take my word on things. Click the yellow button to select this show. You'll only have the option to do the pre-order during the designated period, exactly at the times listed.

6. Click the button to say you want to pre-order, and you'll be prompted to log in (if you haven't already, sometimes it asks you earlier!) Log in, enter the number of tickets you want and confirm.
-- What you're doing now is entering a lottery for a set number of pre-order tickets. You'll get an e-mail confirming this -- make sure you get the e-mail or you haven't entered!
--The e-mail will tell you when you can check the site back to find out if you got the tickets.
--There's a fee of probably 210 yen a ticket when you do the pre-order, along with some "service" fee.

7. You'll get another e-mail telling you if you got the tickets, or you can log back in to eplus at the customer page to see the status of your application. ("会員の方" button at top menu bar, then the ">>申込み状況照会" option.)

8. Pick the show, and you'll see the price info. You'll also get a date when the money is due, if you're paying at FamilyMart like I did. Here's the tricky part: you'll need to click on the bigger yellow button at the end of the show info, and this should go to another screen showing the name of your chosen payment convini chain. Click the yellow button next to it.

9. I recommend printing out this next screen. You will need to enter this number in the convini ticket machine in order to pay for the show. The bottom of it shows the screens to touch on the machine in order to get to your personal payment screen -- you can't just enter the number in the regular ticket lookup number section. The convini clerk can help you.

10. Pay for the show at the convini. The clerk will give you a receipt, but you probably can't print out the tickets just yet -- it seems like you have to wait until the general on-sale to print them out.

11. Bring your magic number back to the convini after the date you're told and you can get a slip for printing out your presale tickets. Don't worry if you lose the printout with your number on it; you can always go back to eplus and access your number.

12. Enjoy your show in like, 6 months' time!

Way uncool I know but better than stressing out the morning the tickets go on-sale! I've seen bigger international acts sell out small venues (like Liquid Room in Ebisu) in a couple of hours.

I hope this info has been helpful! Does anyone else have any gig-related resolutions?