How long do concerts normally last?

On April 25, I want to see a rock concert in Esaka (near Osaka), but my hotel is Ueno (Tokyo). The show starts at 18:30, and I read that often shows start that early so people can get on the last train back.....but the last 2 Hikari trains leave Osaka at 20:30 to go back to Tokyo, only 2 hours after the show starts.

So my question is, do Japanese rock/metal shows that start around 18:30 usually only last about an hour/an hour and a half? Do you think I could actually have time to make a 20:30 train? Or should I just reserve a seat on the Sunrise Seto? (I will have a JR rail pass) Will JR just let me reserve seats on the Hikari AND the Sunrise Seto (since it would be obvious I wouldn't be getting on one of them)??

depends what kinda concert it is. is there only one band playing?? if there is only one band (which i highly doubt) you should be fine. but if not, there is no way it will be finished in time for you to get the 8.30pm train. i've been to many concerts in japan, big bands and small unknown ones, and i can't remember any being finished by that time. Why don't you go to the concert and check out some of the Osaka nightlife and head back on the first Shinkansen in the morning? Just a suggestion. If not, take the overnight train/bus, or stay in a cheap hotel for the night.

Zach,

A typical showcase lasts at least 2 hours, and often the starting time delays. You will never make it to the 20:30 unless you leave the venue early. Have you considered staying over at Osaka area rather than to pay the express fee for Sunrise Seto?

thanks for all the help guys!

- I don't know how many bands are playing. The website just says Gargoyle (the band I am going to see) is playing, it doesn't mention any other acts.

- was under the impression from the info on this site that I could use my JR Rail Pass to get a ''nobi nobi'' seat on the Sunrise Seto for free?

- Another friend told me that most people just hang out at the venue and party after shows until 5am when the trains start again. My travel agent (also a Japanese metal fan) suggested I just get a cheap capsule hotel.

- But really my only fear of staying until 5am is that at some point, I'll just be sitting there alone with nothing to do, and everyone will have gone home. Also, I don't want to waste the next day sleeping all day. But is there really a lot of nightlife in Osaka till 5am? I know that probably sounds ridiculous to people that have already been there but I honestly didn't know whether or not a lot was going on there really late at night. What would an average Japanese person do in this situation? Just party till 5am?

most of the bars, clubs, and izakayas (restaurants) are open till 5am in the main areas. and yea there is plenty to check out in osaka. i know some of the shops in shinsaibashi are even open till that hour on the weekends. grab yourself a copy of the kansai scene (or look at it online), its the english magazine from kansai, will give you lots of info on where you can go. if you like rock music, i recomend rock rock music bar in shinsaibashi! its the best bar in kansai, hands down! you can stay there till 5am, but there is a cover charge, so will cost you. lots of other western style bars with no charge, irish and english pubs etc. if you don't wanna drink, you can definately people watch, hang out at mcdonalds (sleep there if you want a free bed!). or stay in a cheap hotel the night.

sorry, but im not sure about the jr pass and the overnight train.

btw, whats the name of the live house/venue for the live??

There isn't a lot of night life in Esaka area. You will have to take a subway or a taxi to go to Shinsaibashi. I would follow your travel agent's suggestion.

The name of the live house is ESAKA MUSE

I know I can at least take a subway from Esaka to Osaka in 20 minutes, so Im thinking about reserving an overnight train just in case and maybe playing it by ear in Osaka all night

Ok, so I am a big fan of doing whatever it takes to see your favourite bands so I would say that you should go and see them, even if it does mean missing the last Hikari. Can you get the Nozomi back? I mean, it does cost a little extra for that one trip, but it gets you home.

If not, finish the live and jump on the subway to Shinsaibashi and, as the person above me said, go to Rock Rock. Not too sure about the cover charge (I never paid any and I was there for... four nights, I think) but it is a great place and the staff are awesome. When I was there (also a solo foreign traveler, staying in Kyoto but partying all night in Osaka) I'd hang with the staff at Rock Rock till close then head around to Room 19 with them. Room 19 is open 24 hours a day and is dirt cheap and a great way to wind down and get the sunglasses out before braving the morning trains.

If not, you could always try Diamond Rocks Bar as well. It is about 5 minutes walk away and run by a guy who used to work at Rock Rock. The place is a little quieter, but again, they are an awesome crew to spend the night drinking with and were super friendly.

Either way, I say go for it!

if reserving a seat on the overnight train is the same as reserving a seat with your rail pass on a normal shinkansen, then just do it! i know it's not right to reserve and not go, but i really don't think one seat is gunna be that much of a big deal! and just see how you go after the show.

seems there is only one band listed, which is really really strange! but still, i doubt you will make the last train anyway.

rock rock has a cover charge on weekends. sorry, my bad, maybe it is free on sunday night, like weekdays. but like minkagreen, i live in kyoto, so i have to do all nighters when i go there. and he/she is 100% correct about the staff, they are awesome!

minkagreen, i'm interested to know where Diamond Rocks Bar is, do you remember directions from rock rock, or the street name or anything? And also who's the guy running it?

and... sorry for hijacking ur post!

... Just to continue the post hijacking...

The Rock Rock crew are awesome, aren't they!? Gotta love Yuichi and Kentaro! I don't actually live in Kyoto (I'm in Australia) but I was over there on holidays two weeks ago and the amount of times I went back to Osaka was insane. Osaka was amazing like that; I'm female (to answer the he/she question) and was traveling on my own and have never felt so welcome anywhere, not to mention looked after.

Diamond Rocks Bar is a little bit more of a lounge in a way. At least, I would put it that way. Red mood lighting and softer music to make talking easier, but it is still rock music. God, I even had them hooking youtube up to the tv and playing lynch. (band from Nagoya) for me. That was pretty cool.

But it is run by Nov; you'd probably know him if you are at Rock Rock a lot. Used to work there last year and I think he still does some DJing there on occasion.

As for where it is, it is pretty easy. You know where Daimaru is? Well, if you are facing Dotonbori way, then you want to be on the left side of the road. When you get to the street with D&G on the corner, turn left. It is in the second block, right hand side of the road and on level four. Look for the red sign and the weird round mirrored foyer leading towards the elevator.

It was the best find; I just picked a random building and random floor, walked in, felt over conspicuous for a bit (I don't speak or read Japanese) but then ended up having the time of my life.

Thanks heaps!

I'll definately check it out soon. Sounds like you found the best of the best bars while you were here!

I know Nov, and was wondering where he's been the last few times i've been to rock rock! Rock rock was my 2nd home when i first came to japan, but until last month, i hadn't been for a while, coz i went back home for a couple of months holiday. I'm also from Oz!! Yes, Kentaro and Yuichi are sweeties aren't they! They haven't been working there that long! All the staff are lovely, including the owner.

Thanks so much for the directions! If you're planning another trip back here, and want another Aussie who loves rock to have a drink with, give me a yell!

Glad to help!

Yeah, I seemed to just stumble onto them rather randomly. It was a case of really amazing luck. I was actually looking for a clothing shop when the elevator opened up to Rock Rock and they talked me into going in. Very unexpected and most definitely awesome!

Nov rocks!!! Out of all of them, he was my favourite despite the not so good communication. I must learn more Japanese! Had the poor man struggling quite a bit with me prattling on in English and him trying to keep up. He was such a sweetie and I have to say that I have never been looked after or treated so well in my life. He took me around and introduced me to other bars and people, made sure I got back to my hotel alright and he and Hiroshi even called up Sushi from Rock Inn Current in Tokyo (which you probably know) and made sure he knew I was coming and told him to look after me up there. When I got to Current it was like I was walking into a local bar; they all looked at me and went �gare you ___ from Australia, Nov-san�fs friend?�h Hugs, photos to email Nov, free drinks. It was amazing. I still get overly dumbfounded just thinking about it all.

God yes to Kentaro and Yuichi being sweeties. And yeah, Yuichi was telling me he hadn�ft been there that long. Damnit, this is making me miss the place even more. :(

And dear god, you are also from Australia?! That is awesome! Apparently Australians just flock to the good places in Japan!

It just so happens that I am planning another trip back. Ideally I want to do a working holiday and be over there before Christmas (if I can stop my evil shopping ways and save the money for the visa) but even if I don�ft, a friend and I are planning to go for New Year. Gotta go to Over the Edge concert, you see, so we�fre planning a week in Tokyo before a week in Osaka as she has never been. She wants to go to all these places and meet everyone and my bonus is that she speaks fluent Japanese ;)

And now I am ranting as you have me remembering all my drunken stumbling nights and I am once again completely hijacking this thread. Sorry to the original poster!!!!

there aren't so many aussies living over here, we are so far outnumbered by the americans, it aint funny (no offence intended).

i can definately recommend coming over here to work. it's the most awesome experience, you will love it! i wanted to come over for years, but couldn't due to various reasons, but finally did it, and now im having the time of my life and living my dream! so about the working holiday thing..... DO IT!!!

i don't know rock inn current!!! wow, you are introducing me to new places! and aren't i the one living here !lol. i go to tokyo almost every month, but i have some japanese mates that work in a couple of bars there, so i always go there, coz of the free drinks, and they play all the music I want without me even asking, so i haven't needed to go anywhere else! but I'd love to check that one out too, if you let me know where it is :)

and yea Nov is great! definately cool guy for his age! so great to hear he's doing his own bar now! can't wait to see what that place is like.

thanks so much again!

Yeah, I really want to do the working holiday thing. Don't know what I would do over there though as I don't have a degree yet, so English teaching is out. Do you mind me asking what you are doing there at the moment?

OMG! You have to go to Rock Inn Current. It is awesome. A hell of a lot like Rock Rock. Dj Sushi rocks, and Mogi and Masami are awesome as well. And they play awesome music. I gave them a list of bands and they just filtered their songs in every half hour or so for me. Great place.

Umm, I only have the business card with the address in Japanese so that doesn't really help me. But umm, ok, dodgy directions... Shinjuku. The main gate of Kabukicho right. With Alta direction at your back, turn left (so it is 7/11, Kabukicho gate and then there is a MacDonalds somewhere around there) I think you are heading towards the sky scraper side of things and you go under the railway. Rock Inn Current is on that road that runs next to the tracks, about four or five blocks up from that underpass walking away from the station. It is on the right hand side of the road, second (I think) building in from a corner and one flight of stairs up. Has a Heinkein sign out on the street with Rock Inn Current written really small underneath it.

Hope that made sense.

And Nov is cool for his age? Damn, how old is he? lol. I was trying to guess it, but apparently never got it right. And it is a really nice bar. Very shiny and I love all the red.

woah thanks for all the extra info!

by the way, this Nov guy, is he the same NOV that is the singer for the popular band AION?? that would be awesome!

Don't think Nov was ever in a band...., but who know's, he could've been, I don't know him that well!

btw, how old did you think he was? lol

I'm teaching English over here, well if you can call it that! Having a great big holiday is a more accurate description! lol As I said I'd wanted to come here for so long but couldn't for a number of reasons. I also didn't have a degree, so was planning to come on a working holiday visa. But I was working at a Uni at the time, and was able to do a 3 course post grad degree (which is technically higher than a bachelors degree), so I applied for JET as a back up, and here I am!

Don't write off teaching English, you can definately still do it without a degree, on a working holiday visa. It would just be very difficult to find a full time, M-F job. But there are companies that hire casual teachers. When are you coming? I had some guy the other week trying to get me to teach at his English school in Kyoto, he wanted an Aussie female!! I think I threw out his business card tho. Do some research before you come, and I'm sure you can land a casual teaching job very easily. You can make alot of money doing private lessons too. And it is soooooooooooooooo easy money!

Ok, I'm off for my 9 hour stint of sitting in the staff room! lol

and thanks sooooooo much for the directions to the other bar. i'm off to tokyo on the weekend, so i'll try to find it then!

Zach - Very sorry for hijacking your thread like this, though I hope you are getting some good bar info and directions. Has it convinced you to do an all nighter in Osaka yet?

Also, I looked up that band it is not the Nov we are talking about. Not too sure if he ever was in a band but he does play guitar and bass I believe. He was fully rocking our and air guitaring to lynch. when I had him playing their stuff.

Julie: I was guessing late 20's, maybe early 30's but no more then 32. How old is he? Kentaro shocked me being so young though I got his age right on first guess which is crazy considering the tattoos. ;) My thing with being able to pick ages seems to come and go.

I really do want to teach English, but I was one of those people who got lost somewhere in full time work and responsibility between high school and uni and thus never made it. And now that I have had the cash of full time work, the idea of switching to a uni student lifestyle is hard; plus, I've now been to Japan twice and don't really want to have to go through 3 or more years of being a poor uni student before I can go back and experience living there. I plan to do it the other way; working holiday, experience, home and study, get the paper in order to do a proper work visa.

But if there are ways to teach English on just a working holiday visa I would love to know about them.

Do you have an account on here? If you don't mind, I would really appreciate being able to ask you a few questions about the initial move and job hunting and whatnot through PM. If you don't mind, that is. It is always good to research it, but there is nothing like first hand experience, especially when it is coming from someone originally from my own country.

Plus, I just think maybe we have hijacked this poor guy's thread too much.

Sorry Zach

hey its ok. of course since you guys are talking about rock/metal clubs in Japan of course this info is all going to be useful to me anyway!

like I said earlier though, the only reason I really wouldnt want to stay up till 5am is because I don't want to spend the next day sleeping all day....especially since I am only there 6 days and I want to do as much as I can