[tegomass] Quetzala Blanco column - translated + scan
Translated a column in today's Expressen. In it, Quetzala Blanco rates different aspects of the Tegomass visit.
A scan of the text + a really cute photo is included. :)
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JAPANESE HYSTERIA
Quetzala Blanco tries ... hanging with a Japanese pop group
This week, Japan's biggest pop group Tegomass were in Stockholm to perform for their most devoted fans at Spy Bar. I joined a devoted crowd of teenagers, eyes red with weeping, Hello Kitty-trinkets, and fainted girls.
The Fans
I've never in all my years attending concerts seen such a fanatic audience. Not for Madonna, Misfits or Michael Jackson. The girls cry till their cheeks are red while I and their surprised parents look at each other with ... what? Perhaps pity. Or hope that soon, very soon we'll understand the greatness of these two Japanese teenagers on stage.
Rating: 5/5
The Concert
Well, the music isn't exactly my type of music. They perform their song 'Miso Soup' playback. I and the adults in the room keep looking at each other in amazement. Everybody screams. Deafening, shrill screams. The two boys come out with a few phrases in Swedish - the obligatory 'tack så mycket' ('thank you'). I note that one girl faints. Suddenly feel insanely old.
Rating: 2/5
The Handshaking
In Japan, Tegomass don't sign their CDs. They shake hands with all their fans instead. Once they shook hands with 200,000 fans. Without gloves! A pity for an autograph hunter like me (Ron Wood's autograph rests safely in my pad). But I try this handshake thing and, well... theirs are a bit steadier than most people's. But then they've had practice.
Rating: 3/5
The Meeting
Then I finally get to meet band members Yuuya Tegoshi and Takahisa Masuda, neither of them a day over twenty. Helping me is an interpreter who translates my questions for these two smiling dolls.
"The hardest part of being a pop star are all the practical things, like having to cut our hair when it gets too long and that our clothes mustn't be weird," says Takahisa and never stops smiling. Their naivity is wonderful.
Rating: 5/5
Final rating: 15/20
Conclusion: When I was doing the interview the fans were screaming outside, when the boys were on stage the fans screamed even louder, and when the fans were about to shake hands there were so many emotions all at once - many looked totally broken down as they left. I felt a bit like a peeping old woman!
Expressen 061118
Translated by Andy Kayen
Don't repost this translation elsewhere, please, but feel free to link to it.
Scan:
Full-size version of the photo: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/andreaskn/blanco-tegomass.jpg
A scan of the text + a really cute photo is included. :)
----------
JAPANESE HYSTERIA
Quetzala Blanco tries ... hanging with a Japanese pop group
This week, Japan's biggest pop group Tegomass were in Stockholm to perform for their most devoted fans at Spy Bar. I joined a devoted crowd of teenagers, eyes red with weeping, Hello Kitty-trinkets, and fainted girls.
The Fans
I've never in all my years attending concerts seen such a fanatic audience. Not for Madonna, Misfits or Michael Jackson. The girls cry till their cheeks are red while I and their surprised parents look at each other with ... what? Perhaps pity. Or hope that soon, very soon we'll understand the greatness of these two Japanese teenagers on stage.
Rating: 5/5
The Concert
Well, the music isn't exactly my type of music. They perform their song 'Miso Soup' playback. I and the adults in the room keep looking at each other in amazement. Everybody screams. Deafening, shrill screams. The two boys come out with a few phrases in Swedish - the obligatory 'tack så mycket' ('thank you'). I note that one girl faints. Suddenly feel insanely old.
Rating: 2/5
The Handshaking
In Japan, Tegomass don't sign their CDs. They shake hands with all their fans instead. Once they shook hands with 200,000 fans. Without gloves! A pity for an autograph hunter like me (Ron Wood's autograph rests safely in my pad). But I try this handshake thing and, well... theirs are a bit steadier than most people's. But then they've had practice.
Rating: 3/5
The Meeting
Then I finally get to meet band members Yuuya Tegoshi and Takahisa Masuda, neither of them a day over twenty. Helping me is an interpreter who translates my questions for these two smiling dolls.
"The hardest part of being a pop star are all the practical things, like having to cut our hair when it gets too long and that our clothes mustn't be weird," says Takahisa and never stops smiling. Their naivity is wonderful.
Rating: 5/5
Final rating: 15/20
Conclusion: When I was doing the interview the fans were screaming outside, when the boys were on stage the fans screamed even louder, and when the fans were about to shake hands there were so many emotions all at once - many looked totally broken down as they left. I felt a bit like a peeping old woman!
Expressen 061118
Translated by Andy Kayen
Don't repost this translation elsewhere, please, but feel free to link to it.
Scan:
Full-size version of the photo: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/andreaskn/blanco-tegomass.jpg
