If you happen to find yourself in Tokyo over the next six evenings, I strongly suggest finding the time to pop by Club Yellow. Because after this Saturday, the world famous club will only be a memory. As I wrote back in February, Yellow, which has been an integral part of Tokyo's electronic music scene for the past 16 years, is closing down.
For its final week the club has invited some of its most well-loved mainstays to help draw the curtains. Tonight (in fact the party is happening even as I type) Yellow sees the last of its jazzier nights, with Tomoyuki Tanaka (from Fantastic Plastic Machine), Shinichi Osawa, United Future Organization and other local jazz/funk DJs taking to the decks.
On Tuesday night Yellow tips its hat to its Detroit fans, with Derrick May on the wheels of steel.
Wednesday night has Yellow going back to its classic House roots, with New York DJ Danny Krivit spinning and a live performance by vocalist Rochelle Fleming (of the Philadelphia vocal group First Choice).
Yellow has its final night of minimal techno on Thursday, with Fumiya Tanaka (quite frankly Japan's best techno DJ) reviving his Distortion parties (which lasted from 1994 to 1997) for one night only.
The club's penultimate event on Friday features Laurent Garnier, who has played at Yellow regularly since 1994.
The very last piece of vinyl to ever be spun at Space Lab Yellow will be played by Francois K, who first appeared at the club in 1992, and has played there about 26 times. Entry for this final night is a whopping 10 000yen, which I suspect is Yellow's way of making sure the club isn't ridiculously overcrowded ... although I'm sure that it will be anyway, with every clubber in Tokyo keenly aware of the historic nature of the impending closure. In fact I'm strongly considering going myself. Sure, the entrance fee is rather hefty, but as well as being integral to Tokyo's electronic music scene, Yellow has played a huge role in my personal history and relationship with electronic music. Saturday night is Yellow's funeral and wake all rolled into one, and if I miss it I'm sure I'll be kicking myself forever ...
i still can't believe that when i return to japan in august yellow won't be there... i remember my first party there was moodyman back september 2001. to be honest, my first impressions weren't that good, mainly because it was super overcrowded - a problem yellow would sometimes suffer from. i soon fell in love with the place and had many great times there. perhaps my favourite was seeing rhythm & sound - they were actually a bit disappointing (too much dub for my tastes) but it was a very fun, random night.
ReplyDeletenot sure which night would be best to go to. the fumiya party would be brilliant, especially if he dug deep into his crate, garnier would no doubt be special (i saw him play a fantastic set there a few years ago), and francois k is sure to do something special for the last night. so perhaps go to all 3?
RIP.
Ah yes, the Rhythm & Sound night at Yellow ... that night was MASSIVE!!!
ReplyDeleteOut of many great nights at Yellow, Francois K and Scion a couple of years ago would have to rank with the best... thanks Cam!
ReplyDeleteToo many other stand out nights to count, and the place will be sorely missed. Garnier has been amazing both times I've seen him there and would love to make it down for that night (or morning) but we'll see...
Anyhow, yeah, a sad thing...
WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT YELLOW WAS TO CLOSE I WAS DEPRESSED FOR ABOUT 2 WEEKS. MY FAVORITE NITE THERE WAS MAY 5TH 2001 WHEN I SAAW TIMMY REGISFORD. I MEET MY HUSBAND THERE AND MEET MANY WONDERFUL PEOPLE. NOW LIVING IN AUSTRALIA I LOOKED INTO GETTING BACK FOR THE LAST NIGHT BUT COULDNT AFFORD IT. LOVE U YELLOW
ReplyDeletei somehow ended up with a day off work on the wednesday during the final week, so me and a bunch of fools (who didnt have the next day off) went to see the innovator there on the tuesday night... to my surprise the place was jam packed all night, on a freakin tuesday. was awesome. got myself a t-shirt. will miss that place tho, it was my favourite spot :(
ReplyDeletealikz
Good Job! :)
ReplyDelete