The British Invasion: Lily Allen 2009 Shibuya O-East

Well, a few months back (i.e. January) I was looking up who was coming to Japan - concerts that is. Low and behold I saw that the up and coming star, Lily Allen was going to grace Tokyo with her presence on June 5th, 2009. I immediately told Annelyse, as Lily is one of our favorite singers and we have known about her for some time now even though she is now just exploding. As the winter months passed, weeks became days then hours and it was fast forwarded into space to June 5th, 2009 before we even knew it!

It was a rainy Friday evening. We both left school immediately and booked it to Tokyo. We had reserved a hotel in Shinjuku because we were uncertain how long the concert would actually last. Annelyse got there before me and was able to check in for us. Shinjuku is the biggest train station in the world so it took me a minute to grab hold of my barrings and understand where I needed to be. I was running late due to Friday night traffic and the rain certainly did not help things.

I ran up into the hotel, dropped my bag off, quickly changed into my outfit and we were out the door in a taxi on our way to Shibuya O-East theater. Our taxi driver was fantastic. I do not mean driving (he was good driver too) but his English was amazing! Many people in Japan, you will find out if you visit me, are not great at speaking English. It is rare to find someone who is actually fluent in English. Our driver was provided the most entertaining cab ride. He dropped us off at the koban (police) station just outside of Shibuya eki (station). We asked where Shibuya O-East was and we were on our way darting in and out of the millions of umbrellas clouded above us. It was really an incredible site to see all the umbrellas contrasting against the neon lights of Shibuya.

Once inside, we checked in at "the list" and were on our way to listen to Lily rock out for the next hour and half. O-East is a nice little venue. It is a club on the weekends and also a music venue. It was very intimate and wonderfully set up to have not a single bad seat in the house! We walked until we found the perfect spot to see her, dance, and sing the night away. Lily Allen's lyrics are some of the most original lyrics I have ever heard. They are mind blowing, vulgar, and sweet all at once. She is an adorable girl (she is our age) and has rockin' stage presence. She really knows how to work her crowd and we just had the best time!

After the concert, we went out and enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Elephant in Shibuya. It was an ethnic restaurant providing many different nations of foods. We ordered several dished, dug in, and went back to the hotel to rest and talk. It was an enjoyable evening despite the rain. I needed to go to bed early because I had sports day the next day...or so I thought.

I woke up and was out of the hotel by 5:50 AM to be able to catch the first bus back to Itako. In the midst of going back to Tokyo Sta. I received a call saying that Sports Day was cancelled. I took advantage of the day to rest and enjoy myself and take a mini break from the Ayame Princess...