As I mentioned in an earlier, I was first turned onto Judy and Mary through their awesome ORANGE SUNSHINE album with the pop perfect tunes like Cheese Pizza and Radio, all courtesy of my J-pop guru Dan. For the longest time, all I knew of them was the casette tape copy he made for me, and the only visual I had of the band were the pics included in the Orange Sunshine CD…
The first time that I actually got to see Judy and Mary on TV performing live was during the Japan Record Awards (Recordo Taisho) that New Year’s. It was 1995, and the band was promoting MIRACLE DIVING, the album that would ultimately be their “Sgt. Pepper’s” i.e. the album that would explode them into the mainstream audience! The song up for the award that night was a single from the album called Over Drive, a tune that up until that point I hadn’t heard before…but BOY would I remember it afterwards!
The Record Taisho usually had a mix of live performances and video clips featured throughout the show, and so it wasn’t unexpected that when Judy and Mary’s song was announced, a huge screen was dropped down to show the Over Drive PV. Once the song started though, the announcers danced over to the screen, and lifted it up, revealing the band playing right behind it!
There was Takuya on Guitar, Onda on Bass, and Kohta on Drums…but where was Yuki? Why, she was in a carrier sailing over the audience as the band played! By the time Takuya got to his blazin’ guitar solo, she’d reached the stage, sashaying out of the cage, revealing a cute kimono outfit! In fact, everyone was dressed up in very matsuri style costumes as befitting the occasion!
Once all together, the band got into it in earnest, and MAN… I had known how zany the group was already, but for some reason, I still didn’t expect the amount of energy and passion that the group would radiate! It was truly a heartfelt performance!