ESSAY 20

AUGUST 26, 2003: THE MOMENT OF A LIFETIME
By Jeffrey C. Branch

It's hard to believe a full decade has passed since that magical moment on Tuesday, August 26, 2003 when I finally realized my most cherished ambition: to see Pink Lady live in concert. Wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay back when I was stationed in Japan in the late 70's during my career in the Navy and had fallen in love with Mie and Kei, it never occurred to me to try and see the girls in concert. At the time, I had been perfectly content to listen to what few cassettes I had bought along with those rare instances when I got to see them on TV. Seeing the girls in the flesh? Never a consideration.

In hindsight, there had been considerable obstacles that would have made seeing the girls difficult. First and foremost, there was the language barrier as my knowledge of Japanese was (and, to this day, still is) mostly nonexistent, I couldn't read it and barely spoke it, so I had no way of finding out where the girls were performing so I could go attend a live show. Then there was my being a sailor on an American warship, and warships had that annoying habit of leaving port for days, even weeks at a time to conduct maneuvers and such, that made being in port for any lengthy stretch of time problematical at best, and when I was in port, I had to stand duty every three of four days and couldn't leave the ship. And, if by some miracle, I had managed to find out where the girls might have been having a show, if I had duty that particular night, I was effectively screwed. Even after I left Japan in early December 1978, the notion of going to a PL concert never crossed my mind so much as once, nor did I feel sorry about that.

Flash forward twenty-five years to February 2003 when I learned that Mie and Kei were getting back together and going on tour. Suddenly, the opportunity of a lifetime had been placed in my lap, I could finally correct the oversight of not seeing a Pink Lady show in person, and I jumped on that with both feet, realizing that if I failed to take advantage of that golden opportunity to see Mie and Kei in the flesh, I would live with that horrible regret for the rest of my life, and I wasn't about to let that happen. To make a long story short, I contacted Akihiro Seki who runs PL-NET (The Pink Lady Network Association of Japan) and asked him if he could land me tickets to one of the shows, he got me in for August 26 in Yokohama, then I spent weeks in almost daily preparation for the trip. I had to since I was returning to a country I last set foot in a quarter century ago, where English wasn't the language of choice and had to literally retrain myself on how to get around in one of the largest cities on the planet. Not a small feat.

LEFT: Kanagawa Kenmin Hall in Yokohama, the place where my fondest dream finally came true!
RIGHT: These lovely, and legendary ladies need no introduction!

But it was all worth it, and ten times more when I flew to Japan, then found myself inside Kanagawa Kenmin Hall on that sweltering, but wondefully fateful late August afternoon to see my beloved heroines perform live for the first (and, most likely, only) time. I can still recall the atmosphere in the building when I entered which was electric from anticipation, the crowd was mixed, male and female, young and old, some older than me as I was 44 at the time while more than a few industrious fans sported impressive looking mock-ups of costumes Mie and Kei wore back in their heyday. I don't mind admitting it felt odd to be the only foreigner in the crowd, and, at six foot two, I stood head and shoulders over practically everyone else, still, no one gave me any strange looks, I was just another fan eager to see Pink Lady. Entering the hall itself, that air of anticipation increased as I made my way to my seat, dead center, eight rows from the stage, talk about being a lucky guy, that, my friends, was certainly me.

When the lights dimmed, the curtain rose and Mie and Kei emerged to a huge cheer from the crowd, I was spellbound. At long last, I was seeing the Ladies in person, and it was incredible. Granted, they weren't the cute, fresh faced girls I fell in love with back in 1977, but elegant and gorgeous women who could still enthrall a crowd with their unique brand of musical magic. I cheered, shouted, waved, even danced along during some of their numbers as best I could, no doubt I resembled a drunk at a disco at two in the morning, but I didn't care, I was having the time of my life, as did the crowd. More importantly, so did Mie and Kei as I could see they displayed all the joy and passion for performing for their devoted fans. It just as much fun for the Ladies as it was for the crowd, Mie and Kei fed off the crowd, giving them energy (which they needed, given their age), and, in turn, the Ladies gave it right back to them through their singing and dancing in a symbiosis I found to havebeen incredible.

I remember being physically and emotionally drained after the show ended. What an amazing experience it had been, I had been to more than a few concerts in my time, but they were nothing compared to a Pink Lady show. No wonder they were so beloved, and I got to experience that magic again several hours later at the evening show (the Ladies did two shows at each venue, one in the afternoon, the second in the evening) as Mie and Kei cranked it up all over again, and the second time around was just as great as the first. It was only after I had returned home three days later that I found myself wondering what it would've been like to have seen Mie and Kei back in 1978 when they were just out of their teens and at the absolute height of their power and popularity as idols, especially in THAT particular year. Still, to have seen Pink Lady in concert, whether in their early 20's or their mid 40's was a monumental event in my life and served to reaffirm my undying affection for these popmusic legends.

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