On March 5, Seiichi Yamamoto shut the doors at Bears, a music venue in Osaka¡¯s Namba district that he¡¯s run for the past 34 years, and played to an empty room.
The 61-year-old musician, a veteran of bands such as Rovo, Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba and Most, posted an announcement for the ¡°no-audience gig¡± on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of himself in a face mask with a bottle of hand sanitizer: ¡°5pm start, no live stream! The doors to Bears will be closed, so nobody can come in.¡±
At the time, COVID-19 was only just beginning to exert its influence over Japan¡¯s live music scene. By the end of the month, almost the entire industry was in shutdown, mirroring trends seen in many other countries.
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