Dreams Come True made their first area appearance tonight in four years. The Japanese super group launched into a refreshing set of their cherished classics, as well as new material from "Monkey Girl Odyssey", their new record. The elated fans screamed and sang out loud during "Snow Dance", the opening song. Miwa Yoshida, the band's soulful vocalist soared over the rhythmic anthems of bassist Masa Nakamura.
But this sold out show was different from the previous New York show and quite different from the large arena and stadium tours so associated with this tremendously creative and successful band. Gone was the glitter and pageantry of the preceding tours, it was obvious the band was onstage to perform. With simple yet exquisite lighting and fine musicianship, Dreams Come True had the audience of 1100 gripped in rapture.
The pair were backed by a band that included Paul Pesco on acoustic and electric guitars, Billy Stein on keyboards and Nir Z. on drums. Although, this was just the third performance on this tour, the band played as if they were together for years. Canadian singer-songwriter, Ron Sexsmith performed his beautifully well-crafted songs on his guitar to get the evening started. He later reappeared to duet with Ms. Yoshida on their yet to be released collaboration, "One Yesterday".
The band playfully mixed Japanese and English in both their spoken word and performance. It was clear that the audience relished the communication in their native language, while non-Japanese never for a moment felt left out. It was truly a night shared between the two cultures.
The band tested out new versions of previously released songs in English and even a few new English language songs that easily could be their break through in the American and European markets. Similar to the Latin explosion a few years' back, Japanese artists are poised to enter the market on the strength of the music.
They finished the evening to wild applause and returned to perform two encore songs including their tribute to the crowd, "Thank You".