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Apr 08, 2026 By Joshua Mellin Photography by Joshua Mellin Web Exclusive

You may recall I just saw Takanaka in Tokyo, but since he didn’t break out his trademark surfboard guitar, I felt compelled to run it back in Chicago.

I was definitely interested to see how the shows would differ. The crowds were wildly different. First, in Tokyo, the venue was seated tables almost like a restaurant where you could order food to your table and held only 300, whereas the spacious Aragon boasted a 5,000 body count. They were lined up for literally blocks at doors, with some fans camping out since 8 am for the 8 pm show.

Although Takanaka has enjoyed this resurgence in popularity amongst social media audiences, I was still surprised how young the crowd skewed given the lofty price point for tickets in the $300 face-value range for a GA ticket. It’s been sold out for weeks with resale tickets stretching near $500 and VIP over $1,000. The majority of the crowd was young white males. I thought there would at least be a contingent of OG fans from the local Asian community, but it didn’t really seem to be the case. Lots of Hawaiian shirts and a strong amount of guys rocking his trademark red suit.

The show was definitely an extended version of the Tokyo gig, which in hindsight acted as a kind of warmup for these international dates. I wouldn’t say he’s the greatest technical guitarist I’ve ever seen, but he’s one of the vibiest. Especially at 73 years old, to lock into a groove with these longer songs—many of which don’t have lyrics—and have this younger American audience just striving for every ounce of “Papaya” was still just kind of surprising.

I think it demonstrates how much people want to just have a carefree good time. What stood out amongst this halfway nerdy crowd (I say halfway because it almost seemed like a comic book convention demographic, but the kids next to me were rolling their asses off tripping on molly and dancing the whole show, while also comparing Pokémon card collections—go figure) was how much it varied from Tokyo. That crowd was much more middle-aged and older folks who seemed to come straight from work. Actually, waiting in line at the “Brawlroom,” I overheard many people who had made a vacation out of the show, come from out of state, and spent the day exploring Chicago, on a random Tuesday no less.

But it had to be one of the chillest crowds I’ve ever experienced at the Brawlroom (which is a take on Aragon Ballroom given its proclivity to be wild—I actually think back to a Queens of the Stone Age show where a guy wouldn’t stop pressing his beer belly against mine until I started elbowing it to no avail, and he just laughed it off like the Blob from X-Men. Hey, I’m not discounting myself from the comic book convention demographic). Because Takanaka hasn’t played here for so long, the fans in Chicago seemed to be getting a lesson in what a Takanaka show is. In Tokyo, those fans seemed well-familiar, and as soon as the show started, they broke out glow sticks and responded to songs with chants. That added a whole other element, whereas here I think people were mostly taking it in and just excited to hear a song they recognized from TikTok.

Back to Takanaka, though. Captivating. He must be as shocked as anyone by this career resurgence. Like I said, his albums are proudly displayed in showcases in Tokyo, but even here in Chicago, where local record store Reckless Records hosted a pop-up shop over the weekend, it sold out instantly. People were camped out in the wee hours. It’s amazing to me; I paid nearly as much as the cost of this show for Paul McCartney floor tickets just a few months ago, and he’s considered one of the most expensive concert tickets—and he’s fucking Paul McCartney. I’ve gone off the deep end with Takanaka the last few months, but does the algorithm have that kind of collective hold on us all that it can pluck a Japanese city pop artist from a 50-year-old genre out of obscurity and make him the must-have ticket of the season? I guess so.

If I’m being honest, I thought the Tokyo show was way better. I mean, it was a much more intimate venue and he was more interactive with the audience. Here, playing to the larger crowd, it was inherently more separated; it’s not like he could just waltz through the audience like he did in Tokyo. He was a little stiffer and it was a little less fun. There were still some playful signature moments, like the party kazoos and a rock-out chair, and fear not! Unlike Tokyo, the surfboard guitar appeared for a fleeting song during the encore. I would have appreciated him showing off some more of his signature guitars, like the train guitar that’s also gone viral on social media, or the complete Star Wars samba, as even just the tease of the Indiana Jones theme was a highlight of the night.

Also, the setting of the Aragon was great initially with the cosmic painted ceiling and Spanish villa theme, but the audio was soon abhorrent. Maybe I don’t normally notice because I’m seeing less-than-stellar bands like Queens of the Stone Age, but going from the stellar-sounding Tokyo show to this one, it was just apparent how bad the Aragon sound was, and it did a disservice to Takanaka’s skills. It was way less impressive. I guess this is kind of a personal take on it having had the privilege to see him in both locations, but hey, didn’t I say that was the point of my review and what I was interested in? He’s a legend, he’s worth the price, and he’s definitely worth experiencing once, and it really does make listening to his records and digging into his discography more rewarding. Masayoshi Takanaka: highly recommended. It seemed like he shouted “Go Bears!” at one point while talking up Chicago, and said he hoped to return soon. Which may be up to the trend, but if the demand for these shows is any indication, bookers should be building more festivals or tours built around city pop.

Speaking of which, if you want to catch him on this run, you only have a couple more chances stateside. He wraps up the US leg in California with a show at The Masonic in San Francisco on April 9th, followed by a two-night stand at the Hollywood Palladium on April 12th and 13th. After heading to New Zealand for an Auckland show on April 29th, the momentum carries across the pond later this summer. On August 7th, Takanaka will be headlining the “City Pop Waves” festival at London’s historic Crystal Palace Bowl—billed as the UK’s first major outdoor Japanese music festival. He’ll be joined by heavy hitters like Junko Yagami, Himiko Kikuchi (recreating her classic Flying Beagle set), and a DJ set by Ginger Root. If the frenzied sellouts of these US dates are anything to go by, you’ll want to lock down those London plans immediately.