"LIVE IN BUDOKAN"
Here in the States, the dream of every entertainer is to perform in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the country. In Japan, that famous arena is Budokan Hall, and on Christmas night in 1978, the end of their miracle year, Pink Lady came calling for what, I believe, might well have been their only visit at Budokan. Mie and Kei led off with “Two From The Star”, a little known, but charming song meant to whet the crowd’s appetite prior to a three song medley from their repertoire of chart topping hits, they being “Pepper Keibu”, “SOS” and “Carmen ‘77”. Next came what I thought was a really terrific 10-song medley of songs from classic films called the Screen Disco Medley, Mie covered “Love is a Many Splendored Thing”, “Johnny Guitar”, “The Summer Knows” and “The Windmills of Your Mind” while Kei handled “Love Story”, “Un Home Et Une Femme”, “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg” (French films “A Man and a Woman” and “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”) and “Moon River” while both girls sung “Singin’ in the Rain” and “The Entertainer”.
Next “Love Countdown” from the 1979 U.S. Album which they sung in English, and I thought they handled the song quite well in a live setting, demonstrating their command of English. Then came the third and final medley of the show was next with hits “Nagisa No Sindbad”, “Wanted” and “Monster”, followed by three of their most recent chart toppers prior to the concert, they being “Southpaw”, “UFO” and “Chameleon Army” before closing out the show with a delightful version of “I Love How You Love Me” and their take on Donna Summer’s “Last Dance”. In hindsight, I couldn’t help thinking there was a tremendous sense of irony with that song because, a mere week later, Mie and Kei, under orders from their handlers, passed on performing on Kohaku uta Gassen to star on a competing special and were roundly thrashed in both the ratings, and the court of public opinion, starting the ball rolling on Pink Lady’s rapid fall from grace. So perhaps this concert was indeed a last dance for Mie and Kei as world beaters in Japan. But, for that one magical night, the Ladies were still the queens of the Rising Sun.
