Live Performances of Eric's Songs by Japanese Musicians

Almost all of the contents of this site are provided only in Japanese because this site is intended to be viewed by Japanese Eric Carmen fans.  I think that the fans all over the world would be interested in the live performances of Eric's songs by Japanese professional musicians.  I prepared this page so that not only Japanese fans but also fans around the world could know how Eric's music is loved here in Japan. 

Mr. Hiroyuki IZUTA is a Japanese singer-songwriter and is a big fan of Eric Carmen.  He sometimes plays the songs of Eric's at his live and his performance is great.  His past performances include "All By Myself," "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again," "Go All The Way," "I Wanna Be With You," "Cartoon World" and "Hey Deanie."

Mr. Yasuhiro MITANI is a former member of "Stardust Revue" (a famous Japanese Pop Group) and now acting as a solo musician.
His past cover of Eric's songs includes "Let's Pretend," "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" and "All By Myself." 
 

(3/9/03)

No. 8
During the second half of 2002, Mr. Izuta played many of Eric's and Raspberries' songs at his concerts. Those songs include "Starting Over", "Let's Pretend", "Waiting", "Crusin' Music", "Go All The Way", "I Wanna Be With You", "Hey Deanie", "All By Myself", "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again", "Foolin' Myself", "Sunrise", "Boats Against The Current". It is reported that all those performance were excellent and many people became Eric Carmen/Raspberries fans.

Reported by Mark, Chiba/Japan (1/5/03 with special thanks to Izuta-san for his performance of Eric's songs)

I attended to the Mr. Mitani's fan club party titled "esq Golden Hour Vol.3" on July 6, 2002.

One of the main party events was the performance by Mr. Mitani of the requested songs on the piano. The fans were allowed to fill out
the card, in which they wrote their favorite songs to be performed by Mr. Mitani at that night. What he did was to pick up one card at random and to make each of the fans who wrote the card sit biside him on the stage. The picked lucky fan was allowed to talk with him personally. Then, he played the song requested in the card. Nine lucky fans was chosen at that night. I felt very happy and got excited to be one of such fans.

The song I requested was "All By Myself" written by Eric Carmen, who is my all time favorite artist. Mr. Mitani was wondering whether he should play that song because he knew it's a difficult song to play. He asked to wait for a while and began the practicing. After short practice, he started performing the song gently. Then, gradually he devoted himself into performance. Listening to his voice, I strongly felt his emotion coming from deep inside. The performance was so impressive and touched the heart of everyone at present.

When I returned to my seat, my friend said to me, "What a song!"
Yes, indeed!!

Report by Miki, Kanagawa/Japan (8/14/02)

About 6 months ago, Mr. Yasuhiro MITANI played "Let's Pretend" in his FM radio program called "The Brilliant '70s". (See No.4 below) 　This time, he played Eric's most famous solo hit, "All By Myself" on keyboard. The listeners/his fans enjoyed his excellent performance.

Listening to Mr. Mitani's performance, I could feel his love for Eric's music. He was singing and playing the key board as if he were treating his very very lovely baby. It made me feel so happy. Thank you, Mitani-san.

Report by Mark, Chiba/Japan (6/15/02)

In his first solo live in 2002. Mr. IZUTA performed "All By Myself" including the intermediate piano solo part. The performance was execellent as usual and some 100 audiences were all fascinated.

Before the performance, he talked about his appearance in the nation-wide tour of Mr. Zaitsu, where he has been given a chance to perform one song. Some of those who saw the shows told me that they heard people around them sigh being fascinated after Mr. IZUTA's performance. Now, I really understand the reason for that.

Report by Mark, Chiba/Japan (6/15/02)

Mr. Yasuhiro MITANI has his own FM radio program called "The Brilliant '70s", which is broadcasted on every Saturday.  In the program, he plays the song requested from the listeners on the piano.
At the broadcast on December 1, 2001, a request from one of Eric Carmen fans was chosen for the performance of the night.  The request was for "Let's Pretend".  Mr. Mitani played the song in full, including the bridge part.  The listeners enjoyed his singing in falsetto and the excellent performance.

Mr. Mitani's piano arrangement sounded a little bit heavier than that of Mr. Izuta's performance of "Let's Pretend."  It is very interesting and glad to hear a song performed in different arrangements. It is also nice to know the existence of Japanese professional musicians who respect Eric's music just like Messrs. MITANI and IZUTA.  Thank you very much for picking up Eric's song and your great performance, Mitani-san.

Report by Mark, Chiba/Japan (12/9/01)

I went to the solo live concert of Mr. Hiroyuki IZUTA.  I could find some of the CDF members being seated in front of the stage.  Someone said before the show that Eric's song would not be played because it was Mr. Izuta's solo concert.  It was true until Mr. Izuta took a short break in the middle of the concert and announced that it's the time for special performance. 

Then, he started talking about the Mr. Zaitsu's nation-wide tour which he is supporting as a basist.  In Mr. Zaitsu's concert, Mr. Izuta is given the chance for his solo performance.  He said he had played "Never Gonna Fall In love Again" and "All By myself" in many shows and Mr. Zaitsu as well as the audience loved his performance.  He said, "I thought of playing one of these tonight, but I changed my mind."  Hearing he said so, I thought he would not play Eric's song tonight.   Next moment, however, he made me surprised by saying, "This is also the great song.  "Foolin' Myself." 
Then, he started palying "Foolin' Myself" on the piano.  He palyed the song perfectly including the piano solo part.  His voice sounded so much like that of Eric's.  There was a special atomosphere in the hall during the performance.  Needless to say, the audience was fascinated.
I'd never thought I could hear "Foolin' Myself" performed at live.  It was an unforgettable performance. 

Report by Mark, Chiba/Japan (10/28/01)

I went to the secret gig with one of CDF members who'd just returned from her visit to NY.  The live house was so narrow that no one could move around when they were once packed and seated for the show. 

"Go All The Way" was played as the second song of the show-opening.  The audience welcomed the song with enthusiasm and everybody in the house got so excited as their perfomance went by.  Izuta played the bass and took the lead vocal as Eric did at the early days of his Raspberries era.  His singing was, as usual, excellent.  Ueda and Yamamoto also did great jobs on their instruments as well as on backing vocals and chorus.  It was a really fantastic performance.  Many of the audience were singing the song together.  After the perfomance, my friend shouted out , "We want more Eric's numbers!"  Yes, we want more.  They are just great! 

Although "Go All The Way" was the only number of Eric's performed during the gig, we enjoyed the performance of the numbers from the Beatles, Billy Joel, Animals, Monkees and more.  I'm pretty sure that they will be the great tour-supporting members.

Report by Mark, Chiba/Japan (9/2/01)

*K-YIZ-GARI consists of 3 members, i.e. M. Ueda (ds. & vo.), H. Izuta (key, g., b. & vo.) and K Yamamoto (g., b. & vo.) and they are the supporting members of the nation-wide tour to be performed this fall by K. Zaitsu, who is wellknown as a former leadsinger  of the famous Japanese pop group, "Tulip."   The secret gig this time was intended for Mr. Izuta's practice of the bass because he usually plays the guitar and keyboard. 

 

Me and other 4 on-the-web fan club ("Club Desperate Fools" or "CDF") members went to see GAR-YIZ's show expecting the songs of Eric will be performed.
The small live house in Tokyo was fully packed with about 120 people from the very beginning of the show. The second part of the show began with "Izuta's Room," to which the audiences were looking forward.  Izuta went up to the stage by himself and sat beside the keyboard.  He said he would play the songs of Eric Carmen.  The big claps from the audience followed.

Saying the song was from the Raspberries' second album, Izuta started to play "I Reach For The Light" on key board.  It was the first time for him to play that song at live.  His performance was so great and his voice sounded just like Eric's that I felt as if Eric were singing on stage.  I suppose most of the audience except CDF members had never heard of that song. (Most of them are GAR-YIZ fans, not the Raspberries fans.)  Because of his great performace of this beautiful number, however, the response from the audience was good.  After the performance, Izuta said, "I know most of you do not know this song."  In response, CDF members said, "We know it!"  Then, I could see him smile.

Before playing the next song, he talked about his meeting with Eric in Japan in 1998.  He said he spent about an hour with Eric at the bar of the hotel and took a picture with Eric.  Soon after that event, his concert was scheduled.  He made copies of the picture, brought them to the concert hall and showed them to the audience.  Izuta looked so delighted when he was talking about that episode.
He said the next song was also from the Raspberries' second album and singled out to be a smash hit.  When he started to play the next song, I was delighted with surprise.  The song was "Let's Pretend," which is one of my most favorite songs of the Raspberries.  I'd never thought I could hear it at live.  Again, this was his first live performance of that song. Everybody was satisfied with his beautiful performance on key board.   One of the CDF members said to me after the show that she was so glad and moved to hear the song that she was almost sheding tears.

The last number of Izuta's sole performance was the one, which all of the audience knew about.  "All By Myself" was played by him on key borad.  As he finished his performance, the ovation from the fascinated audience followed and continued until the other members of GAR-YIZ came up to the stage.  Three Eric Carmen songs!  What a night!

Thank you very much for the performance of Eric's songs, Izuta-san!   Your performance was excellent!!!

Report by Mark, Chiba/Japan (8/16/01)

*GAR-YIZ consists of 4 members, i.e. M. Ueda (ds. & vo.), H. Izuta (key, g. & vo.), A. Kazama (b. & vo.) and T. Hashimoto (g.).  All of them are very talented and skilled musicians.  They usually play the Beatles numbers as well as their original songs on stage.  During each gigs, Mr. Izuta is given the time for his sole performance, which is so-called "Izuta's Room."  He plays his favorite numbers of Eric Carmen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Gilbert O'Sullivan and etc.
[GAR-YIZ's next concert is scheduled in Osaka on November 2, 2001. Izuta-san might play Eric's songs again.  If you are lucky enough to be in Osaka at that time, you should go to see them.]