Make Believe Bonus: Relax In The City-ish

White Shoes And The Couples Company, Spa Covers Of "Imagine" And DJ PAY MASTER J

One of the dilemmas — a word deployed very lightly here — of writing about music as a career is realizing concerts lose their escapist dimension. Whether directly for an article or as “research” for some TBD piece (or as excuse to sneak the receipt into one’s expense file), every live show for me has taken on a feeling of work in recent years. Which is fine…there’s worse ways to make it in the world…but a reality I sometimes catch myself being stumped by. “Huh, how did that happen.”

Last week, I did something I rarely do, especially in my advanced 30s where such actions are usually a total disaster — I acted impulsively to buy concert tickets for a show unrelated to what I do. Scrolling Twitter, I saw that the Indonesian band White Shoes And The Couples Company would be playing their first Japanese shows ever in mere days. I bought a ticket as quickly as I could, responsibility be damned. This is what I needed.