On March 5, Seiichi Yamamoto shut the doors at Bears, a music venue in Osaka's Namba district that he's run for the past 34 years, and played to an empty room.
The 61-year-old musician, a veteran of bands such as Rovo, Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba and Most, posted an announcement for the “no-audience gig” on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of himself in a face mask with a bottle of hand sanitizer: “5pm start, no live stream! The doors to Bears will be closed, so nobody can come in.”
At the time, COVID-19 was only just beginning to exert its influence over Japan’s live music scene. By the end of the month, almost the entire industry was in shutdown, mirroring trends seen in many other countries.