DKT/MC5 made their first appearance on the Japanese stage at 6:45PM on August 7, 2004 . The crowd, mostly young falks, greeted them with roars of excitement mixed with amazement that they were seeing, at last, the legendary band in this side of the world. Green Day, the head liner in Tokyo for the day, was starting at the Marine Stadium at 7:15PM. The two venues weren't close enough each other to see both, so the audience were there having chosen MC5 over Green Day. Wayne Kramer kicked off with the familiar riff from Rambling Rose, which instantly threw the crowd into joyful pandemonium.

As he used to do in the Luminarios, Mike Davis sang solo on the second song, I Can Only Give You Everything. For most of the crowd, though, who had never heard it before, this should have been the very first time to identify his voice.
One of the Japanese fans posted on the messageboard later; "I realized the rhythm guitar player had the Radio Birdman sticker on the guitar strap, on which my eyes kept fixed. WHAT AN IDIOT I WAS - at that time I didn't recognize he was none other than Deniz Tek!"

Hey, I DID advertise it on this website! - sorry, brother, it looks like my PR wasn't enough...

When the show was over, I read various comments on the Japanese websites about the two guest vocalists, Mark Arm and Evan Dando. None of them, however, was essentially negative or critical although it was a consensus of the people how wonderful Rob's singing was. Most of the Japanese audience appreciated the performance of Mark and Evan. Indeed, Mark was moving and evocative when he sang his beloved MC5 songs with sincerity and passion. And, although having puzzled some of us, Evan's behavior on stage was understood as his "delivery style", which was in itself thrilling and could be a nice match with some songs he sang.
It was amazing every song sounded so contemporary even hearing it live in 2004 - in fact, if I knew none of the MC5 songs at all and if someone made me listen to, say, Skunk, and asked me when I suppose this song was written, what my answer could be? Previously Wayne told in an interview that the MC5's criterion of success was "historical validation", to create something that would hold up. It was true - DKT/MC5 were testifying to us the timelessness of their songs to a full extent. And, hearing the joyful pop tunes like Shakin' Street and High School, anyone would wonder why on the earth such a talented band who were on a major record company with such fantastic pop songs couldn't have become commercially successful.

Not to mention the excitement and groove of Kick Out The Jams, to me the highlight of the day was their awesome cover of Ray Charles (r.i.p.) - I Believe To My Soul, which gave me goose bumps. Playing it with overwhelming power of veterans, it was as if they were telling us proudly, WE ARE FROM DETROIT.

Although I wished for a few more, Wayne sang solo on only 2 songs, Rambling Rose and Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa. It was very impressive when he sang the latter with soul and heart, dividing us into three chorus parts to sing all together, advocating "Unity".

Although there seemed to be no encore, we kept clapping - then, there they were again for American Ruse! A good vibe was everywhere when the show was over, and the crowd started heading for home in excitement, satisfaction, and with a good memory.

The set list is as follows:

Ramblin' Rose
I Can Only Give You Everything
Sister Anne
Call Me Animal
Shakin' Street
Miss X
High School
Over And Over
Human Being Lawnmower
Kick Out The Jams
Looking At You
Teenage Lust
I Believe To My Soul
Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa
[ Encore ]
American Ruse

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