Refer to title. I never thought Masu Dore (MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS) would come to the US for a tour. I never thought I would see the day. And when I saw them at The Masquerade on Tuesday, they exceeded my wildest dreams.
They set up a Kickstarter page to fund this massive undertaking, initially asking for 500K yen, roughly $3.3K, to cover the majority of their travel-related expenses. By the time the funding period ended on July 18, they received ï¿¥8,341,295 from nearly 1,000 fans, around $55,000. This just goes to show the amount of love their newfound US fanbase had for them. Music reaches across cultural and language barriers, and Masu Dore's unprecedented success has been proof of that.
I am forever grateful that Natsuko, Naoya, and Isao could make it to the states and perform in Atlanta. I live in Tampa, but I wasn't going to miss this for the world. The drive was worth it; I was afraid I'd get sick, or suffer some other misfortune, right before the concert, but thankfully everything worked out. The opening bands, Mission Hill, and Cam Kahin, were very impressive as well. Mass put on a beautiful show with a powerhouse playlist, one banger track after the other. They showed such humility and friendly demeanor, especially Natsuko as the face of the band, despite them surely knowing, deep down, how desperately some of us in the crowd had been waiting to see them live in the USA, for months and months, if not years and years.
I also brought my vinyl records with me, and thankfully, their US tour manager was willing to bring my vinyl backstage to have Masu Dore sign everything. And I was so appreciative that he did me such a huge favor!
I know there are many fans who missed out on tickets for various shows along the Masu Dore US tour, and hopefully they can return someday for those fans to get another chance to see them play live. Because this is the kind of concert that I'll be thinking about for a long time to come...
MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS FOREVER -- THANK YOU