Morgan Fisher at Roppongi Rocks’ party
Queen and Mott the Hoople legend Morgan Fisher took Roppongi by storm with a ‘Saturday Gig’ at a smashing Roppongi Rocks party.
Morgan Fisher at Hard Rock Café, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan on 13th January 2024
To celebrate the 50th birthday of its founder, Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks took over the Hard Rock Café in Roppongi and invited a crowd of friends for an evening in the name of rock’n’roll. With a private performance by Morgan Fisher as the headline act, the evening also featured great food, too many drinks and some fierce air guitar, headbanging and growling battles.
Londoner Morgan Fisher is a terrific artist who has done it all in a long career, including being the keyboardist for Queen and Mott the Hoople and playing on the classic Hanoi Rocks album “Back to Mystery City”.
Morgan kicked off a fab ‘Saturday Gig’ with Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” before Don McLean’s “American Pie” rolled into Mott the Hoople’s exquisite “The Golden Age of Rock’n’Roll”. “She’s Not There” by The Zombies was an obvious highlight of the set. Another was Mott the Hoople’s “Saturday Gigs”. Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane” (originally recorded by his band The Velvet Underground) was covered by Mott the Hoople, both in the studio and live. This evening, Morgan recreated some of that magic. David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” was followed by “All the Young Dudes”, an anthem written for Mott the Hoople by Bowie. Morgan brought up Roppongi Rocks boss Stefan Nilsson on stage during the song and weaved him into the lyrics. Morgan Fisher was on form and seemed to enjoy himself on stage at the Hard Rock Café. What a performance by a living legend! At 74, he still got it. The musical tunes he delivers with just a simple keyboard and his vocals are insane. It is living rock history.
After Morgan Fisher’s performance, it was time to test if this audience was as rock’n’roll as they claimed to be. The Roppongi Rocks air guitar competition was battled out to Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades” and was won by Matthew Ketchum of Worship Pain. Yoko Abe won the headbanging contest performed with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as a soundtrack. Finally, Dr Mikannibal of Sigh amazed the audience with her vocals and, unsurprisingly, took home the prize. The winners were awarded prizes from Hard Rock Café and Roppongi Rocks handed out by the evening’s judges, guitarist Midori Tatematsu of Lovebites and drummer Dave Dufort, formerly of Angel Witch, Tytan and EF Band.
What a terrific party for Roppongi Rocks’ community of friends, metalheads and rock’n’rollers. This evening, Roppongi Rocks rocked Roppongi! Cheers to all Roppongi Rockers who joined us!
Photos by Mizuho Fukahori
