When Joe Philipson asked me to accompany him to Japan Nite at The Viper Room over the phone from Austin while he was hanging out at the SXSW Music Festival I just said yes. I didn’t really even know what the heck he was talking about. Seriously… it sounded cool… but I still had no idea.

It wasn’t, in fact, until we actually got to The Viper Room on the night of ??the concert that I even found out exactly what was going on. A bunch of Japanese bands playing one after the other at a really cool LA venue. There was Chatmonchy, JinnyOops, Red Bacteria Vacuum, Omodaka and OKAMOTO’S. Ok, this I could dig… if I like the music.

I did.

My favorite band was JinnyOops, although the version I loved was not the full band… as they were missing their horn players… but I do still enjoy their recorded music very much!

I brought my iPhone and the Olympus E-P2 that I have on loan from Olympus… and was amazingly impressed with both cameras. I haven’t really used the iPhone for much, but recently downloaded Hipstamatic app and have been shooting some fun shots with it… and I used it on the crazily lit stage with some pretty cool results.

OKAMOTO’S via iPhone regular camera app:

OKAMOTO’S via iPhone Hipstamatic app:

chatmonchy via iPhone Hipstamatic app:

OKAMOTO’S via Olympus E-P2 :

JinnyOops via Olympus E-P2 :

You can see the entire set HERE.

I’m looking forward to shooting more with the iPhone and a LOT more with Hipstamatic. I didn’t do much with the Olympus this night… but it’s been amazing otherwise… so some great images should be forthcoming.

Well, the concert went off without MUCH of a hitch. We ended up starting almost a half hour late due to audio issues, but once we got started the show was awesome… and both the live and the internet viewers had a blast. After the show we went out to the back balcony (Keats’ place is awesome!) and had snacks, pizza and conversation. All in all… awesome night.

I shot a few photos outside… love the metal siding background thing. Unfortunately it was only about 5′ tall so I had to sit people down… but it worked out. I’ll post more shots to Flickr tomorrow or so.