Mono, for the unitiated, is Japan's premiere instrumental rock band, and if you require such assistance than let's just say they're a cross between Mogwai and King Crimson, with a bit of Scandinavian metal thrown in for kick. However, they like classical music, not as a goof or as way of showing off their fingering technique, but for the kind of melodic purity that classical music (meaning music from the classical era) values above all. They're a huge concert draw in America and Europe, where critics mistakenly lump them in with other Japanese noise bands. They're more subtle than that, though they can get pretty loud.

It doesn't sound like the kind of stuff I'd want to hear with an aching head and a bruise on my ass from having literally fallen asleep between a rock and a hard place somewhere off the beaten path on the festival grounds. I think I'd rather hear them with the sun going down and a bloodstream full of chemicals, but then again, Mono is a lot more flexible than your average guitar monster band. They know how to respond to an audience on a minute-by-minute basis. Just be careful. What they might think you need is a good shock to the system. Make that a bloody mary, if you would.

phil