(((O))) Live: Ichiko Aoba – The Glasshouse, Gateshead

Once upon a Tyne,
under glass and perfumed stars,
Ichiko awaits.

Taffeta bow-tied,
in piano-parlour shadows,
standard lamp aglow.

Humming, thumbs strumming,
the cherub blurs the fretboard.
Notes drop like petals.

Windswept ‘Porcelain’,
pure Fender-chimed perfection.
A sea spray of sound.

Amidst the bleachers,
her Luminescent Creatures,
voiced in angels’ breath,

glisten and glimmer.
But the Aoba aura
outshines their shimmer.

Cooing and wooing,
she skips on to the piano.
A Ghibli delight.

Soft-pedal muted,
rolled chords from Eden’s seabed.
Words whispered in French.

Narnia spellbound,
the sakura soft silence
suddenly scattered.

Cell phone incursions
laughed off as inspiring.
Ad hoc re-writing.

‘Kikaijikake’,
jazz classical finale.
Django is unchained.

Passions ebb and flow
in Brel-like introspection.
Unforced tour de force.

Salvos of bravos.
Soft steps indent the dream cloths
lamenting our leave.

Spirited away
on a kittiwaked walk to
sleep among endives.

Dawn breaks in Adan.
Memories lost on the wind
spawn echoes and dust.

Photo: Charlie Gardner