Omokage Lucky Hole – Before You Count to Three, You Gonna… The Third and Final Night of OLH’s Return to the Stage

Posted On July 4, 2026

I had meant to complete this post sooner, but as it’s been documented on this very blog, the past year has been tough for ya boi wah. However, things have started to chill over the past couple months, allowing me to finally cobble together my scattered thoughts on the final show in Omokage Lucky Hole’s Mittsu Kazoeru Mae ni Anta wa… (Before You Count to Three, You Gonna…) series that marked their return to the stage post-pandemic. It took me five months! 

For those just tuning in, this series of shows was held to promote vinyl releases of their 2000s-era albums–Whydunit, Typical Affair and On The Border–with this final show focusing on the tracklist from On The Border. For more background, check out this post.

Omokage Lucky Hole – February 7th, 2026@Shibuya WWW

While Typical Affair was the first OLH album I bought in “real time” after getting into the band, On The Border was the first one I bought after moving to Japan. It came out on August 15th, 2012, just over a year after I first landed here for work. When the album dropped, I happened to be back in the States visiting my parents[1]Back when I was a teacher and had a long summer vacation. so the plan was to pick the album up upon my return. During this time, the band was touring to celebrate their 20th anniversary, and luck would have it that I was just missing their show in Tokyo. However, as it was a tour–something they hardly do, in retrospect–they had another show in Osaka! It was set to happen the day after I landed in Tokyo.

Upon landing, the young and energetic 24-year-old wah ran to pick up the album[2]I assume I got it at the Akiba Tower Records, as I had to transfer there back then., took the Tsukuba Express all the way out to bumfuck Ibaraki where I was living at the time, dropped my stuff off, showered and changed (…I assume so anyway) and made my way back down to Tokyo to jump on an overnight bus to Osaka. It should be noted that while I was on the Tsukuba Express, I was hastily ripping the CD, then subsequently hastily copying the tracks to my iPod. I needed to know the songs to be ready for this show! On my way over, I listened to the album a few times, both on the bus and while wandering around Umeda in the wee hours of morning after arriving in town. After killing time in the AM, I hung out with a local friend during the day in the blazing heat of the Kansai summer, hit the show at night, then got straight back on another overnight bus back to Tokyo. Needless to say, 38-year-old wah is unable to do this now.

In stark contrast to that day 14 years ago, the third and final night of Mittsu Kazoeru Mae ni Anta wa… was held on a cold winter day, with temperatures clocking in at under 10°C, with the threat of snow looming. “You know, you all can just go home now if you’re concerned! We already got your money,” aCKy sarcastically commented with regards to the impending snow, “I live in Hachiōji, and it was already snowing when I left… I’m actually just dying to go home.” For those stranded outside of Japan, Hachiōji is in the far west of Tokyo, and known for having a different climate than the rest of the Tokyo metropolis.

But I’m getting ahead of myself–let’s rewind. Before the start of the show, fans were once again treated to the catchy melodies of theme songs from regional supermarkets, in what would be a recurring motif for this series of shows. As always, when it was time to start, a retro Kayōkyoku came on through the PA–this time Oku Hida Bojō by Ryū Tetsuya–and it predictably started skipping once the song got to a lyric with the word “omokage” in it. The band then bounced on with their usual opener of Konna Kakkoii Band Mita Koto Nai (You’ve Never Seen a Band as Cool as This) to get the energy going, which is always a blast.

The band got the set started with Vegetable Blues, a song about a paralysed man luring nurses into his hospital room for sex. aCKy screamed “KUROYANAGI-SAN” as the band opened the song, presumably in reference to the aged television personality, who in 2026 seems quite immobile. Anyway, it’s an energetic song with dramatic flair, perfect for starting the night–and aCKy event got to belt out an impassioned “BAKA YARŌ” in the middle, as the song demands it. It was a fun time.

Other standout performances of the night from On The Border were Kita Kantō no Namari mo Kiete (Losing My North-Kantō Accent), WET, Seifuku de Matteite (Wait in Your Uniform), and Yotsunbai Sweets (On Four Legs Sweets). Kita Kantō and WET came in a set, both goopy and funky pieces, which came through nice and loose on stage, with awesome backing from Itō-san’s keyboard and Tecchan’s guitar. Seifuku opened with hot boppy and funky bass, maintaining that energy throughout. Tecchan didn’t jump in on the guitar solo for this one, but rather one of the other (three?) guitarists who commands the more funky guitar, keeping the vibe soaked in funk until the end. The band closed out the first set with the final track of On The Border, Yotsunbai Sweets, which ends with an extended groove session between Tecchan’s guitar and the horn section. It’s rare that the band gets to groove out so hard, and the last time I heard this was probably during that aforementioned show in 2012. Needless to say, it was an awesome and energetic way to close out the first part of the show.

The band followed up with two encores, focusing entirely on their 1990s tracks. They opened encore No. 1 with quiet taps on the bongos, slowly building up to a song that I couldn’t recognize… until the backup singers started chanting “sawaranai, ningen kankei”. It was Ondo, Hito Hada Ga Hoshii (Warmth, I Need Human Warmth), the first song off of the album Ongaku Girai (Hatred of Music), and the first non-anime OLH track I ever heard. And it was my first time hearing it live![3]Probably, anyway. I was washed over with a wave of groove, with Tecchan getting all skeezy and psychedelic on the guitar, and Itō-san having more fun on the keyboard, dropping in spacey, beepy sounds as he saw fit. There was a person in front of me who had gotten quite excitable throughout the show–perhaps it was their first time–but when this song hit, they went crazy, flailing their arms around. Glad that they were happy… but they were also a potential hazard.

Other classics unleashed included Kanarazu Onaji Tokoro De (Always Slipping up At the Same Place), which I hadn’t heard performed by the full band since nearly a decade ago[4]So it seems, looking back at prior posts on this blog…!. No-wonder its funky hip-hop beats hit so hard–it had a been a fucking long time. The band also performed Kinyōbi no Tenshi (Friday’s Angel), a cover of a song by Chikada Haruo and the Vibra-Tones that appears on Dairi Haha (Surrogate Mother). The OLH cover is incredibly soulful, with a rich performance by the horn section in the song’s instrumental break, which did not disappoint live. 

After the second encore, I assumed it was the end. But… the supermarket theme songs hadn’t come back on. After a brief absence, the band returned for an unprecedented third time. The crew on guitar duty started dishing out lonesome riffs, while aCKy came back on stage with a beret on, and started to make impassioned statements. Turns out it was a cover of Jagatara’s Tango–where the namesake of this series of shows came from–and upon investigation, specifically a cover of this live version of the song. If you listen to that, you’ll get an idea of how OLH performed it–a pitch perfect rendition, with perhaps a bit more impassioned soul from aCKy, paying homage to an artist he loves. I can’t describe it in a way that does it justice, but it was the most awesome way to close out the show.

The setlist for the show can be found below.

Encore 1

Encore 2

Encore 3

Much like the previous shows in this series, a majority of the MC spiels focused on a (fictional?) tale from aCKy about him and some girl. He claimed he was going to talk about parallel words, but ended up just talking about how he met some girl online who liked the band, slept with her, and started dating her until they broke up. It’s obviously funnier to just hear him do the routine, so I’ll leave it at that. I will reveal this though–we did learn that aCKy uses the pseudonym “Hiroshi” when booking soaplands. 

aCKy did drop some other funny bits outside his usual storytelling, firstly calling out the signing from the last show. “Back when we did signings a few years ago, there at least a few women,” aCKy spoke, “at that last show it was like, 90% old dudes.” He also went on to mention that this show was also sold out, but was sure to sternly note that the fans are getting too comfortable with the band being… alive, “Our first show of this series sold out immediately! The second sold out just a little bit after tickets went on sale. This current show only just sold out a few days ago! You guys are getting too comfy… don’t think we’ll live forever.” That said, he did offer some hope as well, “No matter what time of year, if the show we are performing is the last show of the year, I always say ‘Have a happy new year!’,” aCKy keenly noted to the audience later on in the show. As the record shows, he didn’t say that–so it looks like there will be another show this year!

This final show of this series once again featured an opening act, this time welcoming singer-songwriter Nakamura Ataru. It wasn’t her first time doing something with OLH–back in 2018 she appeared at a series of talk events OLH did that examined old Kayōkyoku songs, and I’m pretty sure I was at the one she was on. For this show, she put on an extremely soulful acoustic set which seeped throughout the room, soaking the audience in the rich feelings of each song. She even did a cover of the OLH number Chiisana Mama (Little Mama), layering riffs sampled from her guitar in real time to establish a beat to play over. It was probably the most stylish version of the song I had ever heard, and was a beautiful rendition. She closed out with a new song that sounded completely different from the set–something with a real Shōwa twist to it–but it seems it was a song she wrote for a stage play. It required audience participation, with us yelling “cock-a-doodle-doo!” at the top of our lungs, among other things. It was a fun way to close things off before OLH stepped on.

New OLH Vinyl

Last but not least–there’s news! While keeping my eyes peeled for info on the upcoming OLH show, I noticed that the band dropped an update in the middle of June announcing the release of new records. Seems they will be re-releasing the band’s pro debut albums Dairi Haha (Surrogate Mother) and Ongaku Girai (Hatred of Music) on vinyl. These albums actually dropped on vinyl before in 2016–and I bought them. But according to the band’s news post, these old releases were put out without aCKy or Sinner-Yang being contacted…? Either way, these new editions will be released as colored vinyl, with liner notes spanning over 10,000 characters long, and are set to drop on October 7th. I will probably get them for the liner notes… and also because I busted up that first run of records, as they were some of the first pieces of vinyl I ever owned, and I didn’t know how to take care of my records back then. As the post the band made about this release is quite amusing, I will post a translation of it at the bottom of this post. 

Man, after a drought of no OLH for over 5 years, these three shows had us fans eating well. And according to aCKy’s hint, that’s not all for this year! There have been no announcements yet, but given the re-release of the band’s older albums as “official” records, perhaps more shows to promote those will be on the horizon? Honestly I’d like to see them drop a new album and tour for that, but ultimately I’ll be happy so long as I can still see aCKy dressed in pink and jumping around on stage. 

Watch this space for more updates!

Bonus – Translation of OLH’s Record Announcement

sinner-yang (S): So, it seems like we’re releasing limited-edition vinyl versions of our pro debut albums Dairi Haha and Ongaku Girai on October 7th, 2026.

aCKy (A): Didn’t those already come out?

S: The exact same records dropped in 2016.

A: Those are rare and quite expensive now. Getting new records at a nicer price is great for the fans. And it’s a good excuse for our lazy asses to get to work.

S: How do you feel about us constantly milking our old tunes?

A: I think keeping our albums around on physical media is good. This isn’t a new thought, but you never know when files and data will disappear. On physical media, even 100 years from now, someone could pick our albums up and discover something new. And that’s just a lovely thought, isn’t it?

S: Man, it’s clear why we get so many solitary old people living in houses packed with garbage. How sad (laughs) 

A: They’re filling in the “f-hole” of their hearts with “things” that they “need” (laughs)

S: When those first run of records came out in 2016, no-one reached out to us to check anything. I don’t know why, but apparently they used different artwork on the back covers of both albums.

A: It’s also funny how we’re always treated like this. And I made sure to not say anything. I love being pushed and pulled around – it’s so fun! (laughs)

S: Yeah, it’s us pulling in these easy-going folks. They have no sin (laughs). Anyway, if I looked at those old records, I know I’d want to say something, so I made an effort to not look at them. But when I got the call saying that they wanted to reissue those records, I drew up the courage to look at the records from 2016 for the first time. And when I looked, I noticed that the artist on the record label was “Omokage Luck Hole.” On both![5]In Japanese, it’s mistyped as 面影ラッキホール, when it should be 面影ラッキーホール.

A: Oh, you’re right (laughs)

S: I remember back in time, until around the 1970s, there would be “Copycat Artists” who would try to pass their songs off as the real thing. They would go around to hot spring towns all over the country, advertising themselves with posters saying things like “Misora Hihari, live!” There was also Murata Hideo (村田英夫) and Amachi Mari (天池真理)[6]Misora Hihari is a play on singer Misora Hibari; the other two names are pronounced the same as the people they are copying, but certain kanji are different.. “Omokage Luck Hole” is probably an act like that.

A: Giving them a listen now, and these “Omokage Luck Hole” guys are pretty close to the real thing (laughs)

S: Since we finally have copycats coming out of the woodwork, this really means we’ve made it to the big leagues. What an honor. 

A: Back in the day, you also used to be able to buy “best of” tape cassettes at drive-ins by these copycat performers. 

S: The best-of albums sung by the original performers usually had a label that said “original artist” on them. Looking at these records from 2016, I don’t see a label like that anywhere (laughs)

A: So this time, the records we’re releasing will be pink, right? We’ll also have liner notes coming in at over 10,000 characters per album, digging into topics I intentionally haven’t touched upon for all these years. And best of all… it’s by the “original artist” (laughs). How much are these records?

S: I have no clue (laughs). I don’t even know the serial numbers. I’ve been in touch with the company producing the records, checking up on details of the product, but from the sales side I’ve heard nothing but the release date. I got an email saying “We’ll have something to share with you by the week of May 11th,” but today it’s June 11th (laughs). Since we don’t even have a picture of the jacket artwork, for this post I’m using a picture of the “Omokage Luck Hole” record.

A: Man, we really draw these easy-going folks in. Something’s gonna go wrong (laughs)

S: Yup, “always slipping up at the same place.”

Notes
Notes
↑1 Back when I was a teacher and had a long summer vacation.
↑2 I assume I got it at the Akiba Tower Records, as I had to transfer there back then.
↑3 Probably, anyway.
↑4 So it seems, looking back at prior posts on this blog…!
↑5 In Japanese, it’s mistyped as 面影ラッキホール, when it should be 面影ラッキーホール.
↑6 Misora Hihari is a play on singer Misora Hibari; the other two names are pronounced the same as the people they are copying, but certain kanji are different.
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