Mike Peters – ‘Declaration’ 30th Anniversary World Tour will continue to Japan for a special event at Billboard Live, Tokyo, Japan on Monday 25th August 2014.
Mike Peters will present ‘Declaration’ in full alongside other well known Alarm / Mike Peters songs at two shows with the first performance taking place at 1900 followed by a second at 2130 (Both shows will feature different set lists). Billboard Live itself is a fantastic venue featuring a stage with a glass backdrop, which allows sweeping nights cape views of Tokyo right up until show time.
Mike Peters and The Alarm first performed ‘Declaration’ in Japan back in December 1984 playing two shows, the first in Osaka at Mido Hall on December 14th and at Shiboya Public Hall, Tokyo on December 15th.
It has been four years since Mike Peters last performed in the land of the rising sun when back in 2010, Mike Peters played a set at Club Doctor, Tokyo as part of the Love Hope Strength Fuji Rocks charity event which also featured a dawn concert at the summit of Mt. Fuji.
Upon its original release on February13th 1984, ‘Declaration’, The Alarm’s debut album, instantly catapulted Mike Peters and the band on to the worldwide stage. Now thirty years later, Mike Peters will perform the entire album in full, with a unique one-man band ‘Alarm’ style show which will highlight the original alt-folk, acoustic punk protest roots of the songs that form the core of the album’s original intent.
The sonic blueprint for The Alarm’s organic sound was amplified acoustic guitars, harmonica and a drum kit; a formidable sonic attack that will be reinforced in a contemporary setting this August, when Mike Peters’ ‘Declaration’ will be unveiled in Tokyo alongside the contemporary remake of the album that Alarm fans know so well.
Mike Peters presents Declaration in a unique one man band style ‘Alarm’ show, utilising performance, stories and images to highlight the impact Declaration had on the decade it was born in, and its ongoing relevance, as Mike Peters continues his personal fight against cancer with the Love Hope Strength Foundation ‘Saving lives – One Concert At A Time’.
Upon release in February 1984, Declaration debuted at number 6 in the UK charts, achieving gold record status before becoming a top 40 hit in the USA. The Alarm’s sound was powered by unique electro-acoustic guitars that no one had seen before, prompting Rolling Stone Magazine to write “One of the best new live bands…, and they’ve put a lot of that power into their first album”.
The album itself, was a pioneering mix of protest punk, folk, americana and stadium rock as described by US reviewer Jim Connely in 1984′s Dead Air Diary “While a lot of bands have tried to combine the ’60s and ’70s, none of them have been as successful as The Alarm. Musically, their secret is that they draw on Punk and then temper it with an acoustic sound while avoiding the wimpiness usually associated with folk. Lyrically, it works because they avoid Punk nihilism and concentrate more on positive personal politics. This is rock and roll at its very finest and U2, R.E.M. and the rest are going to have to work very hard to top it”.
In 2014, 30 years on from the original release of the album that brought Mike Peters and The Alarm to the attention of the world, Mike is still challenging that same audience through the outreach of his music and charitable actions and literally living out the words that open the Declaration album ‘Take this song of freedom, put it on and arm yourself for the fight, our hearts must have the courage to keep on marching on and on”.