VOW WOW will play Nippon Budokan on May 1, 2027. It will be 37 years since the band last played the Tokyo venue, in May 1990.
The show will close The 40 Years of V Celebration, a tour that will also stop in Nagoya on March 13 and Osaka on March 27. As the name suggests, it marks 40 years since V, VOW WOW’s fourth studio album, released in 1987. The band has not announced a full-album performance: V will instead be featured as part of a “best set.”
山本恭司 (Kyoji Yamamoto), 人見元基 (Genki Hitomi) and 厚見玲衣 (Rei Atsumi) will be joined by 永井敏己 (Toshimi Nagai) on bass and 山本真央樹 (Maoki Yamamoto) on drums.
VOW WOW did not wait until 2027 to return to the stage. The band resumed activity in 2024, 14 years after its 2010 reunion shows. First came CLUB CITTA’, then Tokyo Dome City Hall in 2025 and Tokyo Garden Theater in 2026. Each time, the venue got a little bigger. In 2027, the next stop is Nippon Budokan, where they have not played for nearly four decades.
On May 28, 1990, VOW WOW played Nippon Budokan in what became its final concert before the band announced its breakup later that year. The show was later released as Japan Live 1990 at Budokan. So May 1, 2027 is not VOW WOW returning after a 37-year absence. It is VOW WOW returning to Budokan.
From BOW WOW to VOW WOW
If you already know the name BOW WOW, VOW WOW probably rings a bell. The connection is direct.
BOW WOW was formed in 1975 around Kyoji Yamamoto. The band played the Reading Festival in 1982, followed by a British tour the next year. After guitarist Mitsuhiro Saito left, BOW WOW split in 1983.
Yamamoto, bassist 佐野賢二 (Kenji Sano) and drummer 新美俊宏 (Toshihiro Niimi) then began working with Genki Hitomi on vocals and Rei Atsumi on keyboards. Sessions took place between December 1983 and January 1984, and the new line-up adopted the name VOW WOW. Its first album, Beat of Metal Motion, was released in June 1984.
The change of name was deliberate. In his official biography, Kyoji Yamamoto describes the arrival of Hitomi and Atsumi as the move to a five-piece with a stronger classic-rock direction. Atsumi’s keyboards also became an essential part of the VOW WOW sound.
So yes, BOW WOW and VOW WOW are directly related. Yamamoto, Sano and Niimi connect the two, but the names refer to different line-ups and different periods.
Things get confusing again after 1990. Kyoji Yamamoto revived BOW WOW with a new line-up in 1995, then reunited with members of the original BOW WOW in 1998. BOW WOW resumed its own history, while VOW WOW remained tied to the band formed in 1984.
V, in 1987
When V was released in Japan on September 5, 1987, VOW WOW had already moved its base to the United Kingdom. The band had settled there in November 1986 and was playing regularly in Europe.
V belongs to that period. The album has ten tracks, including “Don’t Tell Me Lies,” “Somewhere in the Night,” “Cry No More,” “Born to Die” and “Don’t Leave Me Now.”
“Don’t Leave Me Now” was also released in Britain through Arista. In September 1987, it entered the UK Singles Chart, spent three weeks in the Top 100 and peaked at number 83. The number is modest, but the context is worth keeping in mind: VOW WOW was based in Britain at the time and releasing records there for the local market.
Forty years later, V will provide the theme for the three 2027 shows. If you know BOW WOW but have never really explored VOW WOW, the album is a good place to hear what the band had become after moving to Europe.
And if you happen to be in Japan: Nagoya on March 13, Osaka on March 27, then Nippon Budokan on May 1.
Sources
- Kyoji Yamamoto, official biography.
- Kyoji Yamamoto, In The Beginning, on the transition from BOW WOW to VOW WOW.
- BS Asahi / CITTA’WORKS, announcement of The 40 Years of V Celebration.
- WOWOW, on VOW WOW resuming activity in 2024.
- Oricon, Japanese release of V on September 5, 1987.
- Official Charts, UK chart history for “Don’t Leave Me Now.”