Preceding the release of ONE OK ROCK’s new album Eye of the Storm, a “museum” showcasing the album’s cover art by JonOne was held at Omotesando. Titled “One Museum” for the fact that there was only one art piece on exhibit (and I assume the artist’s name), the event was admission free and open for three days, February 9-11, 2019.
Tickets were required to enter the museum and they were going to be passed out starting at 11AM. My friend and I went the first day. Anticipating a large crowd, we got there an hour early only to be turned away. They were still setting up a bit and we were told that we weren’t allowed to wait in the vicinity and to come back at 11.
After killing time at a nearby cafe, we returned about 5 before 11 and were directed towards an area away from the venue where people were being lined up. There were already 50 or so people in line. At 11 they began passing out the tickets and my friend and I got the first tickets for the 3PM timeslot.
My friend and I went to karaoke (of course all we sang were ONE OK ROCK songs) and in the middle of our session, I got a notification on my phone that Taka had uploaded a video.
Duuuuuude! He was at the museum! Not only that but apparently the rest of the band was with him too!
Ah, what could have been… We were in Shibuya at the time. So close! Fast-forward to 3PM. Those with a 3PM ticket were asked to line up in fours near the entrance. After being taken inside, we were handed a leaflet with some information about the artist and the exhibit. They then explained that we would have 15 minutes to look around and that during that time, we would be able to listen to songs off Eye of the Storm on this little music player that they passed out. I’m pretty sure they said that only four songs were on the player (the event description mentioned that different songs would be available on each of the three days) and that we might not be able to listen to all of them in the 15 minutes we had, but as I found out later while switching tracks, I’m pretty sure the entire album was on the player.
When I was given my player, it was set to the song Push Back. I immediately started listening to it, and because this was the song that I began listening to before walking around to check out the exhibit, it’s the one I remember about the most. I was totally taken off guard at the sudden fast beats in the middle of the song. It was pretty close to rap, if I remember correctly, but without the overly heavy sounds. Other songs I listened to were Head High, Grow Old Die Young, and Letting Go. I was busy taking photos and even did an IG live stream (also the ear buds were really large and kept popping out of my ear) so I honestly can’t remember too much about the other songs, but I do remember that I really liked them. Different for sure, but I think some people may be pleasantly surprised by this album.
Because the band had visited earlier, they left their mark on one of the walls. (No idea why the area where Tomoya signed looked to be kicked in, LoL.) Tomoya had also drawn a little illustration near one of the columns against a wall. At first no one noticed but then there was a large crowd near the back of the cover art display. It turns out Taka had drawn some abstract faces behind there. Checking my IG live video, it seemed like some people were taking photos on the other side of the back of the display as well but unfortunately I didn’t notice so if there was anything back there, I wasn’t able to take a photo of it
Once our 15 minutes were up, the staff guided us towards the exit where we returned the music players. We only had a short time inside the museum but it was pretty cool. I’m glad I got to preview the new songs and it’s only made me even more excited for the album’s release on February 13.
One Museum
Dates: Saturday, February 9 – Monday, February 11, 2019
Location: SO-CAL LINK GALLERY
Hours: 2-8PM (2/9), 11AM-8PM (2/10), 11AM-7PM (2/11)
Admission: Free
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