Sakai Masaaki (59) and Inoue Jun (59) are going on the road again after a gap of 36 years. The former lead vocalists of hugely popular 60s band The Spiders had a famous rivalry, but are said to have met for a drink last year and put the past behind them. Starting from the end of this month, they will spend the next two years touring the country with their joint show. The Spiders were among the pioneers of the Group Sounds era in the 60s, and broke up in 1969. Both Sakai and Inoue have remained TV regulars over the decades. Sakai is best known outside Japan for his lead role in the 70s TV series “Saiyuki” (Monkey). He and other Spiders members Mousieur Kamayatsu (67) and Inoue Takayuki (64) formed a trio in 1999, appearing on the Kohaku New Year’s Eve show on NHK and doing a national tour in 2001.
• The Stones rolled into town yesterday for their fifth Japan tour. Coming straight from a show in New York, they’ve brought their A Bigger Bang tour for five dates – March 22 & 24 at Tokyo Dome, 29 at Sapporo Dome, April 2 at Saitama Super Arena and finishing up on April 5 down the road from Japan Zone’s new home at Nagoya Dome. Mick Jagger (62) said this visit, their fifth, may be their last to Japan. 200 fans turned out to welcome the band at Narita Airport, though they were outnumbered by over-enthusiastic reporters who had to be told to “take it easy” by Keith Richards (62). Also among the crowd was comedienne Takeuchi Miyako (42) of the duo Pink Denwa, a die-hard Stones fan.