anyone know them???? what is their story?? i met them in Hartford???

I know them.

Nan desu ka. Could you expound please? Is this a couple you met, a band or something else?

I guess he's talking about that Japanese Couple that attends almost every Stones show.


Belgrade-Bucharest-Budapest-Brno

Wow, great couple...

Brno 22.07.07 & Warsaw 25.07.07

The couple is the Onos. I have ran into them most recently in Hollywood, prior on just about every continent. A sweeter two people you will never meet. Mr.Ono has an astounding memory for faces considering the number of us that he must meet! In Sydney during Licks, at a party at the Hard Rock, they had already seen somewhere over 230 consecutive shows through several tours, and I would wager that thay have not missed a show since.

How they do it, I have no clue.

I heard somewhere that they get free tickets for a lot of shows (they always show them on the big screen during each show too and I don't know what other "goodies" they get)

amazing.....front row for every show!!!!!!

Also, the song Onos, Not You Again was written for them.

they must be the ones who hold up the "ronnie be good" sign - i have heard that ronnie makes sure they get tickets for shows

All I had to do to get free front row tickets to every show was hold up a sign that says "Ronnie B. Good"? Damn, I wish I had known. I've told a lot worse lies for a lot less!

you're pretty funny, ohno...

Well Tat2you they are Tatsuo & Yukico,sure your not related??? They have been around a long time in fact I was with a group of people back in 98/99 when somebody told them to hold up the "Ronnie B Good" board.At the time they had something else writen on it.The next show the camera picked them out with it during Ronnies intro & they havent looked back.The guy who sugested it has been kicking himself ever since! Goes to show there are many ways into a Stones show.

ohnonotyouagain Wrote:
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> Also, the song Onos, Not You Again was written for
> them.


Hahahaha. That`s funny! Had a good laugh there, my friend.

By the way, I met the Onos back in 1960. I remember one of them suggested to Brian Jones that he should form a band. Ok, Brian said, if you attend every show, I will!

Maybe tonight she`s got it Infamy...

don't they also hold up "Banzai Keith", or something to that effect?

don't they have to work? are they rich or something?

This is the most interesting thread I have read in ages (including my own, hahaha). I remember the Ronnie B. Goode sign. Have to check the DVD tonight.

iFox-san, I see that you like cats. Nihon go de arimasu ka?

Yes, I know them very well, too. Get a Christmas card every year from them. They are really nice people. We have spent many, many hours together in front of stadiums, arenas, clubs and front row, Ronnie's side. Can't wait to see them in summer. They get free tickets for shows here and there, mostly by staff members, so what? There is no one in the world who deserves it more than these two Stones addicts. How they can do it to travel all around the world to see the Stones? I don't really know. They have been asked that question a million times but they kind of never answer that question. Their answer is always a broad smile so that's probably their secret. Anyway, I don't think anyone else in the world has seen the Stones live more often than Tatsu and Yukico. I'm sure they are getting things packed right now to fly to their next show in Montreal.

Totemo ii hito so desu ne. Aitai!

do they moan about the setlists?

Great pun ohnonotyou again!

I met them once, too...what nice people...

Maybe they should write a book telling their memoirs,about their unique experience!!Do they have a website, or any rellated site??

Riffbuk Wrote:
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> Maybe they should write a book telling their
> memoirs,about their unique experience!!Do they
> have a website, or any rellated site??


i would like them to adopt me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, they never moan about it. In fact they usually get the setlist by a staff member BEFORE every show. So probably they get thes setlist before Keith has a look at it. But they never look at the list before the show. Once they get it they immediately put the list into their rucksack and never even have a look at it before the show. And they also don't allow others to look at it. So I guess there is some kind of an agreement between them and the staff members that they always get the setlist before the show but have to keep it secret.

...they sounds like a right couple of squares lol

12.04.02 Jaggered Edge: Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Them Away From Rolling Stones Shows
A Tokyo Couple Gets Satisfaction From Following the Band World-Wide
Jim Carlton for the Wall Street Journal Europe reports:
Moments before the Rolling Stones stepped on stage here, a band technician hurried down to the front row and slipped Tatsuo and Yukiko Ono a top-secret document: the group's set list that night.

Mr. Ono refused to read it, carefully tucking it away as he explained to a visitor: "I don't want to spoil the anticipation."

Having attended about 300 Stones concerts, the Onos get to decide whether to be surprised by the band's choice of songs. They have pretty much heard them all, having followed the rockers for 13 years, five tours and across several continents. The Japanese couple is so attuned to Stones performances that when Ms. Ono heard a telltale guitar chord backstage, signaling the start of the show at the Oakland Arena a few nights ago, the Onos leapt to their feet. Most of the other 20,000 fans stayed in their seats, unaware of the cue.

"Now I am ready," Mr. Ono said, beaming as the lights dimmed and the audience screamed.

It isn't unusual to see diehard fans at rock concerts. The Grateful Dead had legions of Deadheads who followed them. The Stones, led by singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, have drawn the fanatically faithful in their four decades of performing.

But few fans match the tenacity of the Onos, who back home in Tokyo run a small business selling women's clothing and live in a rented two-bedroom duplex. According to Stones' ticket handlers, the couple has attended more Stones concerts over a longer time than anyone they know. That devotion was put to the test recently: The Onos had to decide whether to follow the band on its current "Forty Licks" tour, which started Sept. 6, in Boston, after Mr. Ono's mother fell seriously ill with a brain condition.

They opted to join the tour, leaving it only for four concert dates to attend his mother's funeral. "My mom had told me not to worry about her, and to do what I want," said the 54-year-old Mr. Ono, an only child. "So I did."

The Onos are among about 30 Stones worshipers who band officials say follow the British group from country to country. They mostly know one another, and often are seated by band officials together up front. "There are those that try to dress like Mick or Keith," said Shelley Lazar, who coordinated VIP tickets for the Stones. "There is also quite a high number with tattoos" of the group's tongue symbol.

The Stones know most of these fans on sight, often looking to make sure they are in the audience. "They sort of become part of the family in a way," said Chuck Leavell, the band's keyboardist. "But if I wasn't in the band, I certainly wouldn't be traveling all over the world to see every show. It just seems crazy."

Friends of the Onos certainly think so. For one thing, they question the costs involved. "Some people say, `Aren't you thinking about your retirement?' " said the ponytailed Mr. Ono in his denim jacket and close-cropped beard. "But I say to them, `We don't know what will happen tomorrow.' "

To fellow Stones addicts, the Onos' obsession is entirely understandable. "Going to a Rolling Stones concert makes us feel alive," said Tamara Guo, a 35-year-old child-development specialist from Pittsburgh, who runs a Stones fan club and has attended several dozen concerts. "If I could, I would take a leave of absence from my job and follow the entire tour around the globe just as the Onos do."

The Onos decline to tabulate how much they have spent on their obsession. "We don't want to know," said the pigtailed 49-year-old Ms. Ono, in green army jacket and black boots. But at an average of $100 (100 euros) per person per show, the tickets alone easily have cost $60,000 over the years. Then there are the hotels, meals and airfare.

Having each become hooked on the Rolling Stones during the band's 1960s emergence, the Onos said their lives changed irrevocably after they attended their first Stones concert at the Tokyo Dome in 1989. "I lost myself in the show," recalls Ms. Ono, who has adopted her boyfriend's surname after 25 years of being together. Adds Mr. Ono: "We knew after that we needed more."

And they made sure to get it. Childless, petless and with nothing else holding them down but a business selling apparel door-to-door, the Onos dropped everything to follow the final leg of the Stones "Steel Wheels" tour as it went on to Europe. There, they caught performances in London, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere while two subordinates tended to the business.

For the Stones' 1994 "Voodoo Lounge" tour, they showed up for the first performance in Washington, paying $1,500 each to a broker for their first front-row seats. The Stones have since put the Onos on a VIP list of fans who get to pay face value for front-row seats in the U.S. Elsewhere, access to the front is often determined by who gets there first, and the Onos sometimes have to spend 15 hours waiting in line to see their heroes up close.

The Onos have missed hardly any concerts since they started following the Stones. They still lament having to miss some of the band's performances in Brazil during its "Bridges to Babylon" tour in 1998; someone stole their passports at a Stones show in Buenos Aires. "We were so disappointed," Mr. Ono said.

But their spirits lifted during the 1999 "No Security" tour when they finally met the Stones in person after a show official invited them backstage. They bagged autographs from Messrs. Jagger, Richards, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ron Wood.

But they hardly emulate the Stones lifestyle. During their three Bay Area appearances earlier this month, for example, the Stones stayed in $500-a-night suites at San Francisco's Four Seasons hotel. The Onos took a $69-a-night room in a seedy district frequented by drug addicts and prostitutes. To pass the time between shows, they said they mostly do mundane tasks such as washing clothes and making travel plans. They also keep a diary and other records of their concerts, including copies of local newspaper reviews, and a collection of guitar picks they catch when the performers throw them from the stage.

"This is just from this tour," Ms. Ono said, pulling out a bag of a dozen picks from her purse, several affixed with sticky notes on which she has written "Mick," "Keith" or "Ronnie" to denote who hurled them. "At home, we have many, many more."

The Onos said they don't drink, use drugs or engage in the rowdy behavior often associated with Stones concerts. They eschew the kind of one-upsmanship in which they said other diehards engage. For example, Sjaak Jorritsma, a longtime tour follower from Amsterdam, sniffed when told of the Onos' accomplishments, patting the backstage pass he said he gets at Stones shows. "They don't get to go where I go," he said.

In fact, a Stones official said the Onos haven't been invited backstage recently because they took too many pictures there once. But the couple doesn't seem to mind. They get passes to VIP rooms before each show, where they get free chips and drinks.

And when the music starts, they become completely transformed, singing, dancing and pumping their fists in the air -- seemingly oblivious to the thick clouds of marijuana smoke, fistfights and general delirium erupting from the crowd. "It's the energy," Mr. Ono said, "that attracts us."

Thanks for posting this great article, The Joker!

interesting article!

note to self - don't take lots of pictures backstage! i must say, if my mother was dying, i would probably tend to her first.

anyone knoow who sjaak jorritsma is? i wonder if he's the big tall blonde guy who's always in the front row? i know the blonde guy has a permanent backstage pass and doesn't have to wait in line for the GA shows in europe like the onos. he's buddies with a roadie, i think he once told me. funny that a roadie connection can get you further than a direct stones connection! he also told me he takes the greyhound bus from city to city in the US - that's gotta take a long time - and flights are usually only a bit more expensive than the bus!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-01-06 20:15 by little queenie.

i met them in hartford and said" you guys are the number one fans"....got a picture w/ them.....then mr ono siad " no u number one fan".....they are the cats tail!!!!

ChrisM Wrote:
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> iFox-san, I see that you like cats. Nihon go de
> arimasu ka?

Sou desu ne... Demo boku no uchi inu imasu.

Brno 22.07.07 & Warsaw 25.07.07