It has been revealed that the live concert held on July 4th at Nippon Budokan (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) to commemorate guitarist Char's 70th birthday will be broadcast and streamed on WOWOW in September. WOWOW has also announced that to celebrate Char's 70th birthday, they will be featuring the concert as well as past concerts for six consecutive months.
The July 4th concert will be titled "Char Nippon Budokan Live 2025- Purple Phase Jam." The name of the concert, which is based on Jimi Hendrix's signature song, is a reflection of the fact that purple is the color used to celebrate the 70th birthday, and is meant to represent a new start for Char.
Special guest Tomoyasu Hotei and other splendid artists gathered together to perform a one-night-only performance. In addition, the legendary band "Smoky Medicine," which Char was a member of when he was a teenager, was revived with original members Mari Kaneko, Yoshihiro Naruse, Jun Sato, and Takashi Furuta, who replaced the late Shoji Fujii.
In addition, Char's son Jesse, the son of the late Johnny Yoshinaga, Nobuaki Kaneko and KenKen joined in recreating the number of the most important band in his career, "JLC/Pink Cloud." There was also a guitar competition with Tamio Okuda, Yoshio Nomura, and Michiya Haruhata, a member of "TUBE," among others.
The feature lineup from October onwards is as follows:
<Broadcast in October> "TRADROCK by Char #1 -Eric & Jeff-": TRADROCK, planned to convey the greatness of the guitar to future generations, covers the famous songs of six legendary musicians, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The Beatles, The Ventures, Jimmy Page, and Jimi Hendrix, all of whom are respected artists by Char. In #1, Char rearranges songs by Clapton and Beck with his own sensibilities.
<Broadcast in November> "TRADROCK by Char #2 -The Beatles & The Ventures-": TRADROCK was planned to convey the greatness of the guitar to future generations. In #2, Char rearranges songs by The Beatles and The Ventures with his own sensibilities.
<December broadcast> "TRADROCK by Char #3 -Jimmy & Jimi-": TRADROCK was planned to convey the greatness of the guitar to future generations. In #3, songs by Page and J. Hendrix are rearranged with Char's sensibility.
<Broadcast in January 2026> "Char "Rock Ju" Eve -Live at Nippon Budokan-": A recording of the commemorative concert that Char held at Nippon Budokan on June 15, 2015, the eve of his 60th birthday. Guest appearances included Tomoyasu Hotei Izumiya, Yoshiyuki Sahashi, Tomoyasu Hotei, Monsieur Kamayatsu, Tamio Okuda, Hama Okamoto, Yumi Matsutoya, Taiji Sato, Jesse, Masaharu Fukuyama, Sadao Abe(appearing on video), and Masayoshi Yamazaki.
<February broadcast> "Char ROCK FREE CONCERT -Live at Hibiya Open-Air-Concert Hall-": A free concert held at Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) on July 19, 2015. Guest appearances included Yamagishi Junji, AKIRA, Yamagishi Ryunosuke, Monsieur Kamayatsu, JESSE, and Kaneko Mari.
