I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED, April 24, 2015] Kishi Bashi

This is our second time seeing Kishi Bashi in about a year.  As Sarah said, I’m really glad we saw him in the State Theater first because in that venue, you could really see what he was doing with his feet and his other gear (well, and the sound was better).  But it was so much fun seeing him in this venue because the show was very different.

But still it was just him and his violin (and a bunch of looping pedals) and, man, is his good.

Whether it was the lack of seats or just more confidence on stage, K. was a more wild performer.  At this venue we stood one the floor (and marveled at how we are apparently very short).  We could see his head and torso (bow tie and leather vest) but not his feet.

He opened the show with “Atticus, in the Desert,” my favorite song of his.  He did some really fun beatboxing and sound manipulation (even commenting that one of the beats was “sick” and that he had to try to remember what he did) he improvises a lot of beats and is really good at it.

I love watching him play “Bright Whites” because he holds the violin like a guitar and strums it before moving into the bowed section.

I had never been to the Theatre of Living Arts before and while the venue was good, the crowd was so noisy.  We have mostly been going to seated shows where people tend to be quiet (sometimes too quiet), but this show was a bar and club and the talking was so loud (and I felt incredibly rude to both Kishi and the fans who were down front).  Before the start of his slow quiet song “Bittersweet Genesis for Him AND Her” he had to SHHHHHHHHH for a few seconds into the microphone. And while people did shush some, it was still rude.

But Kishi was undaunted.  He had a pretty hardcore bunch in the front and they were into it.  Kishi jumped down off the stage and high-fived people.  He even said something about a person wearing a shirt from his Kickstarter campaign (couldn’t quite hear that).  And then he told a very funny story about his dancey song “Mr Steak.”  He said that the song was big in Japan and when he toured there, he saw his song on a Karaoke machine.  He sang it 3 times but never got above 84% accuracy, ha!  He got us up and dancing with that fun song.

He played two more songs from Lighght and then ended with the fantastic song “Manchester.”

Kishi is amazing live–full of energy and fun.

I’d love to see him headline where everyone is there to see him.  I understand that even when he has a band, he still does his looping and beatboxing.

I wanted to go out to merch table and meet him (again), but we didn’t want to lose our great spots on the floor.  But, better than briefly seeing him at he merch table, he would show up again later during the Guster show and I would…well, you’ll have to read the Guster post to find out.

This is the setlist from online, which seems short and doesn’t include the other improv pieces.

• (improv)
• Bright Whites
• Atticus, in the Desert
• Bittersweet Genesis for Him AND Her
• The Ballad of Mr. Steak
• Q&A
• Philosophize in It! Chemicalize with It!
• Manchester