I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: February 24, 2023] Otoboke Beaver 

I saw Otoboke Beaver back in October and since they decided to swing through Philly again, I immediately grabbed a ticket.  The show sold out a few days before it happened (good for them).  And this venue is twice the size of Johnny Brenda’s (from 300 to 650 capacity) so even better for them.

There were several rules up on the wall before the show.  Basically they didn’t want people on stage (understandable) and they didn’t want people taking their setlist (this one I still don’t get) and no posting videos to YouTube (although Instagram is okay–I don’t quite get that either but whatever).  This also meant t hat there was a barrier up between the band and the stage (unusual for Underground Arts).  Sadly this meant that guitarist Yoyoyoshie would not be crowd surfing.  Of course, I didn’t arrive early enough to get that close anyhow.

Nevertheless, I had a pretty good spot up front, but as soon as they started playing, the mosh pit started and I got pushed off to the side a bit.  And by the end of the show I was all the way off to the side in a not especially great place.  That kind of sucked because they are so much fun to watch that I was bummed I couldn’t see them from the front.  But it was neat being near bassist Hiro-Chan who plays barefoot!

They sing (almost) exclusively in Japanese so I can’t really tell which song is which.  And most of their songs are short and fast so who knows what they played (again, not seeing a setlist), but it doesn’t matter because their whole set is about fun-wild fun.

One thing that really impressed me was that before one of the songs, singer Accorinrin stood with her arm raised and the whole band waited for her to begin.  The crowd, not taking the hint, whooped it up, but she was clearly waiting for silence (I understand Japanese audiences are very quiet between songs).  She stood and waited (like a teacher), until eventually she lowered her arms in a quiet gesture and everyone was quiet.  Their songs are very tight and need to be coordinated well.  As soon as their was silence, she was able to start and everyone was in synch. 

I wondered if that put her in a bad mood because something felt a little off to me compared to the show at Johnny Brenda’s.  I felt like Accorinrin seemed annoyed by the audience.  She normally has a pretty severe expression for most of the show, but she didn’t seem to be enjoying herself like maniac guitarist Yoyoyoshie did.

In the middle of the set, Yoyoyoshie introduced the band.  She started with drummer Kahokiss who busted into a chorus of “Hit Me baby One More Time” except  that she is a drummer and said she will hit the drums one more time.  When she got to Accorinrin, the singer told the crowd “don’t throw beer.  If you do I will stop the show.”

In the very next song, someone through a water bottle and, indeed, she stopped the show.  She stood glaring in silence.  Eventually security seemed to move on the offender and,–I couldn’t tell from where I was–I think they kicked the guy out.  Then she resumed the show.  In an instagram post the next say they thanked security.

Despite that, Accorinrin gave her all, including doing all of the choreography that the band is known for.  (This is clearly why they don’t want anyone on stage–not to mention Hiro-Chan’s feet).

I love that they played “Dirty old fart is waiting for my reaction” the song I decided would be my most played song on Spotify this year–see if it gets recorded as such in the year end.

They played for about an hour and at the end of the set, Accorinrin dropped the mic and walked off.  The rest of the band waved and such.  They did do an encore (and even took a crowd picture).  But after the encore, Accorinrin once again dropped the mic and walked off.  It’s hard to know if she was annoyed with the crowd or if that’s just her thing (it didn’t happen at Johnny Brenda’s).

Regardless of her mood, the show was great.  Otoboke Beaver are so in tune with each other.  Their songs are breakneck, with incredible shifts in tone and tempo and even style.  And they pull it off with a casual elegance that belies their punk bonafides.  I’d really like to be somewhere where I can really watch them–as opposed to getting bashed around trying to see them.

I’m guessing from other things I’ve seen the setlist was the same or at least very similar to the one we saw last time.  Which is fine.  Its so frenetic and fun that it doesn’t really matter what they play.