I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 15, 2024] Sasami

When this tour was announced, I thought it would be perfect for myself and my kids.  My daughter loved seeing Crawlers, the original opening act, my son loves Destroy Boys and in addition to liking both bands, I had wanted to see Sasami for quite a while.

I had heard that Sasami’s shows for her album Squeeze were insane–intense rocking shows in which Sasami didn’t hold back in trying to create “maximum chaos per capita.”

That tour had a full band and they rocked hard.

So I was disappointed that this set from Sasami was all over the place.  It was just her and her Colombian drummer Juan Diego Patiño (who was pretty great).  And she played songs from all over her career.

And honestly there was nothing bad about her set, it was just totally not was I was expecting. 

And that’s because her new album (out in March) embraces her pop side once again.

After establishing herself with the poised melancholia of her eponymous 2019 debut, SASAMI embraced volume and control on 2022’s Squeeze—touring with a metal band.

The new album is, as she puts it a “pop album about love.”

So the first two songs were poppy indeed.  Sasami had her guitar and played on most of the songs, although a couple existed only through the loops that Juan played and which she sang along to.

She was a very funny and engaging performer–she clearly loves being on stage and enjoys being funny and or intense.

After the first three songs, she told us that she was there to warm us up for Destroy Boys.  After asking Juan to play a series of double bass drum beats, she said that she was asking everyone to get a pit going and she proceeded to play an absolutely sick, heavy, pit-inducing “Need it to Work” (from Squeeze).  It was bizarre how different it was from the other songs.  And that she then went right back to one of her most mellow songs, “Just Be Friends.”

She also played “Not the Time” which has more of an indie rock vibe and then Call Me Home, another song from Squeeze, but a far more mellow one.

Before the final song, she played a lovely French horn solo–she is a conservatory-trained classical French horn player,  I enjoyed the way she brandished it, while it was bedecked with ribbons, both before and at the end of the show.  This was an intro to Nothing But a Sad Face On.

So even though the first and last bands were much more punky, Sasami’s set was far more poppy.  My son said he really enjoyed it–that he doesn’t see too many pop singers and it was fun to hear and see her more dancey material.  And that made me reevaluate the set.  I was still disappointed to not get the rocking show I imagined, but the show we did get was full on entertaining.

1. Figure It Out ♥
2. I’ll Be Gone ♥
3. Honeycrash ♥
4. Need It to Work Σ
5. Just Be Friends ♥
6. Not the Time §
7. Call Me Home Σ
8. Slugger ♥
9. Nothing But a Sad Face On ♥

♥ Blood on the Silver Screen (2025)
Σ Squeeze (2022)
§ Sasami (2019)