[ATTENDED: October 31, 2023] Japanese Breakfast
This was my third time seeing Japanese Breakfast. But more importantly, it was my first time going to a show on Halloween (that’s not true, I saw Skinny Puppy on Halloween in 1988), but this is my first time since I had kids.
I wasn’t sure we could pull it off–my daughter wanted to go trick or treating after all. And I was willing to not go to this show. If my daughter wanted us home, I would have happily stayed home. Although this did promise to be a super fun show. Costumes, a cool poster and the notification that this would be the last J Brekkie show for at least a year.
Zauner had shared her plans for her second book, mentioning the year-long hiatus she plans to take in Korea. “I’m moving to Korea December 29th to live for a year and work on my second book where I am going to study the language and document that process,” she told Hsu. “And I think it was such a natural response to writing a book that was so rooted in the past and so much of what was hard about it was like it was so obviously emotional, but also it was hard to remember all of that.”
Our daughter gave us permission to go out and we arrived at the show in time to see the opening act. I could (should?) have waited on line for a poster (the above picture with a foil outline), but I decided against it.
Originally Hop Along was supposed to open but that changed at pretty close to the last minute. (Well, they had enough time to make posters with the new band, Crooks and Nannies) on it. I’m not a huge fan of Hop Along, but I do like the and was a little bummed at the loss. But Crooks and Nannies proved to be weirdly delightful.
After Crooks and Nannies finished (at 8:30) it was a short wait and then a woman in a clown outfit came on. It was comedian Sarah Sherman who Michelle Zauner said “insisted she come out on stage.” She did her routine which was funny and irritating. And when she was done, Japanese Breakfast’s crew started setting up for their show. I was sure that the comedian was a way to distract us while the crew set up. But instead, it was just a delaying technique. J.B. didn’t go on until 9:45. Good grief.
And indeed, it was Sherman who returned, this time dressed as Gollum, ready to introduce the band. And when she did, it was revealed that the whole band was dressed like Lord of the Rings characters. And there were clips from the movie (and cartoons and more) projected behind them for the whole show. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 