[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. (more…)
