Shonen Knife, North Star Bar, Philadelphia
posted by Krista | 3/8/2005 11:04:08 PM | Permalink | 
Stumble It!
I just got back from the North Star Bar where I saw Shonen Knife, and my god are they awesome in concert. Think J-pop meets the Ramones with incredible energy - they even covered "I Wanna Be Sedated" as an encore! Yes, they sing in Japanese, but they know enough English to engage the audience who was just eating them up. I mean, where else can you hear such diverse songs about Kappas, spam, and a spider's home (as they explained to us?) Adding to the atmosphere, they all had matching costumes - white dresses lined with denim and denim pants with white stripes and cuffs. Apparently Atsuko is the fashion designer for the band, and it works really well for them. Shonen Knife is Atsuko Yamano on guitar, Naoko Yamano on bass, and their fill in drummer, who is absolutely amazing, Etsuko Nakanishi. You can watcha few videos of theirs on Yahoo! Launch or see upcoming tour dates here. If you're looking for a fun band to see, I highly recommend them.
Update (3/9): Here's an article about them from Phillyburbs.com.
Such rock royalty as the aforementioned Ramones, Sonic Youth and Nirvana often praised Shonen Knife. Nirvana invited Shonen Knife to tour with the grunge icons. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain decided to cover Shonen Knife's "Twist Barbie."
