After nearly 20 years in the business, Shonen Knife are still neither bored nor boring.
The punk/pop band from Osaka has always been a trio, but there have been quite a few lineup changes over the years. Guitarist/singer Naoko Yamano is now the only remaining original member.
It’s still the same old Shonen Knife, though. As soon as they hit the stage you could see why Kurt Cobain once said that the first time he saw them he turned into a 12 year old at a Beatles concert.
There’s just something so infectious about Shonen Knife – even after all these years they still have more energy than most bands half their age. Opening with Konnichiwa, and then sliding right into Twist Barbie, they set the mood early – upbeat, punky, and with a sense of humor.
That’s always been what makes Shonen Knife special, their ability to pair lighthearted lyrics with serious musical chops. What other band can manage to attract fanboys like Cobain while singing songs about cats and tasty snacks?
Watching the crowd at Bottom of the Hill respond to the multiple food-related songs was hilarious, especially when Naoko asked during the introduction to BBQ Dreams whether or not anyone in the audience was a vegetarian and, when several raised their hands (this is San Francisco after all), modified the song to be about tofu rather than meat. That’s part of why Shonen Knife has such loyal fans – they’re just so damn nice. Not in a boring way – they’re far too witty and far too talented for that – it’s just that they seem to completely lack the sense of overwhelming ego that a lot of really good bands have. They know that they’re good, they have plenty of confidence, they’re just not arrogant about it. Rather than putting themselves at a distance from their audience, they work to draw the audience in, to include them in the show. And that’s what makes them such a fun band to watch.
About those food songs – there were at least four. What is it with Shonen Knife and food? Maybe it’s that the love of good food is a universal bonding experience. Maybe, despite being rather small women, they all have very large appetites. Who knows? But they ran through Banana Chips, Fruit Loop Dreams, BBQ Party, and Gyoza with great enthusiasm and characteristic Shonen Knife humor (gyoza being described as little pieces of edible history, complete with pseudo-Chinese melody).
And then there were the cute animal songs. It’s hard to pull something like that off without the cuteness edging towards twee and annoying, but Shonen Knife do it every time. As well as classic Bear Up Bison, we also got Capybara (can’t leave out the obscure cute animals), and two cat songs. Giant Kitty is both hilarious and well loved, but it was Catnip Dreams that really got the crowd going. One of only two songs where bassist Ritsuko took over vocal duties, it was a perfect encapsulation of everything Shonen Knife is about – vcute, a bit silly, distinctly off the wall in a way that reminds you that no one else writes songs quite like it, and yet musically rock solid.
The audience got to hear several new songs, but the most special was Move On, which Naoko dedicated to the players at the US Open tennis championship and the unfortunate weather problems that caused the final to be postponed. It was a nice little human touch to see the band disappointed in having to wait to get to watch the final, and a reminder of the total lack of pretentious rock star attempts to create distance between band and audience that people love them for.
Although there’s no question the band are awesome, it was the back and forth between them and the audience that lifted the show from just musically impressive to being a memorable experience overall. Little touches like letting everyone know that it was drummer Emi’s birthday the next day and asking permission before taking pictures of themselves with the audience behind them prompted murmurs of “God, they’re so sweet” from the crowd, and as a person who goes to a lot of shows, they’re right – there tends to be an inverse proportion between talent level and being a decent human being in musicians, so to find three people who’re all so damn nice in the same band is a rare thing indeed.
After the show was over the band immediately made their way over to the merch table to sign autographs and mingle with the fans. Watching that process was a perfect illustration of why Shonen Knife are so well loved – they’re awesome, and they know it, but they’ve never let it go to their heads. They just keep on making and performing music because they love doing it, and as a result their audience loves them right back.