Japanese Breakfast takes on Mission Ballroom
Japanese Breakfast (Photo Credit: Juli Yanai)
Japanese Breakfast brought the Melancholy Tour to Mission Ballroom this past Saturday, putting on a stunning theatrical production and cementing themselves as an indie music staple.
The tour comes as a promotion for their fourth album, For Melancholy Brunettes (and Sad Women), which was deemed a critical success for its ethereal sound and emotional depth. The album explores themes of loss through a melancholic, stripped-back style.
To open the show, American indie band Ginger Root took to the stage with a full-scale production. Large TV screens on either side of the stage projected retro-style Japanese films to accompany the band’s unique sound. Frontman Cameron Lew kept things playful as he alternated between using a regular microphone and singing into a retro telephone while he masterfully played on a keyboard. Lew’s bandmates also kept the energy going as they played their respective instruments, and a videographer took shots that occasionally projected onto the screens.
The performance brought the spirit of Ginger Root’s music, which Lew has described as “aggressive elevator soul,” to life, as Lew jammed with his bandmates and even took a moment to start dancing the robot. At one point in the performance, they also brought out Michelle Zauner, the frontwoman of Japanese Breakfast, to perform the theme song from the manga series Cardcaptor Sakura together.
Finishing off their show, Lew shared the love with the crowd by discussing the early aughts of Ginger Root and how far the band has come. Lew went on to talk about how the band “unofficially” performed at the SXSW music showcase while he was in college, and he had an assignment to write about a piece of music that changed his life. In an inspirational moment, he shared that the piece he chose to write about was the album Psychopomp by Japanese Breakfast, before going on to encourage the crowd to try writing music because they could one day wind up performing with their favorite artists.
After thoroughly expressing their gratitude, the band stepped off the stage to make way for the highly anticipated main act: Japanese Breakfast.
In the dark, Michelle Zauner swiftly moved to the front of the stage, leaning toward the crowd and lighting a small oil lamp before walking away. Cheers of excitement echoed throughout the venue following her swift entrance.
As the stage was illuminated, it revealed a large seashell backdrop akin to the Birth of Venus, where Zauner sat quietly on the edge of the shell. On the steps below her, bandmates sat with their instruments as they began to play the delicate chords for the intro of “Here Is Someone.”
From the soft murmur of cymbals and flutes, Zauner’s angelic voice emerged. Her wispy, stripped-back vocals were perfectly enmeshed into the song’s reflective tone, creating a dreamy atmosphere for the crowd. As the show progressed, the audience watched in awe as the band's theatrical performance unfolded.
From the very nautically inspired stage, Zauner and her bandmates proceeded to perform songs spanning the band’s discography. After playing a series of songs off For Melancholy Brunettes (And Sad Women), the band launched into performing songs like “Kokomo IN,” off their 2021 album, Jubilee. The song continued the melancholic theme of the night, expressing the feelings of longing and heartache from a breakup from a bright, orchestral soundscape. Jubilee is widely regarded as the album that really put Zauner on the map as an artist and performer, through the album’s nuanced songwriting and showmanship qualities.
As the evening continued, Zauner sang and bopped around the stage, occasionally engaging in theatrics while cementing her status as an indie music staple.
At one point in the night, Zauner also took a moment to speak to the crowd and poke fun at Denverites, stating, “Denver, I have a bias against you, to be honest, because I associate you with outdoor types, and as an indoor kid, I'm not sure about you.” After a brief pause filled with laughter from the crowd, Zauner continued, “But tonight has been lovely.”
Following her statement, Zauner then went on to say that she felt like Denverites would appreciate “taking mushrooms in the woods” before she launched into telling a story about her own mushroom experience. Zauner recounted a time when she and fellow bandmate and husband, Peter Bradley, actually took mushrooms in the woods at an Airbnb. The crowd laughed and cheered as Zauner explained that they had anticipated more privacy, and Bradley proceeded to strike poses at passing cars from their porch in an attempt to “act natural.”
The story led into their next song, “Posing For Cars,” another track off their Jubilee album. The song began with Zauner’s soft vocals before the rest of the band joined in for a full-scale performance, with Bradley taking the lead on his guitar. Following the song, they closed out the performance with “Posing in Bondage,” a darker ballad that pulses with desire through its moody synths and drumming. As the song came to a close, the lights dimmed and the band momentarily retired from the stage. Cheers for encores followed, as people stood in quiet anticipation for the band’s return to the stage. Upon returning to the stage, the band proceeded to perform a four-song encore. The encore included “Paprika,” “Be Sweet,” “Diving Woman,” and “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” for which Lew returned on stage to perform vocals.
The lengthy encore performance was a wonderful treat for showgoers who chose to stay after the band’s initial exit, and as a whole the performance was a visually and sonically stunning show that was a testament to Zauner’s capacity as an artist.
