Japanese Breakfast Live in Philly
Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
On Friday, May 16th, indie pop band, Japanese Breakfast, the project of Michelle Zauner, played the second of two big hometown shows at the historic Met Philadelphia. This was the last night of their tour.
They were joined by opener Ginger Root. Ginger root is the self-described ‘indie-soul’ project of Cameron Lew, from Huntington beach, California. They released an album in September 2024, Shinbangumi, on the label Ghostly International. Ginger Root was one of the most energetic openers I’ve ever seen. Lew was singing into a phone mic and joined by a bass player and drummer. They opened with the song Better Than Monday and the majority of the set was songs from Shinbangumi with a few others thrown in. They had two TV screens on the sides of the stage and a man filming the band onstage as a livestream. He was like another member of the band. Having never heard Ginger Root before, I was impressed and wanted to check out their music afterwards.
Up next after Ginger Root was Japanese Breakfast. Some members of the band still live in Philadelphia and they considered this a homecoming show for the tour. The set and lighting design was beautifully done, with Zauner sitting in a giant clam shell as she played guitar. At the end of March of this year, Japanese Breakfast released their latest album For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) on Dead Oceans. Following up 2021’s Jubilee, most of the set’s songs was from this newer record. They did a four song encore including classic 2016 hit ‘Everybody Wants To Love You’ and invited Ginger Root back on stage to sing together. It was a lovely performance and one of the best shows of the year by far.
Photos by Jay Leiby
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