Japanese Breakfast played Brooklyn Paramount (Night 2)

As part of the tour in support of her new album For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), Michelle Zauner, aka Japanese Breakfast, has become the first artist to play a four night run at Brooklyn Paramount.

After the blow-up album that was Jubilee and authoring one of the most successful auto-biographies in more recent memory, Crying in H Mart, the pressure was high for the new album by Japanese Breakfast, but after repeated sell-outs, the indie rock sensation kept adding shows to her now record breaking run at Brooklyn's Paramount Theatre. The night settled in with songs from the latest album as the stage was decked out in mighty props that features cresting waves, glowing lights, a lantern, and a giant clamshell center stage that Zauner would occasional use as a resting place, taking the spot of the pearl, and play acoustic guitar to woo the crowd. "Orlando in Love" was an early highlight and helped us ease into the relatively chill mood that would take over the set. It was all very even keeled and chill, the flourishes of synth washing over the rest of the band while processed drums helped dig into the more digitized effects of the night save for the lone saxophone that did some major work in adding textures and massive delight into the mix. Digging back to Psychopomp, "In Heaven" was a nice throwback tune that ushered in a segment of the night devoted to Zauner's pre-fame days in a nice ode to her long-time devoted fans. After a dazzling "Winter in LA" she finally broke out the Jubilee tunes and the audience erupted with joy for what many had been waiting to hear. "Kokomo, IN" was a big number and had the crowd rocking after a lot of anticipation and the mood really picked up from there on out. Hints of synth-pop and dabs of funky guitar really heightened the night and gave everyone a reason to move and groove to these delectable tunes. Bringing out more swaying rhythms, "Slide Tackle" was another slick jam that allowed the sax to shine and the twinkles of the synths to radiate throughout the building. Bringing out opener Ginger Root for a cover of Gorillaz's excellent "On Melancholy Hill" felt like the perfect choice for the night as they seamlessly blended it into their exact brand of indie pop with brilliant melodies and stellar rhythms that had the crowd bouncing along with pure excitement. Closing out the main set with "Posing in Bondage" was another great move that once again felt like what many had been waiting for all night, the moody beats that slowly result in something bombastic and emotive was a great way to cap off the first part of the night. After slowly building to something with a beat, the night really came through in the second half and took things to the level you'd expect from the last two albums. For the encore, Zauner and crew pulled out all the stops and really left it all on stage. Diving into "Paprika" had the crowd pumped and ready to boogie so when they slammed into "Be Sweet," it was undoubtedly the biggest moment of the night and the electricity running through the room was enough to power a dance party for what felt like forever. Bounding across the stage, it was clear that Zauner was in the zone as well and wanted this feeling to last as long as possible.

Set list:

01 "Here Is Someone"
02 "Orlando in Love"
03 "Honey Water"
04 "In Heaven"
05 "The Woman That Loves You"
06 "Boyish" [Little Big League cover]
07 "The Body Is a Blade"
08 "Mega Circuit"
09 "Little Girl"
10 "Winter in LA"
11 "Kokomo, IN"
12 "Road Head"
13 "Slide Tackle"
14 "Picture Window"
15 "Men in Bars"
16 "On Melancholy Hill" [Gorillaz cover] (with Ginger Root)
17 "Posing in Bondage"
--
18 "Paprika"
19 "Be Sweet"
20 "Diving Woman"