Walking into the gallery one couldn’t help but be reminded just how much of a unifying force music is. The crowd, draped in purple light under the Great Hall’s mosaic of stained glass, spanned a good four generations of rock fans. As the week was debriefed and children played among the artwork, DJ People dropped a selection of tasteful tracks, winding up with Chris & Cosey’s October Love Song and a heavily filtered version of Suicide’s Dream Baby Dream.
It was then that Shonen Knife walked humbly on stage – in stark contrast to the projections of strutting Dior models above them. With 22 studio albums of material to summarise, the Japanese three-piece wasted no time as they jumped into Pop Tune. To a naked guitar riff, Naoko Yamano’s fragile entreaty of “Since you’re already here / put away something bad / Since you’re already here / think of happy things” seemed made-to-measure. It accurately summed up the vibe of the crowd, who collectively lost their minds when the rhythm section kicked in on bar five.
Next, the band launched into punk tracks Banana Chips and Twist Barbie, which had the audience dancing up a storm before the guitar solo of Jump into the New World exploded heads in a lacerating display of Kawaii cool. Back-to-back, Naoko and sister Atsuko shredded along to Rock’n’roll T-shirt in the band’s blue, red and yellow dresses – ostensibly inspired by Piet Mondrian’s Tableau I –which Atsuko proudly informed everyone she had made herself. Green Tangerine, sung by the band’s new drummer Risa Kawano, rounded-out the first part of the set.
“I had a delicious pumpkin tart for dinner,” Naoko declared between songs. She then introduced a brace of purely food-related hits starting with the upbeat All You Can Eat and the “hard rock chick song” Ramen Rock. Wasabi stood out for its wailing guitar riff and Risa’s energetic pounding of the floor tom. BBQ Party was a fitting anthem for the first warm night in ages and the ska-punk beat was all the excuse anyone needed to shake their groove thangs. When the band finally forwent the food theme, it kicked off another handful of tunes, starting with the pop harmonies of Super Group.
However, the sound did deteriorate over the course of the set. In addition, ‘short, fast, loud’ really works best when all of those tenets are obeyed, and some people did retreat to the foyer for a breather. All said though, it was a joyous celebration of music and its ability to bring people together. When the band returned to play Top of the World as an encore, it really reinforced just how much Shonen Knife normalise international rock stardom. Say what you like about their version of the genre, accessibility is the most punk thing ever.
Highlight: The kid rocking out on her dad’s shoulders in the nosebleed section.
Lowlight: Some pretty minor sound issues.
Crowd favourite: Risa’s excited banter between songs.
