A live report of Shonen Knife's first stop on their Genki Shock US Tour 2007.
The Blender Theatre at Gramercy had filled in nicely as Shonen Knife’s equipment was set up onstage. The black and red banner with the words "Genki Shock" hung in the back for all to see behind the drum set. Having a large stage, there’d be no problem seeing all the members no matter where you stood in the venue.
After stage set up was done, the main lights went out and on came the stage lights, catching the pink color of the bass and guitar that sat in stands waiting to be played. Finally out came Shonen Knife in matching outfits; the three women were all wearing brown velvet pants with a retro brown, orange, and yellow sleeveless top. Each of them headed to their respective spot on stage, picked up their instrument, and kicked right off into their introduction song.
Instantly getting into the performance, Naoko and Atsuko met eachother in the center of the stage and rocked back and forth in unison while playing KONNICHIWA, swinging their hair in the air before going back to their microphone stands to get ready to sing.
Breaking between songs, Naoko took some time to address the crowd. As the cheers and applause settled down, she spoke. "We’d like to play songs from our latest album in the United States. The album is called Genki Shock. 'Genki' means fine in Japanese. The next song is about spam emails." She paused as the crowd cheered. "I get spam emails everyday... I get spam emails a lot. The next song is called S-P-A-M, spam!" With a laugh, the song started. Getting into it, the audience sang along enthusiastically with the chorus.
After the song was over, they went straight into their next song, , which featured a fast paced guitar solo from Naoko. Finishing up the song, Naoko tuned up her guitar as she spoke to the crowd again. "We Shonen Knife have released our new latest album just in Japan now called Fun Fun Fun. We’d like to play something from our Fun Fun Fun album. The song is about my favorite band, The Ramones. They are from New York. We really like this band so
this is for The Ramones!" Naoko threw her hands in the air and cried out "RAMONES FOREVER!" starting the song. Chanting along, the words 'Ramones forever' echoed throughout the venue. Walking to the center of the stage, Naoko played another great guitar solo before returning to her microphone to sing the chorus with Atsuko.
Thanking the crowd, they re-tuned their instruments. "By the way," Naoko started, "recently Japanese anime and manga has become popular overseas. So, next song is called Anime Genshou, or Anime Phenomenon." A very upbeat song, everyone bounced back and forth, enjoying the music.
For the next two songs, it was Atsuko’s turn on main vocals. During the chorus of , the two sisters took turns singing the chorus lines like a call and answer. They also joined each other in the center of the stage and rocked back and forth in unison. Before the next song, the members of Shonen Knife were introduced. "On bass, Atsuko!" called Naoko as her sister stepped forward and bowed. "and on the drums, Etsuko!" Etsuko stood up from behind her drums and waved her drumsticks in the air as the crowd cheered. Atsuko took the mic, "On guitar, Naoko!" Naoko played a few notes on her guitar, then spoke again. "For the next song, our bassist, Atsuko, will sing. Mysterious Drugstore!" Atsuko sang while Naoko paced the stage, occasionally climbing the drum platform and hopping off.
"Next song is energetic song, you can do this!" Naoko said, and pumped her fist in the air repeatedly, calling out 'SUSHI BAR!' multiple times. "Okay?" she asked as the crowd got ready to throw their hands in the air, "are you ready for sushi? Sushi Bar Song!" Hands flew up in the air while Atsuko and Naoko ran in place. Etsuko was hitting the drums so energetically that half of the set came loose and shook for the rest of the show. Getting the crowd involved, Naoko pulled her microphone from the stand and came to the edge of the stage and pointed it at people in the audience, encouraging them to sing along with the chorus.
During the song Cookie Day the lights above the stage turned multiple colors and shone various shapes such as triangles and rectangles on the stage floor. Every now and then, Etsuko would stand up from her drum stool and lean forward, pointing at the crowd with her drumsticks, encouraging cheers. During BUTTERCUP (I’m a Super Girl), Naoko and Atsuko switched sides of the stage and joined Etsuko on her drum platform before jumping off of it. After was over, they picked up the Shonen Knife towels they had carried out with them, waved them in the air and went off stage.
After some cheering, the trio came back out onstage for two more encores. "The next song is about a big cat!" Naoko said, "GIANT KITTY!" Getting a tremendous reaction, the audience jumped up and down throughout the song.
"We have one more show in the New York area, November 23rd we are playing in Brooklyn," Naoko said near the end of the show. After their last encore songs, the trio waved their final goodbye as the audience applauded and cheered. It was a great first show of the tour.
