Written and Reviewed by Krysta Ayers
APRIL 23, Austin, Texas—True to Japanese Breakfast form, the stage at ACL Live was decorated for the tour theme of For Melancholy Brunettes (and sad women)—large sets of waves flanked each side, with a large, opened oyster shell in the middle. The band came onstage clad in Victorian-era looking garb, looking like the prince and his crew in The Little Mermaid being jubilant on deck while Ariel watched in wonderment from her hidden spot in the ocean.
The first three songs of the set mirrored the tracklist of the band’s newest album, which the tour took its name from. “Here is Someone” was a sonically sweet precursor to “Orlando in Love,” and the crowd’s energy crescendoed as Michelle Zuaner, the band’s vocalist, guitarist, and main songwriter, sang the titular lyrics at the beginning of the song—the “melancholy” absent in the audience’s claps and general shouts of approval.
The band then hit rewind to play “Road Head,” “Boyish,” and “The Body is a Blade” off their 2017 album, Soft Sounds from Another Planet. Zauner’s ability to make her own discography feel fresh and amplified on stage did not go unnoticed; The live versions punctuated the longing, the insecurities, and the nonlinear, messy journey of grief the Zauner has composed. The band was in sync for all of it, allowing more space for guitar solos and playfulness on stage.
Zauner sat inside the oyster shell, strapped with her acoustic guitar to play “Leda,”—fittingly dressed in white (and sitting within the oceanic display) to play up the Greek mythology in the song. It was “the calm” before the climax of the show.
The back half of the set list was a healthy back and forth of Jubilee and For Melancholy Brunettes. Zauner took turns happily walking the length of the stage to sing with the crowd, and playing the guitar as if it were an extension of herself—emoting through every chord and taking up space rightfully hers, with the same command as her male counterparts And as with any crowd after the invention of the smartphone, phones were poised up ready to record the action, your fellow concert goer’s view be damned. Everyone was eager to hold onto the night. To take their memories out of the venue, and hopefully, relive them again and again (instead of leaving them forgotten in the abyss of one’s camera roll).
Japanese Breakfast ended their set with “Posing in Bondage,” before coming out for an encore. The crowd generously gave their claps. The encore consisted of “Paprika,” “Be Sweet,” and “Diving Woman”—saving the fan favorites for last. As someone who did not get to see the band while they toured for Jubilee, hearing “Paprika” and “Be Sweet” live (and played in the order of the album) for the first time was, without trying to sound too corny, felt like being “at the center of magic…Oh, it’s a rush.” It was nothing short of amazing to stand with a group of strangers (and my brother) to see Michelle Zauner fronting Japanese Breakfast and absolutely crush it.