“PIG OUT, PIG OUT, PIG OUT!”
Last night, the Arts Club was filled with the warcries of legendary Japanese pop-punk outfit Shonen Knife as they made their return to Liverpool on their 35th Anniversary Tour.
It’s an accomplishment nowadays for bands to reach 10 years, never mind 35 years in which Shonen Knife struck a chord their with audience producing albums like “Let’s Knife”, “Adventure” and others.
However, we’ll start with the first act of the night. The Liverpool local lads, Good Grief who took the stage to play a set of 6/7 songs to open up the show. Good Grief were an impressive act in a strong slot, pulling the then-small crowd in with harsher sounds to their punk style. Their only slot on the tour played out well, with the band showing off their crowd chemistry with delightful one liners and even a (classic) line-off with a fan shouting “Boo-urns” (and we’re sure of it!).
They ended our strong, with a good noisey jam in which the guitar player used the amp feedback to gain a strong sound.
After not long, the Cincinnati trio Leggy took their spot as the openers for Shonen Knife. Being their first UK tour and first time in Liverpool, the lush punk three-piece seemed a little nervous at the growing crowd.
The band played through their dreamy punk set playing delightful songs such as “Backyard“, “Grrls Like Us” and others from their recent debut album. The band have been opening for Shonen Knife the entire tour and as proclaimed by guitarist and vocalist Veronique Allaer, the band are “so sad it’s ending” followed with the very true “you’d be too!”.
After a almost 10-15 minute break between sets, the headline act, the act the people came to see, the legendary Shonen Knife took to the stage. With their history and how long they’ve been in the game, they’ve done it all from open for Nirvana (for Shonen Knife‘s first UK tour with them before once again joining Nirvana for the Nevermind Tour) to being all of US television, so the veterans of the show weren’t shy or nervous.
The band immediately made an impact playing songs from their latest hard rock styled album Adventure to delight of fans, while throwing in classics like “BBQ Party” into the fray and the crowd ate it all up.
After 35 years, it’s easy to see that Shonen Knife haven’t lost a step especially in their music, the new stuff got over with the crowd well and all-in-all it was a smartly planned out setlist.
Sounds From Nowhere 