Read previous – Japanese Breakfast plays to a jubilant sold out crowd at Asbury Lanes
Post by Oliver
Teenage offspring in tow, I was able to catch Japanese Breakfast on Night 2 of their historic 5-night, sold out, homecoming stint at Union Transfer in Philly. In a welcome turn of events, the band recently requested that all attendees (for the remainder of their tour) provide proof of vaccination (or a negative COVID test) and be masked during the show. All too happy to oblige, Japanese Breakfast’s local fanbase packed the venue at pre-pandemic levels and exhibited all of the behaviors I forgot I hated about being packed into tight quarters with rambunctious (albeit like-minded) strangers. But live music, right? I jest, of course. Michelle Zauner, herself, even commented on the spiciness of the Saturday night crowd and how it decisively powned the energy of the Friday/Night 1 crowd.
Before taking us into their back catalog, their set opened with “Paprika” (see video below) and remained front-heavy with Jubilee tracks. Even making it on the setlist was BUMPER track “Ballad 0” – Zauner credited Japanese Breakfast drummer Craig Hendrix for his magical production skills on this track, as well as numerous other times during the night for his ability to “fix” and make her songs even better.
With a short (don’t tell her I said that) teenage daughter in tow, my defensive skills were on high alert with the primary objective being maintaining her line of sight to the stage. However, as the night progressed, I relented our envious near-stage position which became slowly and steadily colonized by drunkards and don’t-give-a-shit late-comers. Alas, them’s the breaks.
Before closing out their regular set with crowd favorite “Everybody Wants to Love You”, Zauner recounted her days of interning/working the coat check at the venue. She invited R5 Productions’ live music godfather/luminary, Sean Agnew, to the stage and paid him back from that one time she accepted a counterfeit $100 bill selling a (single) soft pretzel. Selling out 5 nights at Union Transfer, I think we can confidently say that this former intern has finally made good.
We watched the encore from the back of the venue before I proceeded to spend my hard-earned cash to buy my daughter every piece of Jbrekkie merch available – that, folks, is what you call good parenting.
Check out the full setlist below, as well as a few photos (and a video) I was able to snag with my trusty point-and-shoot.
Japanese Breakfast Setlist (8/7/2021):
– Paprika
– Be Sweet
– Kokomo, IN
– Slide Tackle
– Posing in Bondage
– Savage Good Boy
– Tactics
– In Heaven
– The Woman That Loves You
– Road Head
– Ballad 0 (BUMPER)
– Boyish
– The Body Is a Blade
– Everybody Wants to Love You
// Encore //
– Posing for Cars
– Diving Woman
