Shonen Knife's 30th Anniversary Concert in Nottingham

The small bar venue at the Bodega Social Club in Nottingham quickly filled up as around 150 people from a vast range of ages came to see female rock band Shonen Knife. This was the penultimate show in the band’s ‘Free Time’ 30th Anniversary European Tour, with one final date in London to follow. They were supported by three-piece post-punk band SLOWCOACHES, who opened with a lively set and really got the crowd going.

After a brief pause between bands to set up Shonen Knife’s instruments, the girls came onstage to a recorded track in matching white outfits with denim trim. They spent a few moments waving to the crowd and holding up Shonen Knife towels like banners before picking up their instruments and heading straight into the first song, Konnichiwa. This was an energetic opening which immediately got the crowd into the spirit of the evening. Vocalist Naoko and bassist Ritsuko spent a good amount of time playing together at the front of the stage when they weren’t singing, and continued this for the second song, Twist Barbie. This was another energetic performance, finishing with drummer Emi throwing her hands up in the air and making rock signs.

Naoko then took a moment to talk to the crowd, her English very clear as she said, “We are Shonen Knife from Osaka, Japan, and we are very happy to be here in Nottingham. We have just released a new album called Free Time here in Europe, so we want to play one of the tracks from this album now.” She then introduced Perfect Freedom as the next song, which was one of the performance highlights, with very clear vocals from Naoko. Ritsuko seemed to be enjoying this song a lot as she grinned and shook her hair around whenever she wasn’t singing the backing vocals. As soon as this song ended, Emi counted in the next one, which was Anime Phenomenon. Emi played this song with a constant grin on her face as Ritsuko swayed to the music and shook her long hair and Naoko did a few small jumps between vocal sections. The chorus of this song was very strong, with lovely duel vocals from Naoko and Ritsuko.

After this song, Naoko again spoke to the crowd. “We are touring all over Britain and Europe,” she said, “and we have twenty-four shows total. This is the twenty-third.” Ritsuko then shouted “Almost done!” which got a laugh from the crowd. “Tomorrow is our last show, in London,” Naoko continued. “We don’t want to go back to Japan. We want to stay here. But I have a bad sense of direction so I always get lost. This next song is also about someone who gets lost a lot. This is one of our heavy songs, A Map Master.” This was a very upbeat song, with Emi singing along behind her drums and the crowd clearly enjoying themselves as they bopped along. Once this song ended, Emi went straight into a heavy drum intro for Bear up Bison, with Naoko and Ritsuko playing their guitars together at the front of the stage. All three girls joined in for the vocals, which gave the song a lovely atmosphere.

Naoko again thanked the crowd and said, “So now we want to play another song from our new album. This song is about a very cute animal called a capybara. This animal is very popular in Japan, but I don’t think there are so many in the UK, so I would like to introduce this cute animal.” This, of course, led into the song Capybara, which was a very fun performance. All three members sang during the chorus and the crowd clearly enjoyed this song as they danced along. The sound quality of Naoko’s vocals during the verses was perhaps not too clear, but this was more than made up for by the members’ cheerful performance during the chorus. This was followed by the song I am a cat, with the main vocals sung by Emi and both Naoko and Ritsuko joining in for the chorus. It was quite a relaxed song and Ritsuko swayed along to the music as she played her bass and Naoko came to the front of the stage for her guitar solo. When the song ended, Emi blew a big kiss to the audience and took a bow.

Naoko then took to the front of the stage for a brief, relaxed guitar solo with a lot of reverb, which was met with cheers from the crowd. Emi then counted the band in for another hard song, Devil house, with Ritsuko singing the main vocals. Emi gave a very forceful drumbeat for the pre-chorus and Naoko provided backing vocals. Ritsuko clearly enjoyed this song, as she head banged and flicked her hair out on the drumbeat and she warmly thanked the crowd at the end of the song.

Naoko thanked the crowd again and said that it was time to introduce the members, first of all introducing Emi on the drums. Emi waved cheerfully at the crowd with a huge grin and said, “Hello Nottingham! Thank you for coming! I am so happy!” She then introduced Ritsuko who said, “Hi Nottingham, how are you tonight? I hear Nottingham has a great hero: Robin Hood!” The crowd cheered and she finished by saying “I’m very happy to be here!” before introducing Naoko on guitar, who gave a short riff and then said, “When I was a child I used to watch a cartoon called 'Rocket Robin Hood' and it went like this-” She then briefly played the theme tune on her guitar whilst singing “Rocket Robin Hood!” This was met with laughter and applause from the audience and Naoko then introduced the next song, Super Group.

This song had a very upbeat atmosphere with Ritsuko and Naoko jumping up and down after the chorus, though the small stage perhaps limited their movements. They gave a great performance for this song with lovely dual vocals which really stood out, and the crowd clearly enjoyed this song as well. It came to an abrupt end, with all members of the band pointing out towards the crowd. They then went straight into the rocky E.S.P., with Emi pounding happily at her drums, the beat growing stronger and stronger throughout the song. Ritsuko provided another great bass line and Naoko came to the front of the stage for her guitar solo and the crowd really seemed to enjoy the song’s upbeat chorus.

The band paused briefly for applause before going into Banana Chips, which was another fun song. Naoko, whose performance while singing had mostly been quite stationary, tossed her head from side-to-side as she sang. Both she and Ristuko spent a lot of time at the front of the stage during this song, with the bassist grinning and shaking her hair at the crowd. In such an intimate venue, the band members were able to connect with the audience and make the performance feel more personal. Shonen Knife threw up their hands at the end and Naoko announced Riding on the Rocket as the next song. The audience really got into the good, hard drumbeat supplied by Emi, who was clearly enjoying herself throughout this song. Ritsuko also gave a very energetic performance as she played her bass, so much so that at one point she headbutted her microphone, but quickly laughed this off. Naoko gave an impressive tapping solo, though she stayed at the side of the stage this time rather than come to the front. She saved this for the end of the song instead, where both she and Ritsuko leaned over into the crowd as they played their instruments, before going straight into Economic Crisis.

This song was another highlight as it was full of energy and all three band members really threw themselves into the performance. Ritsuko’s bass line kept the song moving forward, though Emi easily made herself heard over the fast-paced music. Naoko’s vocals were spot on, barely differing at all from the album recording. Shonen Knife kept up a very playful atmosphere throughout this song, which the audience clearly enjoyed, and Naoko came to the front of the stage for another tapping solo before the song reached its climax. The band members thrashed at their instruments, with Emi running all the way around her drum kit as she beat the cymbals and drums. When the band finished playing and threw up their hands it looked like the end of the set, but they quickly went into the upbeat Cobra Vs. Mongoose. This was another lively song, with all three members giving an impressive performance and Ritsuko again crashing into her microphone with her enthusiasm. After this song ended, the band held up their hands to the audience and Emi blew them kisses. Both she and Naoko held up Shonen Knife towels again, before all of the members left the stage.

Only a couple of minutes passed before Shonen Knife returned, this time dressed in tour T-shirts. They thanked the audience once again before Naoko gave her final speech to the crowd. She had barely started speaking when someone threw a David Bowie mask onto the stage. Highly amused by this, Naoko held up the mask to her face and sang “Ziggy played the guitar…” which got a huge laugh from the audience. “This is David Bowie,” she said, looking at the mask, “but tonight we are going to play some songs by The Ramones.” This was met with a huge cheer from the audience and Ritsuko took the Bowie mask and attached it to her microphone stand as Naoko continued. “We have just released our album Osaka Ramones, as we are from Osaka, and this song is called Sheena is a Punk Rocker.”

The crowd went wild and stamped their feet as Shonen Knife went into this song, with Ritsuko singing the main vocals. It was a very lively performance, with all three members joining in on the chorus with lovely harmonies. Emi swayed happily as she played her drums and though this was a short song it was thoroughly appreciated by the audience. Naoko then announced the next song, The KKK Took My Baby Away, for which Emi sang the main vocals and kept a great beat throughout. The crowd really got into this song as well, all joining in during the chorus. Ritsuko and Naoko gave good backing vocals during the chorus.

Shonen Knife then went straight into The Ramones’ classic song Blitzkrieg Bop, which was met with riotous cheering from the audience, who all shouted along with the lines “Hey, ho, let’s go!” and stamped their feet. Naoko’s vocals were strong on this final song and there was a great atmosphere between the audience and the band, which made for a great finale. After the song ended, Shonen Knife received thoroughly-deserved applause and cheers, taking another few moments to thank their fans and hold up their tour towels. Naoko then announced that the band would be selling T-shirts and CDs, as well as holding an autograph session before the band headed off stage.

The crowd then moved to the merchandise stand where Naoko, Ritsuko and Emi were all selling goods and helping fans to choose between T-shirt sizes, as well as signing autographs and posing for photos. This was a wonderful end to the concert as fans were able to get up close to the band and even chat with them, and showed that after thirty years Shonen Knife’s kindness and respect for their fans is still as big a part of being in the band as the music itself.


Set List:

01. Konnichiwa
02. Twist Barbie
03. Perfect Freedom
04. Anime Phenomenon
05. A Map Master
06. Bear up Bison
07. Capybara
08. I am a cat
09. Devil house
10. Super Group
11. E.S.P.
12. Banana Chips
13. Riding on the Rocket
14. Economic Crisis
15. Cobra Vs. Mongoose

Encore

01. Sheena is a Punk Rocker (The Ramones)
02. The KKK Took My Baby Away (The Ramones)
03. Blitzkrieg Bop (The Ramones)