Shonen Knife performs at The Ottobar on Saturday, September 1, 2018 in Baltimore, MD. Photo By: Anthony Washington
Shonen Knife brought their “ALIVE in the U.S.A.” tour to the The Ottobar on Saturday night in Baltimore, MD. The Osaka, Japan based indie-rock band is on a cross country US tour in support of their latest DVD/CD release ALIVE In Osaka. The DVD/CD was recorded live at Juso Fandango in Osaka, Japan in December of 2017. The release has 21 tracks from the bands nearly forty years in the music business.
Shonen Knife is one of the most celebrated Japanese indie-rock bands of all time. With 22 studio albums, and a dedicated fan base that shows up very early for shows (more on that later), the band has a deep catalog of songs to pull from for their shows.
The band was scheduled to take the stage at 11pm following opening acts The Creachies, Manners Manners, and PLRLS. I arrived when the doors opened at 8pm to get a feel for the venue since this was my first time photographing a show at The Ottobar. I was not the only one who arrived early. A group of diehard Shonen Knife fans arrived early too to grab their spots at the front of the stage. Besides going for the occasional drink run, the entire group held down their spots throughout the performances by the three opening bands and were front row for the start of Shonen Knife’s set.
As the lights dimmed and the music started to play, the Ottobar was packed and the crowd was buzzing to see a band with fans from the Nirvana and Beavis & Butthead generation to today’s Cartoon Network generation. This was an all ages show and all ages were there.
The band kicked off their set with “Jump Into The New World” and then proceeded to treat the crowd to a fun, energetic and entertaining set that included 16 songs and 2 additional songs for an encore.
Enough words, check out what it was like to see Shonen Knife live in concert during their 26 city tour which continues until Saturday, October 6, 2018 in San Diego, CA. Click here to see if the band is coming to your town. You won’t be disappointed.
Photo Highlights:
