Japanese Breakfast Shares New Music with Boston at Royale

By Regan Harvey

Japanese Breakfast kicked off their spring tour in Boston on Monday night at Royale. The soft-spoken indie band, Long Beard, kicked off the night with catchy lo-fi tracks. Lead singer Leslie Bear shared an affinity for the group as she had been a bassist for Japanese Breakfast in the past.

As the night progressed, the crowd became more concentrated at the stage.

When the lights finally lowered, cheers and ambient music filled the air. Frontwoman Michelle Zauner took center stage in a beige power suit while her band set up around her. Behind them was a charming animation of the band's name floating on a sky blue background.

The second song of the night was "Everybody Wants to Love You," the dreamy single that blew up in 2016. As everyone danced, it seemed like the band was enjoying themselves as much as the audience. Between songs, Zauner, who had just celebrated a birthday, wished the crowd "happy Aries season."

As promised on Twitter, the band premiered an unreleased song and a new cover with Boston.

The song was self-proclaimed as one of the saddest Zauner has ever written, and mellowed down the audience. 

To pick everyone back up, the band jumped around the stage to a rendition of "Lovefool" by The Cardigans with a grungy twist.

The band ended their set on "Machinist," a synth-driven sci-fi inspired track about a woman falling in love with a robot. As the band left the stage the crowd only grew louder. Finally, Zauner walked out, grabbed a mic, and proclaimed,

"April Fools motherf*ckers! We have one more song!"

The crowd exploded with cheers as the band performed "Diving Woman," the premier track from the band's sophomore album. The meandering, distorted, guitar-rich song was a perfect come down from such an energetic show.