Shonen Knife at Turf Club, St Paul (19 October 2016)

Shonen Knife Setlist

Pop Tune Twist Barbie Bear Up Bison Jump into the New World Rock’n’roll T-Shirt Green Tangerine Wasabi Capybara Whatever Ghost Train Loop Di Loop Barbeque Party Bad Luck Song Concrete Animals Riding on the Rocket Buttercup (I’m A Super Girl) — Encore — Banana Chips E.S.P.

Catbath Setlist Ta-Da Vacuum Colorado Casio Law of Average Jellyfish Black Sand Snowblind (Black Sabbath cover) Bop, Ooo

Toxenes Setlist One Time Thing Crimson Tide Last Drag Dirty Fingers Fortune Teller Batteries He’s Something Else Caveman Bad Girls Gold Five Ton Bricks Electric Shock!

Osaka’s Shonen Knife (少年ナイフ) came back to the Turf Club in St Paul, playing their 1,156th show (according to their count) last Wednesday, October 19th. The number for the Turf Club is important because it was about two years ago that Shonen Knife played their 1,000th show at the very same venue.

Local trio The Toxenes (bassist / singer Ariel Dornbush, guitarist Monet Wong, drummer Madalyn) opened up the show. If the band looked familiar, that’s because two of the band members are from the ashes of L’Assassins (the band that previously opened up for Shonen Knife last year).

Although their setlist shows 12 songs, it really didn’t felt like they played that many. The songs are also short, punk-ish/rockabilly in nature.

Next up was Catbath, evolving to a four piece (Travis Franklin, Crystal Stockert, Kristin Kosieracki, and Matthew Grave) from their original duo-turned-trio. They’ve only recently added a second guitarist (“Gravey”) to their roster in 2016.

For their preultimate song, Catbath decided to cover a Black Sabbath song ‘Snowblind’ as a request from Shonen Knife (who are, in fact, big metal fans).

In their 35 years as a band, we’ve never seen Shonen Knife with the two original Yamano sisters. That’s because Atsuko Yamano retired from the band shortly after their drummer Mana Nishiura died in a car accident in 1999.

Although Atsuko would occasional join the band whenever they played in Los Angeles (where she’s currently residing), she did not regularly partake as a full band member.

What made last week’s Turf Club show so special is that Atsuko is currently Shone Knife’s touring bassist…. and apparently the trio’s current costume designer (that was her original role in the band when they started in 1981). I believe Atsuko’s role in Shonen Knife may be temporary, as SK’s current bassist, Ritsuko Taneda is on hiatus to raise her family.

As you can see from their setlist, it’s written in Japanese. We’ve managed to translate the titles for you. Not listed on their setlist were the two encore songs, ‘Banana Chips’ and ‘E.S.P.’

Many of the songs on their set are from older album, with the exception of a three-song Adventure block: starting with ‘Jump into the New World’, followed by ‘Rock’n’roll T-Shirt’ and ending with ‘Green Tangerine’.

If there was one Shonen Knife tour you have to see, it’s really this one. The group essentially is playing the band’s entire career, from their earliest written songs to the new Adventure material. Plus, the fact that the two Yamano sisters are back together – that’s certainly something to celebrate.

Adventure is out now on Good Charamel Records.

Remaining Tour Dates