Amsterdam, The Netherlands – In celebration of the tenth anniversary of his debut album 151a, Kishi Bashi is currently touring Europe. Tonight, he and his band visited Paradiso Noord.
Tall Tall Trees was the support act of the evening. Multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Mike Savino is the name behind the indie folk project. He uses a lot of live-looping techniques and customized equipment to help his music evolve on stage. With his customized equipment it is like a banjo, guitar, drum, and string instrument in one with some LED lights mounted in, because why not?! He played songs from his album A Wave Of Golden Things like “Expectations” and also some songs from his older EPs and singles. The audience responded enthusiastically and Tall Tall Trees really knew how to play to the people well. He even did a merch giveaway for people who would start following him in the next half hour and all around people suddenly seemed very busy with their phones! It’s no surprise that Tall Tall Trees music fits so well with Kishi Bashi’s music as a support act because he is also one of the band members himself. It was therefore only a short break before he was back on stage.
Seattle-born multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, and violinist Kishi Bashi (real name Kaoru Ishibashi) has been in the music business since before his debut album 151a was released. He studied at the Berklee College of Music to become a film composer and then played as a violinist with artists such as Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, and of Montreal. The fact that he studied film music can also be heard in his music. Beautifully intertwined with indie-folk-pop, the cinematic violin also returns. It is a real addition to the songs and makes Kishi Bashi a unique artist.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of 151a, the album was played from beginning to end. Which of course included the tracks “Bright Whites”, “It All Began With A Burst”, and “Chester’s Burst Over the Hamptons”. “Bright Whites” had a little surprise when he started beatboxing in the second part of the song. In addition to songs from 151a, songs from other albums were played as well, such as “Carry On Phenomenon” and the catchy “Philosophize In It! Chemicalize In It!”. Throughout the whole show, the crowd was super enthusiastic and there was plenty of clapping, dancing, and jumping. And not only the audience had a good time, but also the band joined in the dancing. Kishi Bashi had learned some Dutch and did his best to pronounce it and it worked. Houden jullie van dansen (do you like to dance?) was written on his setlist and he didn’t have to say that twice! The set ended with Honeybody before the band left the stage.
For the encore, Kishi Bashi returned to play three more songs solo. The first song was “Angeline”, especially played because he received a request in an Instagram message. The next song was “Summer Of ’42” and he ended with “This Must Be The Place” (Talking Heads Cover).
Kishi Bashi and his band gave it their all on this radiant evening. It had everything that makes it a great show, the music was of high quality, the singing excellent and the atmosphere between band members as well as the audience was great. I highly recommend to go see Kishi Bashi live if you ever have the chance. The European tour has only a few dates left but he will also play some shows in the United States in 2023.
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Kishi Bashi
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Setlist:
1. Intro / Pathos, Pathos
2. Machester
3. Bright Whites
4. It All Began With A Burst
5. Wonder Woman, Wonder Me
6. Chester’s Burst Over the Hampton
7. Atticus, In The Dessert
8. I Am The Antichrist To you
9. Beat The bright Out Of me
10. Q&A
11. Marigold
12. Carry On Phenomenon
13. Philosophize In It! Chemicalize In It!
14. The Ballad Of Mr. Steak
15. Honeybody
16. Angeline
17. Summer Of ‘42
18. This Must Be The Place (Talking Heads cover)
Show Date: November 22, 2022
