The Japanese House at ZooTunes

It’s always a pleasure anytime we get to attend a show at the Woodland Park Zoo in the summertime as part of their ZooTunes concert series and tonight would be no exception. We have followed the Japanese House for a while and their show back in November was one of our favorites of the year including the release of their second album, In the End it Always Does. Showcasing her talent and growth as an artist even further on the second record Amber Bain brings forward the maturity and voices the strength, we all would like to have when it comes to our emotions. We wanted more from that performance at the Neptune which was such a good show that we were thrilled when we heard that she was coming back in the summertime for the outdoor venue.

The day was nice and warm, and people filled up the space with countless concert chairs and blankets ready to enjoy the show. Of course during these performances, you never know what the crowd will be like given that it’s so relaxing and most people are sitting down but this one was still very special and somehow the fans still made it as fun as possible while seated. The front of the crowd by the stage of course was all standing up and singing along but everyone attending gave their best selves supporting the band and vibing to their favorite songs.

When it was time for the show to kick off a little past seven the Japanese House took the stage and looked out in the distance and started with “Touching Yourself,” one of my favorites “Sad to Breathe,” and “Something Has to Change.” Bain kept smiling as if she didn’t believe that this was actually happening looking out to the huge crowd gathered there just to see her at the sold-out show. She stopped to say thank you to everyone and to mention that this was probably their biggest headlining show ever and it feels so amazing. About 4,000 people packed the show and actually hearing this felt a little unreal because we always assumed she played to much larger crowds given the success she’s had in the last few years. This was still a huge crowd and a major success, and we were happy that this was happening in our city. Bain has this incredible talent to create a sense of community wherever she goes, and she brings a safe space and the sense of inclusivity to all of her fans making it very easy to enjoy. As soon as I stood in the crowd for a few seconds I met the nicest people and one of them actually even gave me bracelet that I still have, and it felt really cool and special that the community was very welcoming. I think this is one of her most incredible powers to be able to do this as an artist.

The show flew by as the adoring fans attentively sang along their favorite tunes. The main set ended with popular hits “Saw You in a Dream,” and “Dionne.” Bain jokingly mentioned that this is their last song but it’s not really their last song and they’re coming back if they want us to and of course everyone cheered. When they return for their encore, they played her first single that gave her the initial attention in the music world, “Still,” with the support always of Matt Healy from the 1975 which in the beginning speculations were made that the Japanese House might be his side project. We were happy she actually appeared, and we got another great artist in the process of all of it.

Bain paused to share that the next song was about her now fiancée and she wrote it when she met her and that she risked sending her the song, but she smilingly said she matched her freak and now they’re engaged. This was her little gay love song introducing 🙂 to us. They went on to play another version of “Boyhood” that she called tingley jingly but the best we can say is more country. “The only rule is that you have to sing back, even if you don’t know the words, you can just sing anything you want.” “Boyhood” is one of my favorite songs and I enjoyed listening to it twice in two different versions in the same night.

They closed off their set with “Sunshine Baby” probably the biggest hit of the album and you could tell most people were waiting to get into this one. It was starting to get darker at that time and as the day was fading away her voice came over us and brought all the emotions we wanted to feel, even the ones we wanted to forget. That is somehow the magic of good music, that you can relate to it and on the hardest days it makes you feel that everything is going to be alright. So excited that we got to see her again on this run in this special space with lovely people.