Second time seeing Kishi Bashi this year, after his record-release show in Athens back last June. It wouldn't exactly break my heart to see him again this year; his shows are that good.
Like the Athens show, Atlanta's Takenobu opened, but unlike the Athens show, Takenobu wasn't also in Kishi Bashi's band, although the two musicians in Takenobu, cellist Nick Takenobu Ogawa himself and his violinist bandmate/fiancee, did accompany Kishi Bashi in his unplugged, among-the-audience encore. But other than that, Kishi Bashi's band was the same as the Athens show, with his longtime accompanist/stage foil Tall Tall Trees (Mike Savino) and flutist/multi-instrumentalist Pip the Pansy.
I kept expecting Takenobu to play his great composition Exposition - he's played it in virtually every show of his I've seen - but to my surprise, he didn't, although he did perform several instrumental compositions and songs of equal virtue and complexity.
At his album release show in Athens last June, Kishi Bashi played every song from his terrific new album Omoiyori and in the same order as on the record. It was a literal performance of the LP, with some older songs tagged on toward the end. Last night, he opened with several songs from Omoiyori, which is a good thing because it's arguably his best record yet, but left plenty of time to cover songs from his previous three LPs.
What resulted was a great retrospective of Kishi Bashi's music, and gave ample opportunities for him to perform solo on stage, looping his guitar and beat boxing, like he used to do in the early 2010s at The Earl. It allowed bandmate Tall Tall Trees to put down the bass guitar for a while and play his "space banjo", and thrill the audience with the drumming effects he produces with the instrument's body. It gave Pip the Pansy, the rising star in the Kishi Bashi universe, time to play some show-stopping flute solos. It allowed time for some sweet, folky songs from his mid-career and for Kaoru Ishibashi to sing, to beat box, to play violin, to play keyboards, and to play acoustic guitar. They even brought back Mr. Steak to sing an appropriately cheesy rendition of I Had The Time of My Life and to let Kishi Bashi perform Mr. Steak's titular song.
In the lobby, the vendors were selling Mr. Steak socks.
Like last June, the band played their encore in the middle of the audience, unamplified, with acoustic instruments gently lifting Kaoru's voice over the audience. It was a lovely several moments, as they played Annie Heart Thief of the Sea, followed by Violin Tsunami, and finally the lovely and intimate love song Summer of 42.
Here's a poorly-edited video of various selections from last night's set, unartfully mashed together into one video, to give you an idea of the variety of last night's show.
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