Jeff Rosenstock at Shelter, November 1st 2024

 

Many people believe that seeing a show at a small sweaty club with a band rocking out on a tiny stage is the ideal way of experiencing a concert. Even though I couldn’t say that I’d done that numerous times, I tend to agree with that sentiment. If you add to the equation a big -or relatively big- artist, then you’re privileged.

That’s sometimes the case in Japan where artists that are huge in other parts of the world are not necessarily popular here. It usually happens with hip hop or hip hop adjacent performers. I know that Tyler The Creator and Doja Cat played really small venues in Tokyo not so long ago while they either headlined or co-headlined festivals like Coachella. Recently I reviewed the Marisa Monte show. It was a mid-size venue, in her country she plays stadiums.

Jeff Rosenstock is not, by any means, a mainstream artist. He does attract a considerable audience, though. His name has gotten a lot of traction in recent years having popped up in multiple top ten lists for albums of the year. I first became aware of him some time ago because of how highly regarded his albums were, and still are, on rateyourmusic. I ended up checking them out and agreed with the praise. His music is uplifting without being cheesy, accessible and yet intricate and engaging. He has the  ability of expressing views and tackling issues without being preachy and sounding genuine.

He toured Japan with his full band for the first time with two stops in Tokyo. I went to the show at Shelter, a venue that has become popular for being featured on an anime show. I’ve been to Shimokitazawa music venues in the past. They all have been small, but this was the smallest. By the time Jeff went on stage it was completely packed.

He followed two opening bands. The first one was Mega X, they had sort of a nineties indie sound reminiscent of Pixies and Pavement. The second one was Four Tomorrow. They looked like they were just a bit younger than me and have regular day jobs. Actually I worked on the day of the concert and carried a huge blue Ikea bag with my suit in it. I tied it up to the pole that separates the bands from the audience at the front. But I digress, Four Tomorrow had a more traditional singalong type of pop punk sound. Both bands did a really good job warming up the audience.

When Rosenstock hit the stage the crowd went nuts. The vast majority of the audience were foreigners and the show reminded me of seeing a concert in other countries. Lots of energy, pushing, people singing, pogoing. He opened with the same opener from his latest album Hellmode, Will U Still U. Not even a minute into the set went by and I found myself carrying the man’s back literally, as he leaned to those of use who were in the front row. He even got an electric shock from the mic, but the situation was solved and it was just comfortably rocking from then on.

We got a really cool setlist, not very different from what he’d played in other countries touring this album. He played the album Hellmode almost in its entirety and tunes form his earlier catalog, stuff like State Lines, with everyone joining at the “can I get a piece of you?’ refrain. The energy didn’t dwindle, not even for a second. He closed the regular set with the epic 3 Summers going into the classic You, In Weird Cities and finally closed with a cover he introduced as one they didn’t play in years. It was a song by the Japanese band Ging Nang Boyz, I Don’t Wanna Die.

He and his full band came back for an encore closing things up with Pash Rash and the slower We Begged 2 Explode. The next day I could barely hear myself and I wore earplugs, but it was worth it. The show was spectacular. I know that he embraces a punk aesthetic, which is definitely a big part of his sound, but I think his music goes beyond that. It has the same anthemic presence of bands from the tri-state area, like the Hold Steady or Titus Andronicus. Most of all he reminds me of the boss, Springsteen. Why is he not huge?
 
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