San Francisco, CA- The Masonic was filled with dreamy indie pop and melancholic joy on Wednesday, August 27 as Japanese Breakfast brought their highly anticipated tour to the city for the first of two sold out shows, accompanied by opener Ginger Root. Across 22 diverse songs, frontwoman Michelle Zauner guided fans through an emotionally dynamic set that felt both intimate and cinematic, weaving her newest album’s meditations on melancholy with playful city-specific banter and empowering moments of AAPI joy.
The night kicked off with Ginger Root, the self-described “aggressive elevator soul” project of frontman Cameron Lew. “We invite you all to join our cinematic universe,” Lew began before cleverly incorporating their music videos in between their songs to form a cohesive musical storyline. Playfully upbeat and engaging yet casually groovy with an 80’s lofi sound and nostalgic aesthetic, Ginger Root perfectly primed the crowd with the precise balance of energy and calmness.
Lew also recalled how, as a college student, an assignment to write about a song that changed his life led him to Japanese Breakfast’s 2016 debut album Psychopomp. That inspiration now finally came full circle, genuinely reflecting that, “you just gotta try, and you’re gonna fail, but it’s from the failure that you grow.” He then gleamed that, “someday you too could be opening for Japanese Breakfast.”
As the other half of the night’s two AAPI-led acts, Ginger Root thoroughly honors and vividly displays the AAPI identity in their vintage Japanese-inspired costumes, music videos, and overall aesthetic.
When Japanese Breakfast took the stage, Zauner appeared ethereal, draped in a flowy white nightgown while perched on a giant clam and illuminated by a lamp against a hazy foggy backdrop. Zauner immediately entered with a back-to-back four song sequence, seamlessly transitioning through Here Is Someone, Orlando in Love, Honey Water, and Road Head.
Zauner then humorously professed how the gown had made someone backstage quip that she looked like “Ebenezer Scrooge.” After a throwback performance of Boyish, a nod to her earlier days with the indie rock band Little Big League, she slowed the pace of the show by explicating the backstory behind her next bubbly song My Baby (Got Nothing at All). “Has anyone seen The Materialists?” Zauner inquired before playfully elucidating, “we wrote the end credits and it was such an honor. It’s very relatable in that I also fall in love with people who have no money.”
Later in the set, she personally dedicated Glider—her song written for the 2021 video game Sable—to her fond memories of San Francisco specifically, recalling her time attending GDC. “This one’s just for you, San Francisco!” The entire set was amplified with consistent reverence for the city itself, proclaiming the 7×7 as “amazing!” Zauner also positively platformed a local AAPI eatery that she visited, praising, “I ate at Rintaro and it was so good!”
After a full 18-song set, Japanese Breakfast teased the audience with a false finale before returning for an explosive four-song encore. Posing for Cars, Paprika, and Be Sweet, reinvigorated the crowd with overwhelming glee, jubilantly ending the night in actuality with Everybody Wants to Love You where Ginger Root’s Cameron Lew returned to join her in full force. This powerful collaboration brought the evening full circle that celebrated AAPI solidarity.
Despite her album’s more pensive and wistful themes, Zauner contends that there is much joy to melancholy and that both can harmoniously coexist. It is this deep introspection and visceral honesty which has propelled Zauner into high popularity within music and beyond. As also the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Crying in H Mart—which explores grief, identity, and Korean American family life—she has become one of the most visible Asian American voices in contemporary literature. By uninhibitedly sharing her lived experiences throughout her different mediums, Zauner is proving that authentic cultural stories can resonate universally. Alongside Ginger Root, the warm Wednesday night demonstrated that true representation and solidarity can be as triumphant as it is tender.
