On their first proper tour in three years, Philly’s indie greats Japanese Breakfast have returned with a feast for the eyes, ears and soul that will make you regret not saying grace beforehand to thank the heavens for the feast about to be consumed.
The ensemble, led by the kaleidoscopic talent Michelle Zauner, kicked off a three-night stand at Salt Shed Wednesday, just weeks after playing Coachella, bringing with them the stylized stage (complete with that much-discussed giant clam shell) that toed the line between concert, theater and an opera full of tragic mythology.
“Welcome to the Melancholy Tour!” Zauner announced to open the show, referencing the band’s new album as the dreamy aesthetics of the night swirled around her.
At the heart of the 20-song set list was nearly the complete works of the band’s just-released opus, “For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women),” with the skilled band sweeping through nine of its 10 tracks in a quasi-symphonic display. It was a powerful plug for the album that will no doubt earn its rightful place on many “best of 2025” lists. The rest of the set was rounded out by other hits, including “Be Sweet,” and “Boyish” from Zauner’s previous band Little Big League, and a cover of Donna Lewis’ “I Love You Always Forever”).
The genre-bending “Melancholy” album comes at an interesting time for the band — and for Zauner. The vibe is the opposite of its predecessor, “Jubilee,” where the ebullient pop of “Be Sweet” and “Paprika” have now been replaced with moody, even “creepy” (Zauner’s word) ruminations on life and death, family dynamics and self-doubt.
Writing of the album came after the wild success of not only “Jubilee,” but also Zauner’s New York Times best-selling debut memoir, “Crying at H Mart” (about processing parental loss), in which fame came so fast that it shook the singer to the core. At the time, Zauner retreated to her motherland of South Korea and took a year off, attempting to reconnect with her roots and write her second book.
“The last time I was here, I was so sick, so it’s nice to be here in good health,” she shared with the modestly sized crowd, sharing that Chicago is one of the band’s favorite places to play. One of the last times was Pitchfork in 2022, when Zauner’s idol Jeff Tweedy even guested.
“You really know how to make a musician feel special,” she added. “Thank you so much for our livelihood.”
Though that second novel hasn’t come to fruition yet, and a film project for “Crying at H Mart” is on hold, the bold and brave “Melancholy” album fills in the gaps with its own rich, folkloric narrative that takes inspiration from literary greats like Virginia Woolf, John Cheever and ancient Greek mythology.
That oversized clam shell prop — which Zauner used while strumming an acoustic guitar on set opener “Here Is Someone,” or jumping on like a sugar-high kid during “Slide Tackle” — is an interpretation of Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” painting. (The prop also appears in her new video for “Orlando In Love” in which a Shakespearean friar falls for a mystical sea siren.) Venus, the goddess of fertility and the creative feminine divine, is perhaps an allegory for the crossroads Zauner has admitted in interviews to finding herself in, pondering starting a family with her husband and bandmate Peter Bradley, and wondering what will happen to her “artistic baby” when she does. They are questions, she says, that men never have to ask themselves.
In the shadows of the night lurked yet another theme, one in which maybe Zauner herself is reborn — a proverbial pearl-from-an-oyster moment where she’s at the top of her game. The material on “Melancholy” is some of the best yet from Japanese Breakfast, and especially done live, it’s a master class in indie pop’s full scope.
From the artsy orchestral delivery of “Here Is Someone” to the plucky folk heart of “Leda” and the total sonic assault of “Honey Water,” the range of the new album is all-encompassing. There’s even a country ditty, “Men In Bars” on the album. It’s a duet with actor-musician Jeff Bridges, though drummer Craig Hendrix takes over on tour.
Fleshing out the band (also including bassist Deven Craige) with violin and saxophone only amplified the sonic playground. Though there were some hiccups (at one point even getting the crowd to playfully boo her tech, Kyle, for handing her the wrong guitar), Japanese Breakfast was on a mission to devour the night whole.
Japanese Breakfast returns to the Salt Shed Thursday, May 1 and Friday, May 2. Tickets are still available for Thursday; Friday is sold out.
Set List
Here Is Someone
Orlando In Love
Honey Water
Road Head
Boyish (Little Big League)
The Body Is A Blade
Mega Circuit
Leda
Men In Bars
Picture Window
Slide Tackle
The Woman That Loves You
I Love You Always Forever (Donna Lewis cover)
Winter in LA
Kokomo, IN
Magic Mountain
Posing in Bondage
Encore:
Paprika
Be Sweet
Driving Woman