CONCERT HIGHLIGHT | THE JAPANESE HOUSE
We covered the musician Amber Bain but most of you may know her group name The Japanese House. The Japanese House is an English indie pop act from Buckinghamshire. We were asked to come out and cover her tour stop at the Cats Cradle in Carborro NC on May 24th. She played on the main stage of the Cat’s Cradle which is a lot bigger then their other stage. I walked in and the room was starting to fill with people getting there drinks. This particular venue has some seating options on the right side of the stage as well as the back of the room. The rest of the venue is standing only. The opener for The Japanese House was very talented. She played an impressive mix of pop with techno blends and aromatic rhythm guitar sounds and vocals. She used a computer and keyboard to place the beat down and would play the guitar over said beat and start singing. It was very relaxing and calming to listen to.
After her set was done the stage crew came out and started getting Amber Bains stage together. By this time more people had arrived to the venue so it was starting to fill up. Fans were heard talking about their excitement to see her play live and some were wearing t-shirts with the bands name on them. It was an all around friendly environment and people were polite and kind.
The concert:
The lights when dim and the crowd started screaming throwing up their hands in an excitement. I did see a lot of smoke starting to enter the front of the stage which made it difficult to see. After a few minutes you saw this silhouette of a person walk out on stage and slowly make her reveal. The crowd screamed even louder. I saw people looking at each other with excited faces and jumping up and down in anticipation. Amber said hello to the crowd and went into the first song. The music was good, everything sounded clear except for her vocals. It was very hard at times to make out what she was saying or to even hear her. During her performance the lighting person seemed to love the color blue. You would have the occasional red light mixed in with a yellow and then for one moment it was a clear white light then back to blue. The fog had almost engulfed the entire stage and left a Myst that really hindered visibility unless you were right up front. I am also looking at this as a photographer perspective and it was difficult to get photographs with so much Myst surrounding the stage and the constant use of blue lights, but that did not affect the sound quality just thought I would point that out.
Amber looked very happy to be there playing her songs for the fans that night. She smiled a lot and would occasional point at people if she saw something that stuck out to her. At one point I walked to the right side of the stage to get photographs of Amber and I saw a young woman look as if she was crying she was so excited. At one point she turned her microphone to face the crowd and they sang almost the entire beginning of a song. It is always very cool to see fans really embracing the artists music they love and then seeing the artist show such appreciation right back to them.
Final Thoughts:
The show itself was good and the fans were very engaged in each song. She was embracing of the fans and the fans embraced her back. She showed excitement and joy being there and fans looked so happy just to be able to see her live. All in all is was a good show, they played in key and I am sure the fans left there talking about how they loved it. I do wish the lighting person would cut the blue light usage down and the fog distributor person not use so much when playing in smaller venues. :)
The Japanese House is a unique and creative piece of musical art and you should definitely give it a listen. Information to purchase Amber’s albums are down below!
T.J.H
The Japanese House
https://thejapanesehouseshop.com/
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