October 09, 2004

Puffy Ami Yumi: Webster Hall

There is something irresistable about Puffy AmiYumi. I'm not sure what it is or how I ended up seeing them live, but I'm glad I did.

It was just a hunch, I guess. I have always had a taste for the absurd, so when a friend asked me to pick up tickets for Puffy Ami Yumi, I couldn't resist looking up their website.

I really didn't know much about them, but reading the different news items did remind me that I had heard about some crazy Japanese band being sued by Puff Daddy. Oh yeah.

Well, the played at Webster Hall (the Mosquitos opened) and the whole scene was pretty crazy. For one I didn't realize that they barely speak english and all of the stage banter was in Japanese. Any english that was spoken was written out ahead of time and read by Ami or Yumi from a sheet of paper.

But then, they are bigger than Madonna in Tokyo so I imagine they can do anything they want. Which also explains in a way why they only played three shows in the United States... because they don't need to, really. They're just testing the waters and doing a bit of promotion for their work with The Cartoon Network.

The show itself was really good. The band was tight despite the drummer's flight being delayed and arriving from Japan only an hour before the show. He got big applause for this.

Their songs are fun and catchy if you like Japanese Pop, or even just any pop. And because they borrow liberally from the catalogues of classic rock to fill in riffs and licks as they go, you may vaguely feel that you have heard these songs before.