Concert Musings: Japanese Breakfast at Massey Hall, 2025
As Michelle Zauner herself says, this was her Toronto redemption moment.
A few years ago, I was supposed to see Japanese Breakfast perform at the History (a venue which I don’t particularly like very much) before the show itself was postponed to a date that didn’t work for my schedule - so I had my ticket refunded. When I heard she was coming into Toronto again, I had to jump on this opportunity.
I might also just as well preface this by saying I’ve never exactly been a massive Japanese Breakfast fan. Not to say I don’t like their music (which I do), but I’ve never really been like a dedicated listener or a massive fan. And admittedly, it was not until I listened to her album Jubilee when I started to really want to follow along with her music - and it was an album that had since prompted me to re-listen to her older works. To say the least, my appreciation for their music had only increased tenfold after this show and I also started reading Crying in H Mart soon after.
Something I may also note; I wasn’t really able to get many great photos of the band on the whole from where I was seated as I unfortunately ended up getting an obstructed view to the side of the balcony at Massey Hall. The speakers were blocking my view of the stage for the most part; so I could really get pictures of Michelle Zauner while she was taking the stage. They didn’t exactly come out the best, but I think considering what the stage looked like from up here once the giant oyster showed up, I was also wishing I was on a lower level too.
Considering the fact that this might be one of the cheapest concert tickets that I’ve gotten to date (to my memory, the cheapest that I’ve ever gotten was Ichiko Aoba), I was anticipating the worst. This was a show at Massey Hall after all, so something on the cheaper end was bound to have at least some sort of an obstructed view. I don’t think that a speaker over here was the worst thing, as I ended up getting something fairly close up after all - which got me a good view of Michelle dancing on the stage.
That’s something I can’t really complain about though; especially when I’ve always found that Japanese Breakfast’s music has been great material that I could put on if I needed to focus on my writing. Granted, I only really became a more active listener of Japanese Breakfast after her album Jubilee; but I think that being able to re-listen to songs like “Road Head” and “The Body is a Blade” from Soft Sounds from Another Planet were enough to get me in the perfect mood for what was only about to become a very chill night.
As I’d come to expect, most of the songs that she would perform were going to be from her latest album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women). I thought it was a very good album, even though I was hoping that I’d get the chance to hear some more of the classics. It didn’t really take until the encore before we got there, but I thought that the banter that Michelle was taking part in would be more than enough to know that the vibes were going to be good.
I’ll be real though, I knew I wouldn’t be having a bad time with a Japanese Breakfast show - but I do feel like I wish I got to hear some more of those same classics that got me a taste of what her music was like in the early days. Surprisingly, it took all the way till the encore before we got to hear more of my favourite tracks from Jubilee, but considering that this was her previous album, I can’t exactly say that I was surprised that we didn’t really get that much from there.
Opening for Japanese Breakfast this time around was Ginger Root: Cameron Lew’s own indie pop music project often taking cues from Japanese pop culture. I hadn’t heard of them before the night, but seeing what they were able to bring to this show right before Michelle Zauner and company had taken the stage was enough to convince me that I should be listening to more of them.
Hoping all the best for the next Japanese Breakfast album; I think this was enough for me to know I’ll be looking out for them in the foreseeable future. I ended up running into quite a few friends while I was there too, which was a fun little coincidence from the night.
And just as I did for a few of my past Concert Musings articles; here are a few favourites that didn’t end up making the cut. (a bit surprised I didn’t do this since the Itzy concert, but here we go)
By the way, I also wanted to drop this: Michelle Zauner has incredible taste in films.
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