Shopping Guide
Japan's hottest export, WagakkiBand, is poised for an encore visit to the United States as guests of Austin's SXSW festival, and they’ll also be stopping in New York City to perform at Irving Plaza on March 14, 2016 as headliners for the evening titled “WagakkiBand Live in N.Y. – Akatsuki –.” “Akatsuki” is the lead track from their newest album and means “dawn” or “new beginning.” Tickets to the Irving Plaza show are now available on Ticketmaster.
The band played to a sold out Club Nokia L.A. Live crowd as part of Anime Expo in July 2015 and performed on Good Day L.A. They have been making waves with their mix of ancient Japanese musical tradition and modern rock, reaching #1 on the Japanese charts with their September 2015 sophomore LP, Yasou Emaki, as MTV Japan named them an “Artist to Watch.”
WagakkiBand is an 8-piece band that fuses shigin, poetry recitation rooted in Japanese traditional performing arts, wagakki, traditional Japanese musical instruments, and rock music to bring a fresh and yet authentically Japanese live show. Their YouTube smash hit “Senbonzakura” has over 33 million views and counting, and their latest single, “Hangekino no Yaiba,” is the theme song for the dTV original series of the mega manga/anime hit, Attack on Titan.
Frontwoman Yuko Suzuhana is in fact the champion of a nationwide shigin contest. Backing Suzuhana are seven members playing traditional instruments including shakuhachi (bamboo flute), shamisen (3-string guitar-like instrument), koto (Japanese harp), and taiko (Japanese drum).
They released their debut album Vocalo Zanmai in 2014, which hit the Top 10 twice during a 22-week stay in the Top 100 of Japan's Oricon weekly charts, while their video "Senbonzakura" hit 10 million views within a few months of its release.
On Jan. 6, WagakkiBand played for over 10,000 fans at the legendary Budokan. Tokyo-based music critic Daniel Robson described it:
"As the band left the stage after two thrilling hours, it was the audience’s turn to sing, chanting the chorus to “Akatsukino Ito” until the band came back for an encore... They saved their biggest hit for last. As Beni and Daisuke performed the rousing Tsugaru-jamisen and shakuhachi intro to “Senbonzakura,” a shower of glittering ribbons fell from the ceiling. Yuko held out her mic so that the crowd could sing along. For WagakkiBand, of course, a promising new year has only just begun."
Ticket prices for Irving Plaza range from $35 (advance)/$40 (door) to $75 (VIP) and are on sale on Ticketmaster:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/000050360F8F7F00
Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.