(DCist continues its series of music reviews with a post by Colleen Clark about Monday night’s Shonen Knife concert.)

We had a hard time starting our review of Monday’s Shonen Knife show without a barrage of Japanese clichés. Though we had the good sense to avoid all mention of karaoke, Hello Kitty and Tamagotchis, we couldn’t resist trying the following:
— When Shonen Knife took to the stage, the universal flash of digital cameras must have made them feel right at home. But the high percentage of fat balding audience members must have made them realize they’re not in manga land anymore.
— Shonen Knife konnichiwa-ed into an anime-ted show in support of the U.S. “rererease” of their first four records.

But we opted to avoid such offenses and stick with a quote from opening band Visqueen‘s Rachel Flotard: “I wanna put them in little wrappers and eat them every day.”

And how can you not? Shonen Knife has been churning out sugar sweet punk pop for more than 20 years. They gained fans like Kurt Cobain, who said their show “transformed [him] into a hysterical nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert.” (This would explain the behavior of the mustachioed gentleman in the front who could barely contain his glee … and nearly dropped the large bag of stuffed animals he’d brought
as gifts).