The Japanese House @ New Century Hall - Manchester, UK

We all have that one band or artist in our hearts that you heard a mere 5 seconds of one of their songs and become instantly hooked on their music. Well, luckily enough for me earlier this year that was exactly me with The Japanese House. The indie pop project from the incredibly talented mind and skills of Amber Bain were an instant standout when I first came across their music and I’m even more lucky enough to say that just recently I had the chance to finally see them in person as they headed up north to Manchester as part of their biggest headlining tour yet and played a spectacular show to a sold-out crowd the New Century Hall. Amber Bain released her second album under the name of ‘The Japanese House’ this year with the incredible record that is “In the End it Always Does” and I can whole-heartedly say it’s still in my top three of album releases this year due to it being such a phenomenal piece of work. As previously stated, my anticipation for the Manchester show was off the charts and I’m beyond happy to say that the concert lived up to my expectation and wildly exceeded them. Amber Bain especially was visibly flustered by the remarkable energy flowing through the Manchester crowd, who on multiple times assisted her in singing alone to tracks which was just a magical thing to be a part of. The setlist was full of tracks from the latest record and had plenty of fan favourite throwbacks from The Japanese House’s debut album and various EP releases. All in all it was truly a spectacular night that I won’t be forgetting for a long, long time and it flew straight into my top five shows of this year without question. Support for the show came from the equally wonderful band Pencil.

Setlist

Sad to Breathe

Touching Yourself

Something Has To Change

Morning Pages

Follow My Girl

Saw You In A Dream

Boyhood

You Seemed So Happy

Baby Goes Again

Over There

Friends