📝 Live Music in Shimokitazawa: Three Bands at Spread, Tokyo

Giallo on stage in red, orange and yellow light; in the foreground, an audience member in a devil costume holds a trident and beer

When my son Mac and I planned our Japan trip and arranged the itinerary to spend Halloween in Tokyo, I think we had different expectations. 

But rain, and some municipal interference, made the Halloween we imagined, and the one we experienced, two separate events.

Closer view of a rainy Tokyo crosswalk at night, with blurred car lights and neon reflected on the wet street
The rain turns the street into a mirror for the signs above.

Shabu shabu and a basement venue

We started the evening in a section of town we both immediately regretted not visiting earlier — Shimokitazawa. Known as a “bohemian” neighborhood in Setagaya, Tokyo, it is popular for its vintage clothing stores, theaters, bars, and live music venues. That’s why we were there. Thanks to GigsInTokyo (please follow them NOW if you’re planning to visit Tokyo any time soon), we got tickets to a show at Spread.

It was pouring when we came out of the train station, and we ducked into one of the first restaurants we saw. The host seemed hesitant when we first walked in. They had no English menus, he apologized (we took that as a bonus!) and they could only seat up in what looked like a closed in patio. It was a little chilly but the host brought us blankets and we ordered a massive pot of steaming beef shabu shabu. Maybe it was the atmosphere with the heavy rain beating on the thick plastic patio covers, the blankets and broth warming us from both sides, or the relaxing feeling of finally leaving the performative touristy area, but it was one of our top meals in Japan.

We lingered as long as we could then walked a couple of blocks to Spread, an intimate, basement-level live-music venue. It is cash only at the door, though cashless payments were accepted at the bar (super convenient!)

If you go

Spread is an intimate, basement-level live-music venue in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. 2-12-6, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan, 155-0031

Many indie shows don’t sell tickets in advance. Rather, you can put your name in to reserve them, then pay cash at the door. We reserved our tickets through a form provided by GigsInTokyo (which is also how we found out about the show)

Entry was cash only. Inside, the bar accepted various cashless payment options.

Small enough that performers are just a few feet away.

The shows

We saw three acts: Giallo, Nape, and Mukeikaku. They were young, unique, and full of energy, and we had a blast.

Giallo: Faceless, Loud and Passionate

  • Giallo's guitarist sings into a mic with long black hair over his face, drummer behind, in green and orange light
    Giallo’s look is part of the act: all black, hair brushed forward, faces hidden.
  • Giallo's drummer in black, arms raised mid-strike, against green stage light with audience heads on both sides
    The drummer mid-strike, framed by the crowd.
  • Silhouette of Giallo's singer cupping a microphone close to his hair-covered face in dim stage light
    In low light, only a shape and a pair of hands.
  • Medium close-up of Giallo's guitarist singing into the mic, lit by green light that fills the space behind him
    Green light fills the room behind Giallo’s guitarist.

Giallo were so much fun. They played their hearts out. Their “look” was a little reminiscent of the Addams Family… each member of the band had their torso-length black hair brushed over their faces, preventing us from seeing them or looking them in the eyes. It kept me from connecting with them, but also created a truly unforgettable look. Their music is the propulsive kind that results in the guitarist’s hand being thrust down with each strum. It isn’t so much a strum as a punch. Distortion. Noise. Ear worm lyrics, made of language-agnostic syllables. (Their most recent release on Spotify, called Brainstopping, is truth in advertising — the chorus is yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah.)  It would be too easy to call them angry. Hair hiding their faces, aggressive distortion, not insignificant amount of scream-singing. But calling them angry would stereotype them, and me, to be honest. So I’ll call them passionate. Talking to Me has a decidedly Halloween feel with this wandering, carnivalesque melody; Jimmy has an addictive little guitar hook, simple (bordering on annoyingly so) lyrics, and ends like its part of the opening title sequence of 1960s spy-thriller TV show.

Nape: Pop Hooks and a Born Showman

  • Wide shot of Nape: front members lit orange, back wall purple and green, drummer with sticks crossed above his head
    Orange up front, purple and green behind, and the drummer’s sticks crossed overhead.
  • Wide shot of three members of Nape on stage in red light, the singer at the microphone
    Three members of Nape, bathed in red.
  • Nape's lead singer leans in as he sings in orange light, blue light filling the back wall and drummer behind
    The lead singer leans into the song; blue light floods the wall behind.
  • Medium close-up of Nape's lead singer singing into the mic, cast in red stage light
    The lead singer, up close in red light.
  • Nape's lead singer leans into a mic stand and grips the mic with emotion, lit in eerie purple-blue light
    He stops playing, leans in, and holds on to the mic.
  • Nape's drummer in a white shirt with one arm raised, lit in pink stage light
    Nape’s drummer in pink light.
  • Nape's lead singer with arms raised above his head, hands blurred by slow shutter in eerie blue-purple light
    Slow shutter turns the raised hands into motion.

Nape were energetic and full of surprises. Combining pop-like melodies with eclectic rhythms and sometimes gritty guitar, they are fun, easy to respond to, definitely unpredictable. Rescue Baby! is fast, driving, with catchy pop vocals. lost summer starts off fun, peppy, down-right summertastic, then suddenly slows down for a syncopated reggae-style ending. On this night the lead singer, who is clearly a showman, was perhaps a little too much so. This venue is intimate. As in, the performers are mere feet from the first row of audience (and a first down from the back row), so his aggressive eye contact, and intense facial expressions made me a little uncomfortable and took me out of the music. But when he was doing it to someone else, it was fun! 

Mukeikaku: Easy to Get Lost In

  • Mukeikaku's blond lead singer in a green jacket sings and plays guitar in white light, a blue-lit wall behind her
    Bright white light, a green jacket, and a blue wall behind.
  • Mukeikaku's lead singer, eyes closed, singing in purple light, framed chest up
    Eyes closed, lost in the song.
  • Low-angle shot of Mukeikaku's bass player singing into a mic stand, drummer behind, blue and green lights on the wall
    The bassist sings, shot from below.
  • Mukeikaku's bass player and drummer playing in slightly orange light against a green-lit wall
    Bass and drums, locked in against a green wall.
  • Close-up of Mukeikaku's drummer singing in white light with red highlights
    Singing along
  • Mukeikaku's drummer in purple light, motion blurred by slow shutter, one orange drum glowing in white light
    A slow shutter catches the drummer in motion; one orange drum glows.
  • Medium close-up of Mukeikaku's lead singer, eyes and mouth closed, cast in red light
    A held breath in red light.

My favorite performance was from Mukeikaku, and all-female band whose music was more emotionally complex and easy to lose yourself in. Their sound seemed to oscillate between shoegaze and grunge. Lead singer Mana’s vocals were much more suited to the room — a conversational, sometimes sweet, head voice. But don’t think she gets lost in the instruments. She can hold her own when they start turning up the distortion. dull’s simple, high, drums with its clear guitar and pensive vocals is perfect for a long road trip where you need to just stare out the window and contemplate things. Poison reminds me a little of early Avril Lavigne and seems very story-driven. repeat is much more drum-forward than other tracks, with heavy pedals, but this is where Mana’s expressiveness proves her vocals won’t drown in the mix.

Back in Shinjuku: Rain and a Halloween Lockdown

  • Two police officers on a metal riser on a rainy Shinjuku street, a pedestrian with an umbrella in silhouette in the foreground
    Two police officers on a riser, a pedestrian in silhouette below.

After the show, we headed to Shinjuku, but the Halloween spirit was dampened by the rain and the increasingly restrictive municipal policies. In recent years, street parties, and public drinking have been heavily restricted in areas of Tokyo once famous for its outrageous Halloween debauchery. Areas of Shinjuku and Shibuya especially are on a Too Much Fun Lockdown. On this night, the rain made the public safety officers’ jobs both easier (as party goers moved indoors) and harder since they had to stay out in the rain all night. See photos from the rainy Halloween streets in this Sightlines.

Naturalist’s Notebook

You don’t have to call yourself a naturalist to notice like one; here are a few ways to look and listen more closely, wherever you are.

hand drawn ear

Listen

Follow one thread. Pick one instrument and follow it for a whole song, then switch for the next. It trains attention, and it works for any layered sound, such as a market, a train platform or an orchestra.

hand drawn magnifying glass

Notice

Giallo’s hair-covered faces forced me to realize how much we rely on faces, and especially eyes, to connect with each other. Try watching for personality clues in hands, posture and the space between players.

Posted In: Japan, Art of Living, Stories, Tokyo

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