Shoenen Knife @ Fun Fun Fun Fest 2009

Adorable. Sweet. Very, very cute. When these words are being used to describe a punk band, chances are they are doing something horribly wrong. But for Shonen Knife it just works. For the almost 30 years that Shonen Knife have been making their bubble gum and Ramones influenced punk pop, despite few variations in the sound over the years, have managed to keep it fresh and fun instead of maturing, becoming adults, and being boring like their peers. This same 10-year -old joy translated directly to their live show. What other band can come on stage with matching bright color uniforms and start singing about giant kitties and not be laughed off stage? Singer/guitarist Naoko Yamano fusion of Japanese and broken English just mends so perfectly to the band’s songs. And that’s the thing about Shonen Knifes; they sound so timeless. The band played music from their 1982 album Let’s Knife right next t songs from their brand new album Super Group and you could not tell they were 27 years old. In fact, I would argue that their brand new material is just as catchy as their older stuff. So thank you Shonen Knife for injecting that mixture of sugar sweetness and punk you call your music into my 3:30 Fun Fun Fun Fest time slot.

The Crowd