I was just-in-time to grab my credentials and catch this Monday 3/11 graveyard shift set.
Backdrop Cinderella is a 4 piece punk-rock band from Japan. Their music is breakneck-pace and lyrical comprehension was nowhere in sight, for good reason. While the recordings are no doubt exciting, what you get live is on another level. The energy, particularly from the frontman, is undeniable. Sporting his trademark red-white tights with an over-shirt, Dendeke Ayumi hurled himself into the crowd at a moment’s notice, directed them to mosh/zorba, and did 10X jump splits every other song as if it was the most natural and human thing to do when singing 10 syllables every second.
I am glad that the crowd in front either a) knew what they were getting into, or b) were glad/drunk enough to be spontaneous. Otherwise this might have been a disasterous set with a broken down Ayumi on the concrete floor and injury lawsuits flying instead. I would hazard to guess that they were a bit disappointed with the size of the audience – but betrayed none of it. So of course the music, especially with regards to clarity and tone/notes, suffers a little from the intended marks in the videos. But they are definitely worth your time to see, particularly if you are into punk with a bit of 2-tone ska.