What a just absolute clinic by Rina Sawayama in the first tour date of the US tour for the songs on the self-titled Sawayama. As in, this was her first US show with all of her new content since she blew up and it was a WILD night. People waited in line for five hours (I didn’t I was eating a FAT dinner before) and I can only imagine it was completely worth it for them, because that was truly one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
Like, just look at this energy:
This girl is just an absolute STAR. She will NEVER play at a venue as small as the Fonda again (our tickets were an arm and a leg second hand), and I was so grateful to be there. I frankly kind of got Elton John Troubador vibes (I know it’s different but) it just felt like a special night and the not birth, but milestone of a star in the making who isn’t going away.
Further to this, Rina played a new song called “Catch Me In The Air” which is just absolutely GORGEOUS:
^Video from a different show in London, (ours was even more lit)
She just brought it, a total mastery of the audience, full of confidence (like the boys), and the utter starpower it takes to walk up to a hungry audience expecting the best show of their lives and delivering in full.
As a fellow Japanese it’s been beyond cool to see Rina’s rise to superstardom. Growing up half-Japanese in the Midwest I always had cool Japanese shit to fall back on like Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc., so it’s not like my culture was never appreciated, but there were never stars that were Japanese (and real human beings for that matter). I’m enamored by the emergence of stars from all different backgrounds and I can’t wait to see it develop even further.
But regardless of diversity or anything else, Rina Sawayama is a fucking star and you’re a bad friend if you think otherwise.
Here are some more highlights from the show (I just screen recorded Rina’s Instagram story lol) in case you need further convincing on top of this top quality prose. Also my video is bad quality but you’ll notice Classsy Cassie got a Rina repost nbd. Me CC Jen and notable non-bogger Meg caught a fire show that’s immediately going on the all time list:
P.S. Rina literally played the interlude from modern city pop GOAT Plastic Love and danced to it…….. best show ever.