Scenes from the Anamanaguchi concert in DNA Lounge

It all started for me when I listened to Anamanaguchi’s cover for “Holiday” on the 8-bit Weezer tribute album and I coincidently noticed an ad for their San Francisco concert happening at August 30th. What followed was a quick search for Anamanaguchi’s site and an explosion of 8-bit goodness in the form of streaming audio and retro-style music videos. And to think this started a little more than a month ago. So after catching up with their last CD and streaming their latest songs from their latest CD, Dawn Metropolis, off their site, I went to their concert this past Sunday at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge.

The audience was surging with energy when they performed on-stage! The band started out strong with Blackout City, and mixed it up with songs from their last CD and Dawn Metropolis. They even played a not-yet-released song they composed with the help of an iPhone, and did a cover of the Go-Go’s Vacation as well.

The only thing that made the concert better? When Jake (the guy in the red T-shirt) told everyone that the smoke from the smoke machine smelled like bacon.

The hacked NES, GameBoy, iPhone, and second (backup?) NES.

James, the bass guitarist, selects the next 8-bit tunage to rock out to.

The crowd in a frenzy as Anamanaguchi ignited their fans with retro rock.

The club was pretty humid. Even Luke, the drummer behind Pete, got a little more...comfortable.

It doesn't look it, but Ary's prepping the next song from the GameBoy. Most likely Mermaid, since that was the song they mentioned was composed with only the GameBoy.

Probably the best thing was that, before the concert started, Anamanaguchi signed my CD! At the time, they couldn't find their bass player, James, to add the 4th signature, but I was able to get it after the concert! I can't wait for them to come back to San Francisco again!