On a Tuesday night in Tokyo, American synth-pop rockers COLD CAVE are playing a set at Shibuya O-Nest, supported by local favourites ZZZ’S and GROUP A. This show marks the beginning of their massive “Meaningful Life” tour, set to carry on through to South Korea, China, Nepal, India, USA, Canada and Europe.
Since forming in 2007, Cold Cave has released two albums and a plethora of EPs and collaborations, and tonight’s performance features mainly new material with a spattering of old favourites. For their Japan tour, the band’s lineup consists of main member and founder Wesley Eisold (formerly the lead vocalist of hardcore band American Nightmare), and collaborator Amy Lee.
Once Group A and ZZZ’s have finished treating the crowd to their intense instrumental and punk performances, the Cold Cave duo stalk onto stage to deliver their signature catchy synth-pop melodies to their enamoured fans.
Wesley undoubtedly nails his vocal performance, with his tones and lyrics perfectly suited to the genre, and his style and image to match. Amy is elusively hidden away behind the lid of an open gear case for the entirety of the set, with only her head visible to the fans, shielding whatever instrumentation she’s doing from the fans. This places the onus upon Wesley to keep the audience engaged, and despite skulking around the stage with bedroom eyes and some enthusiastic microphone grabs, many in the audience are left underwhelmed.
Luckily for them, however, the band has a devoted enough fan base that the music alone keeps the majority of the crowd dancing and singing along. After exiting the stage at the end of their set, the persistent chanting of the fans shouting “We want more!” brings Wesley and Amy back onto the stage not once, but twice, for a surprising double encore.
Cold Cave are currently playing a slew of shows in China, before embarking on the rest of their world tour.