CHAI Concert Review: CHAI Brings Neo-Kawaii to Boston

Holographic riding cloaks and “High School Musical” parody songs seem to have no place at a rock concert. Any CHAI show readily dispels this assumption. Entering the stage with a playful pomp of neon hair-ties and tulle, the band began its Boston performance at The Sinclair behind a veil of smoke. As three of the band members stood with their cloaked backs to the crowd, Yuna – the band’s drummer – took her place and began to play the band's electric opener “No More Cake.”

Subtle head bopping gave way to full-on infectious choreography as Mana (the band’s primary vocalist), Kana (guitar), and Yuuki (bass) turned to face an energized crowd to spit the song’s first verses into their mics. The four musicians invited fans to move with them and held them in that space for the next hour. CHAI demonstrated their abilities as masterful entertainers, their neo-kawaii aesthetic fostering a delightfully electric atmosphere at the Cambridge mainstay.

CHAI lights up the performance for the Sinclair audience. By Courtesy of Nina C. Ijomanta

Although CHAI – who hail from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in Japan – have been together since 2012, the WINK TOGETHER North American Tour marks the group’s first Boston area performance. For their first time in Cambridge, the band primarily stuck to music from their most recent third studio album, “WINK,” which was released in May of 2021. The music encapsulated the blend of alternative J-pop and rock moods that the band has spent so long cultivating, as well as their signature aesthetic, neo-kawaii.

“Neo-kawaii means that all girls are pretty from the moment they were born, and that there is not a single girl who is not KAWAII,” write the band on their official website. “There should be many more types of KAWAII, and everyone is KAWAII in her own way. COMPLEX IS ART.”

This ethos is baked into CHAI’s live performance, their tight choreography and multi-colored lights reaching out into the audience and making the stage feel much bigger than it appears.

CHAI takes center stage at the Sinclair. By Courtesy of Nina C. Ijomanta

The musical arrangements themselves energized and highlighted the subtleties of CHAI’s most beloved tracks, making the performance a more memorable and intimate experience. At the tail end of “No More Cake,” CHAI extended the song, allowing for Kana to come to the edge of the stage for an awesome guitar solo. Yuna’s drum fills in other extended versions of songs like “PING PONG” would get the crowd hollering. While they are decidedly a rock band, CHAI did not let the label define their instrumentality. Yuna and Mana utilized 808s and synthesizers to their full effect, composing on-the-spot electronic interludes between songs.

Holding true to their self-defined style, each member explained what each of them found wonderful about themselves and their days during the band’s trademark pop-song-contrafactum introduction. As the crowd in The Sinclair sang the chorus of “We’re All in This Together, ” Mana, Kana, Yuuki, and Yuna introduced themselves one-by-one in a campfire-esque fashion.

Ending with their popular beachy, laid back tune “Donuts Mind If I Do,” CHAI took The Sinclair through a variety of soundscapes with impressive visuals to match. While there unfortunately wasn’t much chit-chat from the band between songs (besides Yuna at one point attesting to the deliciousness of New England Clam Chowder), some of their slower tracks like “Miracle” or their cover of Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love” became a way to communicate more deeply with the crowd.

CHAI brings an overall incredible stage presence that will have both hardcore fans and newcomers dancing and singing along with every song.