Have you ever wanted to travel back in time during the height of pop culture in Japan’s Juban District? Well, look no further because Ginger Root Productions can do exactly that! This three-man band took San Diego by storm on September 24 welcoming the crowd to their flashy tech rehearsal.

Self-proclaiming their music as “aggressive elevator soul,” Ginger Root’s aesthetic draws inspiration from 80’s and 90’s Japanese pop culture. The leadman of the group, Cameron Lew, is a multi-instrumentalist who has been releasing music since the band formed in 2017. He is accompanied by drummer Matt Carney and bassist Dylan Hovis. According to Spotify, their most streamed songs are “Loretta”, “Le Chateau”, “No Problems”, and “Only You”, with “No Problems” and “Only You”, featuring on their newest album, “SHINBANGUMI”.

The concert took place at the House of Blues in San Diego. Before the main act, two bands, XinXin and Pearl and the Oysters came on. Both groups debuted their newly released music for the first time.

XinXin, an R&B group from the Inland Empire, shared that they had recently released their newest song “Red Flags” and performed that on top of their older songs. The song discussed toxic relationships and emphasized the importance of loving yourself, earning admiration from the audience.

After a 45-minute intermission, Pearl and the Oysters, a French American music duo, took the stage. They also performed songs from their newest album, “Planet Pearl,” which takes on a spacey, out-of-this-world sound, incorporating a variety of unique instruments into their songs. Both acts complemented the main act in unique ways, setting a very lively vibe for the rest of the night.

After both acts finished their performances, the room was dimmed and a brief opening video message played, prompting lots of excitement from the audience. This was the first out of a series of videos that followed a storyline involving the artist, who is collaborating with famous Japanese pop artists and is faced with constant criticism for his work. The opening video started with the artist welcoming everyone to the tour but was then rudely interrupted by the head of a major corporate entertainment company, Juban TV, informing the audience that their show was to be taken over by them. After the video ended, more cheering erupted as the performance officially began with “Better than Monday.”

The setlist consisted of their newest songs alongside some of his most popular songs from 2020-2021. Many of their songs were sung through a red telephone, which added an old-school, retro vibe. This choice was interesting to me because it indicated a shift in genre. The faster pop songs would use the phone whereas his jazzier songs wouldn’t. They included all their most popular songs as well as many other fan favorites, such as “Juban District” and “Holy Hell”. At the end of the show, they did two encores, as demanded by the audience, featuring their oldest songs.

One of my favorite elements of the show was the humor incorporated. A running joke throughout the show was the front man welcoming us to his “tech rehearsal” and offering to DoorDash food for the other members. He would also dance on stage, and it was very fun hyping him up.

As someone who discovered the artist a week before I bought my ticket, I was very happy with the experience. So many people were excited to see him and talked about their excitement to see him before and after the show. The music was fun, the atmosphere was very positive, and there were many creative aspects that made the show immersive. If they ever come back to San Diego or Southern California, I would highly recommend seeing them live.

(Side note: they’ll be in L.A on November 3rd!)