One Ok Rock Up the Ante in Boston

The proliferation of K-pop and J-pop bands in the United States is a relatively new trend. The late 2010’s and early 2020’s have seen both genres achieve tremendous international success after traditionally struggling to find a foothold in North America. But before the K-pop/J-pop wave, Japanese post-hardcore band One Ok Rock were one of the first acts of Japanese origin to find a sustainable audience in North America.

Opening up the show was Australian rockers Stand Atlantic. The group spent their early days as a traditional pop punk band, appearing on two iterations of the Sad Summer Tour, a summer touring festival considered a successor to the defunct VANS Warped Tour. Their sound has since expanded to include elements of post-hardcore, metal, and electronic rock.

On this run of dates with One Ok Rock, they’ve been focusing more on the latter material, playing almost exclusively songs from their last two albums. Heavier songs like “WARZ0NE” and “CRIMINAL” were interpolated with songs like “deathwish” that were more representative of songs bridging the gap between their traditional pop punk sound and newer electronic tunes. They also made time to play one of their traditonal pop punk tunes, “Hate Me (Somtimes),” from their 2020 record Pink Elephant.

One Ok Rock brought one of the most elaborate productions to Boston’s MGM Music Hall, large LED screens were hung in front of the walls on either side of the stage, a large video board was positioned behind the band, while three video cameras were placed in front of the stage to capture every angle of the band. In their native Japan, One Ok Rock often play in football stadiums to crowds of over 60,000 people.

Most of the songs played were selected from their latest album, Detox, which came out in February and was distributed via Fueled by Ramen in the United States. However, they went as far back as their 2013 LP JinseixBoku for the fan-favorite “The Beginning.” Towards the middle of their set, the band engaged in an extended instrumental jam that saw each member get their own.

Band members took the time to address the crowd in both Japanese and English, at one point playing around with the crowd, saying, “I love Dunkin Donuts, I love the Red Sox,” showing familiarity with the local connections. Frontman Takahiro Moriuchi gave an impassioned speech about politics in both the US and around the world late in the set. He also delivered a lengthy address in the band’s native Japanese, speaking directly to the local Japanese immigrants.

Overall the show brought a stadium rock show feel to the 5,000 capacity Boston theatre, while a little pyro would have really driven home the large show feel, the music and production made you feel like you were in a crowd of 50,000.