Pacifica – December 2025
Show Date: December 10, 2025,
Location: Life House Janus, Osaka Japan
2 Gals (and a drummer) having a great time.
If you have talked to me in the past six months, I've probably tried to throw this little band Pacifica on you. Yeah, I sort of have a band crush. I randomly heard about them online somewhere, and although I cannot find the reference, I really think it was from a Substack post by Nobel Prize-winning Paul Krugman, who evidently is an indie rock fan.
Anyways, the backstory is that these two young women from Argentina met online through a Strokes fan site during the pandemic. They started off doing covers of songs by the Strokes and other bands before going on to write their own music. Are they the most complex songs? No. Are they catchy, and is the band obviously having a great time? Yes. Does that joy come through in their performances? Definitely. Think Strokes + Bangles + early Joan Jett.
I changed my flight back from Cambodia to catch Pacifica play in Osaka because the Tokyo shows were already sold out. The venue, Janus (a "Live House," as they're called in Japan), was perfect and sold out that night. At just over 400 people, this is my favorite type of live show. There is not a bad spot in the place; you're never more than 10 meters from the band, and you truly get the intimate, live show experience that caused me to drop out of college for a couple of years. Evidently venues this size are really struggling in the US due to plummeting drink sales and ticket inflation, which is a shame. I hate to imagine young people missing this experience and never being inspired to pick up an instrument. There is nothing wrong with big arena and stadium shows; it's just a different experience.
I got to see Alicia Keys in a huge hall this year too, and that was great, but I'd take 1 Pacifica show in a small venue over 5 big shows.
On Tour
If you are in the US or Europe, go check them out while you can see them in a small venue. I promise you'll have a great time; their energy is infectious in all the right ways.
Fan Boy Level 10: I was so excited and had the chance, so I made some T-shirts for the band and threw them up on stage after. Yeah, I'm that nerdy, or creepy, depending on how you look at it. I think this is a Japan thing, but they sometimes offer a meet and greet (autograph or photo) after the show for those who buy merch. I'd bought an official t-shirt and, to my surprise, Martina was wearing one of the shirts I'd thrown on stage. Mission accomplished.
