Anime Night is a dance party celebration of music and culture culmination of the anime community. Inspired by live DJ events such as Emo Night, Pop-Punk Night, and Taylor Swift Party, founder and host Evan Tuccarello connected to a familiar and nostalgic place of his younger self where he would surf YouTube and watch his favorite anime openings over and over.
“As a kid, I was a huge fan of rock music, especially in the early 2000’s, and right as channels like Toonami and 4Kids came on the scene I was finding myself just as appealed to music from shows like Naruto, YuGiOh GX, and Dragon Ball Z as much as I was interested in popular American rock bands at the time. It was shortly around this time I discovered bands like FLOW, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, and NICO Touches The Walls that were so full of energy and had such catchy hooks that it didn’t matter if the lyrics weren’t in English, as it gave me just as much personal fulfillment as any band I listened too.”
As Evan grew into adulthood, he started a live event production company titled Mossdeep Entertainment and it became a staple in the local Pittsburgh music scene, known for putting on unique events, as well as showcasing numerous events at the club level for up and coming artists. Evan later went on to join the team at Opus One Productions, a more large-scale concert promoter in the Pittsburgh area, who encouraged the idea of Anime Night and is hosting the first event at their venue on the South Side, Club Cafe.
“I spend a lot of time creating, and doing a lot of forward thinking trying to come up with unique ideas that would be fun and enjoyable for my live events. I often work with bands that don’t have as large of followings and are only starting to get their feet wet, and because of this, I take it as my responsibility to make my events special and offer a larger incentive for an artist’s event rather than just a band playing a show, because let’s face it, there is so much live music these days. That same mindset produced the idea of Anime Night. While I see lots of 'themed' nights featuring nostalgic music from alternative genres and pop-punk, I realized how much of the music I listen to that is popularized from my favorite anime has something in common with it. I also realized that at large scale anime conventions, there isn’t any element that embellishes the music at any of them, and so much is focused on the cosplay or art of the anime, for good reason. I wanted to create something special for the anime community that wouldn’t otherwise have been done, with what I know so well from my experience in live events and concert production.
“I also knew each event had to be special; when I look at anime music as a whole, there is a load of content to pull from, and a different appeal across various generations. I very quickly came to terms with that Anime Night could very well be a series of events that covers different ground through different themes, similarly to how I would book my own concerts. I think back on some of the most popular music that connected me with these series and it goes so far beyond just the opening tracks; we’re looking at both original and inspired OST’s, as well as ending tracks, unique songs featured from the anime, and so much more. When designing this event, I knew I wanted to pick themes and it was apparent that some anime in particular had such a widespread appeal that it was enough to theme individual events around it, which led me to making this first event Attack on Titan themed. I think that Attack on Titan is arguably the most popular anime on the mainstream right now and quite possibly has some of the most iconic music used throughout any anime. Between Linked Horizon, Hiroyuki Sawano, Cinema Staff, and all the incredible artists that worked on the anime alone, there was so much to pull from. Seeing that has inspired me to look further into individual series as well, especially long running shonen that have such a vast discography of content to pull from.”
Anime Night launches its first event on Thursday, October 20, 2022, fittingly titled, “The Rumbling.” The event will be largely AOT themed, but you can expect to hear music from all of your favorite anime including Jujustu Kaisen, Naruto Shippuden, My Hero Academia, Pokémon, Demon Slayer, SK8 The Infinity, Sailor Moon, and so much more. Alongside the music will be featured AMV’s synced for the tracks during the two hour dance party set. The event will feature local artists and businesses within the anime community such as Warp Zone which will be providing local 1up Arcade systems; Isabel Hope from Electric Ladyland who will be showcasing her art as an anime inspired tattooist and selling her pieces; Retrograde Collectables will be hosting two tables, one featuring their array of retro video game and anime merchandise, and another under the banner, Mercury Apothecary, which includes a various array of anime inspired scents and soaps; and of course Kawaii Gifts who will supply a large inventory of anime and kawaii items available for purchase on location. The event is being held at Club Cafe. Doors will open at 7 PM and music will begin at 8 PM. For the first night, tickets are only $10 and can be purchased online via Ticketweb, the Mr. Small’s or Club Cafe box office during any show, or on site at Kawaii Gifts, Electric Ladyland, Retrograde Collectables and Warp Zone. We hope to see you there, and stay tuned for what the next edition of Anime Night will be!
For Physical Tickets -
Retrograde Collectables - 500 Garden City Dr Suite 6F, Monroeville, PA 15146
Electric Ladyland - 30 Billot Ave, Irwin, PA 15642
Warp Zone - 1302 Poplar St, Greensburg, PA 15601
Kawaii Gifts - 738 Copeland St, Pittsburgh, PA 15232
Mr. Smalls Theatre - 400 Lincoln Ave, Millvale, PA 15209
Club Cafe - 56 S 12th St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
For Digital Tickets & to follow Anime Night -
Linktree - https://linktr.ee/animenightlive
Kawaii Gifts would like to thank Evan for sharing his passion for Anime Night with us and for collaborating on the event. We're looking forward to experiencing The Rumbling ourselves!
