-
Jan
23rdLiang Heping Fundraiser… be there January 26th @ Yugong Yishan
One thing that i love about the music scene in Beijing is that no matter how big, small, eccentric or crazy things are, there is still a huge sense of community that i have not encountered anywhere else except maybe in New Orleans. This community is coming together saturday for a show that will benefit Liang Heping and hopefully help his recovery. Now, who is Liang Heping? Nothing less that one of the most legendary personalities of China’s rock n roll scene! As Jon Campbel would put it, he is one of the original Yaogun-ers: http://jonathanwcampbell.com/blog/?p=1450 Liang has been involved in yaogun for just about as long as anyone could have been. A member of the ‘house band’ that backed up all of the singers on that yaogunnily-fateful May day in 1986, it was technically Liang that introduced China to yaogun: He played the first notes of the Song That Changed Everything, Cui Jian’s “Nothing to My Name,” at the Let the World Be Full of Love concert. Last year, He Yong brought together some of the biggest names around to start helping various parts of society and he’s at it again to help out one of his friends, backup musicians and much more! The show is slated to take place Saturday January 26th with the participation of some pretty darn big guns in the industry:HE YONG, SECOND HAND ROSE, ZHANFU, THIN MAN, YEYANG GUANTOU, ASKAR, MA TIAO, ZHANG QIANQIAN and YOU SHOULD BE THERE TOO…. More information on Yugong [...]
-
Jan
6th2011 in review: Best Live Music Performances in Beijing (and the worst)it started with a bang at 2 Kolegas as Buyi, Nucleus, Rustic and Subs rocked the hell out of the drive-in. That was one hell of a good show to start the year and remains in the top ten of best shows in Beijing for 2011. Many bands came, some vanished, others just took a break and some just lost any guidance… how did they fare IMHO? Let’s check it out! Here are some random musings about the best, the worst and the mediocre from my BIASED perspective! AK47 @ MIDI: Never been a huge AK47 fan but this past MIDI, they put on the performance of a lifetime! The crowd was all in it at the side stage, moshing, screaming, jumping, singing…. IT was a trance-like state for almost everyone there! The music was heavy, loud, sharp like a razor blade and was the perfect accompaniment for dust storms. The Black Snakes @ ‘dazeFEAST: Holly mother of god were these cats impressive! I had no idea what to expect when i added them to the bill other than they were friends of Kang Mao. Boy am i glad! Their energy was out of this world, stage antics second to none, sweating it out and getting the audience in a frenzy! That was just beautiful! Thank you again guys! SUBS @ King of the Road: When all was going to hell with drunk people in the audience, douchebags and 2 Kolegas filled to the brim, Kang Mao and her gang [...]
-
Sep
13thAnda Festival: Inner Mongolia Rises with Sounds from the GrasslandsHolly shit was it a busy weekend! I can’t recall running around jagged like this since maybe the May day festivals between Anda at Mako, Intercity at Chaoyang Park and Hell ‘Bone at Yugong… but here, let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Disclaimer: I was invited to attend day 1 of the festivities as a member of the media. Hopefully, free entry didn’t make me more biased than usual Friday was day 1 of Anda Mongolian Festival at Mako Livehouse who’s making a revival of sorts. Some new manager was apparently hired and is doing a great job connecting with local musicians. It would be very good to shift the epicenter of music away from Gulou and we need Mako for that. So yeah, Anda… This was a weird one! Things got started around 8 and I pretty much missed all the early bands due to work and sustenance commitments. I did however get there on time for a few bands including 九宝乐队 (Jiu Bao). I was told that these guys were quite famous, more used to CCTV shows and what not but in a limited register. Friday night, they let loose with guitars, horsehead fiddle and a weird triangle shaped ukulele if i may call it that (anyone knows the name? ). Initially, they sounded like a shanzhai version of Hanggai which they actually are not. The lead singer was quite charismatic, moving around the stage and engaging the audience. By the end of their set which included [...]
-
Nov
23rdThe Face and Thin Man hold the torch high at Yugong YishanThe show was labelled “Passing the Torch” this past saturday at Yugong Yishan with really old school bands The Face面孔, Thin Man瘦人乐队 and Zhou Ren. I remembered noticing the lineup a few weeks ago but somehow, it still managed to fly under the radar. By the time i got there, Zhou Ren had already played but Thin Man was just getting started! These guys have been around the block for a few years now and were one of the first bands whose CD i got in China. Progressive yet classic with a charismatic front man. I remember back in 2007 at the Chaoyang Pop festival kicking the ball around on the grass with them and I’ve kept a little special place for them in my heart. On saturday, they had clearly slowed down a bit with frontman Dai Qin looking his age. Long gone is the long hair, replaced by a cap. The vocals were slightly off compared to 3 years ago and there was a bit of going through the motions early on in the performance. But then, towards the end of their set, they raised it up a notch or two, delivering the kind of show and intensity I’ve come to expect of them. One music insider spoke of them as one of the bands whose contributions to the Chinese Rock scene will go forgotten in the grand scheme of things and that’s a shame. They brought a lot to the table and can still rock with the [...]
The Mini Skinny
What once started as my personal ramblings has morphed into the number one collective resource about underground live music in Beijing and China. All bands, all music, all Rock n Roll, all the time with a little side of eclectic topics.. best of all, it's still as BIASED as ever
Ganbei!!!!
'dazeFEAST 2012 - June 23rd at 2 Kolegas.
17 Bands, Roast Lamb & All FREEWhat’s on Offer?
- 10 Questions (31)
- Album Reviews (22)
- Beijing 人 (44)
- Belly Ties (52)
- blabbers (326)
- Book Review (1)
- Chinese Through Lyrics (3)
- Freeloading (34)
- Geek matter (17)
- Gig Reviews (58)
- Need'em liquids (9)
- On The Road (3)
- Outsourced Blabbers (21)
- Provincial Restaurants (15)
- Quickslants (65)
- Roaming Around (11)
- Tunes under the moon (524)
looking for something?
Ingredients
2 kolegas Amazing insurance salesmen Bad Mamasan Beijing 人 black cat bone Brain Failure buyi Chunqiu DH & the hellcats Dude Ember Swift Flying Mantas free the birds GAWTMY Hanggai Hedgehog iz Jacky Danny Kaiser Kuo Kick Ass Lidong live music mademoiselle Maggie Who Mamer Mao Livehouse MIDI Miserable Faith Nanwu Nucleus Omnipotent youth society provincial restaurant randy abel stable Residence A rustic skarving Steely Heart SUBS Suffocated The Redbucks voodoo kungfu whai wu & side effects xiao he yugong yishanFresh Pills
- Quickslants: 2 Kolegas turns 8, Dong Zi and more weekend music
- Rock School: Miserable Faith Yi Zhi Wang Nanfang Kai Dissected.
- Quickslants: Tambours du Bronx, New Shanren, Painkiller Fest and more
- Mamer & Song Yuzhe: opposites attract at Jianghu
- Dreamer Festival 2013 – Azure Ray, Shan Ren, Omnipotent Youth Society and More
Can of Worms?
- karen millen dresses How Can you Use Myspace Layouts on Quickslants: Jurat, PiL, XTX, Yangjima for a Loaded End of Week
- HEATWOLVES热狼 on Full MIDI 2013 Information: Camping, Travelling, Hotels and More
- Joann on Quickslants: Jurat, PiL, XTX, Yangjima for a Loaded End of Week
- On The Scene: 2013 Strawberry Festival Day 1 | Live Beijing Music on MIDI 2013: Anywhere, Anytime, Thanks for the Rock n Roll
- ex virility pill on Quickslants: Jurat, PiL, XTX, Yangjima for a Loaded End of Week