review: Girl Power brings down Yugong Yishan

Music is back on the menu folks as you can tell by the variety of choices available over the past few weeks. now usually, this happens on weekends or even thursdays but this week, thanks to Women’s Day, there was a line up form hell at Yugong Yishan.. And I loved it.

DH & Chinese Hellcats

These guys are one of the most fun acts to watch in Beijing, bar none!!! DH (Dizzy Hemmy) seems to be stepping away from the Betty Boop feel and the whole band was sporting quite a retro look with matching shirts. They opened the festivities with their rockabilly swing sounds and had the audience rocking/jiving/ for a good 35mn.

DH was on top of her game vocally (as usual) and Guitarist/boyfriend Dee Dee was on fire. Most people see him playing for the Hellcats and forget he’s a member of Beijing heavy hitters “Brain Failure”
Those two have an amazing chemistry on stage!!

Bigger Bang

I originally misread the lineup and thought that Ourselves Besides Me, not Bigger Bang, was part of the bill.. So when these cats came on, I was surprised. Last time i had seen them was in 09 at Mao and they stole the show. I wish I could say the same for monday night. They seemed to have a few technical issues and had trouble with the synth/guitar mix. Pupi ( lead singer) was displaying moves worthy of a graduate from Kang Mao School of Epileptic Dancing (Kang Mao is lead Singer of The Subs) and her vocals as sharp as ever. They just seemed to be going through the motions that night.
Some friends that saw them for the first night were positively impressed by them so maybe I’m just being overly critical.. I’ve heard them better.

Free The Birds

This was my first time catching them since they renamed themselves and moved away from the ZIYO moniker. Greatness by any name is greatness and these cats have what it takes: I’m still unable to describe their sound or what they’re trying to do but i love it anyways.

DROOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL

Helen’s vocals were a bit off when she started but it didn’t take long to get her back on top. I’m sure that playing 3 shows in 7 days must take a bit of a toll of her throat as she is a screamer in some ways. They went through their usual English catalog and then played a song called Free The Birds that i do not remember hearing before.

The show closed with an excited audience jumping up and down to Helter Skelter and Take it Off.

Fantastic musical evening and i even managed to roll my tongue back in my mouth as Helen got off stage. I must remember to wear a bib next time i go see them to prevent my excessive drool from staining my clothes…. or maybe i should just take it off