so when i heard that the usa pavilion was inviting them to play a concert at the shanghai world expo, i jumped at the chance to go. heading down there with my college friend abbie, we got to expo gate #2 at 8:15pm intending to purchase an evening ticket. well, the ticket office was closed and the people there said there was no way to buy a ticket for the evening. “sold out” they said – the only way might be to buy through conveinence stores.

“so where are the cloest convienence stores?”

this was answered with a shrug. well, i had a wild-card and was able finagle two emergency tickets (thanks mla!) but there were at least 20-30 other visitors there specifically for the concert. expo organizers need to plan for this eventuality – and also, if you’re only going for an event, be sure to buy your ticket early! ticket offices close at 8pm!

well, after 20 minutes of arguing at the gate, we finally show up to see ozo. even with the rain, and the crappy sound (in the back it was fine, but when we made our way up front, the vocals were turned way down) – they were amazing. i’ve never seen a band connect with a crowd of non-fan chinese people so well. they played with so much energy, that guys in bad suits and aunties and young people were all up and dancing around. it was so fun. sure i’ve seen great crowd reactions from chinese crowds at shows like linkin park or any of the punk shows i’ve been to, but ozo completely won over an audience that i’m going to presume 95% had never heard them or of them before.

this from a show ozo did the following night (looks like mao shanghai to me) but you can feel the energy in the band.

because of the largesse of some friends working at the usa pavilion at the shanghai world expo, we were treated to 4th rows seats to see jazz legends dee dee bridgewater and HERBIE HANCOCK play at the expo performing arts stage last friday, not only that, but it was free. FREE!

suffice to say, sharing a small, intimate concert venue with such esteemed -jazz- musical legends is beyond my ability to translate onto a blog post, but it was truly a special evening.

See the rest of my photos here

the second band, though, well, it was boys climbing ropes. what can i say? i just really really like watching them in concert. they’re really just on point now. i brought a friend of mine from work to see them play last time and he mentioned just how good the drumming was – and its like they have all cylinders clicking now. i cannot recommend going to see them live in concert enough.

UNiXX was billed as an “angrier smashing pumpkins,” “the cure, but louder” or “hong kong’s darkest band” – all of which i am down with. and they seemed like really nice guys (they lent jordan a guitar when he broke a string in the middle of his set), very good musicians, but the end result was just stuff i wasn’t really into. sorry.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

friday night reviewed here my thoughts: xiao yoi (lead singer of pinkberry) was ill, and the crowd was clearly there for sonnet so they had trouble getting the crowd into it. candy shop had to do this terrible promotion for jaeger which killed any momentum they had. sonnet had some great danceable franz ferdinand-esque tracks which i really dug . . . a lot of experimentation with loops and dubs and electronic sounds from a sampler, which i did not dig. boys climbing ropes continue to rock and continue put on a great show. i am a huge fan.

saturday night photographed here by jenn wong and here by me. boys climbing ropes continue to rock and continue to put on a great show. i am a huge fan. st. vincent was fantastic – lots of experimental insturmentalation sounds combined with a beautiful voice.

however i’m glad chinese bands are starting to think about advocacy and doing things beyond just producing music. on the whole, it’s a positive thing and a step in the right direction. on to the actual show

i arrived in the middle of faf’s set – so was standing towards the back. but their funeral for a friend screamo/scream-core (i’m actually really bad at categorizing music beyond “hip hop” “rock” and “pop”) certainly got the crowd moving. they finished with a cover of “until the day i die” by story of the year.

after a quick break, the band i came to see (candy shop) took that stage. click on the link if you want to listen to them – i don’t really have a good description of their music. they play a bit of everything, but i think you could categorize them as nu-metal X saccharine pop. like i said, i don’t know how to categorize music well, but i do know this: they are a great band to see live.

kk with his raps and sammy with her raps and singing – the interplay between the two leads – along laid down with a metal backing along with the entire pixies/nirvana/smashing pumpkins soft/LOUD/soft combo make for a really fun band to jump along to. although with candy shop, the soft/LOUD/soft dynamic is taken to extremes with the contrast between sammy’s singing and kk’s raps.

i captured some video here – although the entire song is 4 minutes long, flickr cut it down to a minute or so. when i get around to it, i’ll upload it somewhere that will show the entire song.

while candy shop put on a great show, i’m not sure if it was the thursday night or the rain or whatever, but the crowd seemed strangely subdued, especially when contrasted with the last time i saw them. (actually i’m pretty sure it was because it was thursday night)

if you’re in shanghai, candy shop will be playing at MAO livehouse (huaihai lu at red town) on march 12th at 8pm as part of a larger show! i encourage you to go down and check them out.

this absolutely awesome shot of xiao punk from the halloween show by gregory perez

photo by gregory perez

duck fight goose opened. i don’t think the expat heavy crowd really got into their experimental rock and instrument doodling, but i thought they played a tight set. they really had to fight against everyone showing up for bcr.

boys climbing rope got on stage – and it was wall-to-wall people in yuyintang. and they really got the place moving. xiao punk got everyone jumping and dancing despite the tight space – while the interplay between jordan, morgan and devin was really really tight. they just played a energetic show, despite some sound issues.

the new cd – which was released at the party – is also fantastic. honestly, if boys climbing ropes was from portland or new york city or manchester, they’d be all over the indie circuit – reviews on pitchfork, playing on your local college station, everything. the cd is great. the live show is great. if you live in shanghai, and like live music, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be at the next boys climbing rope show.

yuyintang graffiti: