Carsick Cars are one of China's biggest acts and have played shows with Sonic Youth in the states. Unfortunately, industry people and journos were confounded by a bizarre turn around of the usual scheduling. There was one support act only, and they played on time and suitably briefly. Then Carsick Cars went on right afterwards, also on time, and played a short set. This really scuppered a bunch of folks who used their common sense turned up fashionably late.
Check out Carsick Cars' myspace page here.
I had no idea who was supporting until I got there but I was in for a treat. Yuyintang has been really picking up lately and are getting a lot of new young local fans in the doors. As I made my way into the hall I overheard a trendy young couple telling the staff how it was their first time here and they were really excited. How pleased they must have been when the support act kicked in - two members of Muscle Snog doing a 20 minute experimental/noise improvisation. I don't mind noise and its related genres too much but it's probably a good idea to bill it in the flyers as some kind of warning to indie fans. I videod it as part of my new dilligent approach to this blog.
Great crowd of genuine fans for the Cars. They got stuck into tracks off their new CD and everyone nodded along, holding it in for the big single, Zhong Nan Hai. Between two tracks Shouwang managed to change guitars and tune the replacement without breaking the feedback and effects that linked the tracks. A great feat worthy of Hansel's underwear removal trick in Zoolander. The real fun was yet to come though. The Cars broke into Zhong Nan Hai sending the crowd into jumping mode and suddenly the air was full of cigarettes. You see, Zhong Nan Hai is a Chinese brand of ciggie. This could never happen at a club gig in my hometown of Liverpool as a riot would breakout as various scallies and students rush the stage trying to pick all the cigarettes up.
Met loads of people at the gig. Archie Hamilton promotes larger shows with Splitworks. They put on the Yue Festival last year but have an olympic related kick in the groin break this summer. In the meantime they have been busy with their website China Music Radar. Check it out.
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