The TooKoo show tonight had 'the buzz'. They're a solid band that have been around seven years and the English language sites were picking it as a good show. No one, including the band themselves, seemed to be able to describe the music though. The word Emo was making a regular appearance which just makes me think of My Chemical Romance. The buzz led to a swollen crowd, which is great for decent shows - but it's not without it's drawbacks. The hall was peppered with people who could have just as well been walking into Volar and Attica or where ever. As well as the dress shirts and trendy club night outfits there was a bit of attitude. One ex-pat formal dress and grooming guy tried to start a fight after being basically bumped into by a dancer/mosher at a rock gig. Give us a break ... no, on second thought just fuck off.
I started paying attention to the gig when support act Hard Queen (pictured) came on. I'll be seeing them again tomorrow at the PK-14 show. They did a solid set and the track of the night was definitely Loser which singer Sheena Du announced as their fav track at the moment. In the break I picked up TooKoo's new CD. It's a retrospective called "seven years". Echo Rush played next during which I milled about and talked to some people. I even got chased around the park out back a bit by an over zealous guard. I mean really - you have an entire moonlit public park, with lakes and bridges, at your personal disposal and they really expect you to not leave the area immediately behind the club.
Before we get onto the main act:
TooKoo on Myspace: listen here.
TooKoo Offical Site: here.
So, just before the gig Morgan from BCR was trying to put me off, humorously, by pointing out their good grooming, Emo tendencies and flashy intro tape. I admit, my heart did sink when the bagpipes started playing Amazing Grace and Morgan shot me the 'you see' look. However, they turned out to be pretty good. And no Emo ... not that there's anything wrong with that.
TooKoo brought a banner, intro music and they were good performers too. Like all good bands they had a singer with style and charisma. The music turned out to be up-tempo indie rock that became popular again after the likes of the Libertines. The singer even had on a pork-pie hat. I will put a video in the Youtube channel - but it's a bit spoiled by the habit of Yuyintang to just flash all the lights simultaneously for entire songs. Anyway, they're a good band and are famous as Midi festival veterans in Beijing. With PK-14 playing Dream Factory tomorrow that'll be two 'big' shows in one weekend, a rare blessing for our tiny scene.
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