Jake had earlier reported that the 696 Livehouse, formerly at Weihai Lu, had found a new location in Hong Kou district.
I decided to mission it tonight, accompanied by half of band Stegosaurus and my mate Steve.
Firstly, it's very easy to get to. It's a five minute walk in a straight line from the Hong Kou Football Stadium metro station on line 3. Number 188 East Jiangwan Road is a kind of shopping/arts development called, unsurprisingly, 188 Dong Jiangwan Lu. The bar is just inside in block A.
This was a low key free opening night led by rockers Bremen. Opening for them was Firefighter. I'm not sure if there are two bands called Firefighter as the last time we saw a band called Firefighter they were a Mushroom's tribute band. This time they were a pop-punk three piece who played four short and sweet songs.
Bremen have added a guitarist and expanded their set since I last saw them. Despite a promising opening, they played mainly covers tonight. There was a funny moment where an empty coke bottle standing on our table had it's natural frequency level hit during a cover of T-Rex's 20th Century Boy. It danced about with a life of it's own. I have a video but I absent mindedly shot it sideways.
The venue is small and basically a converted shop unit in a new development. However, it would be packed with more than sixty people and could be the scene of many an intimate cool show. Most likely it will be a training ground for younger bands. Check it out.
We got off the train by YYT in time to catch Yuguo's set, by the way. As usual, very professional but wouldn't be out of place entertaining on a cruise ship. So to speak. Full of local pop fans who all sang along.
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