A lot to get through tonight. Local King 3 went down at Mao - for free - and featured five bands:
Bomb Shelter
Bomb Shelter are an AC-DC cover band and went on last so I wasn't around for them, sorry guys.
So, free. Yes, the place was full and jumping. Great. Although everyone's patience was tested when the doors didn't open until 20 minutes after the first band was supposed to be playing.
First on was Pinkberry. I wrote about them at the recent Yuyintang show and said they were coming back to their best. They were better again tonight and the song 'Live in Live' is becoming their signature song. They sounded good from down front and Xiao You is performing well, although she was sick tonight.
Candy Shop came on with their usual energy and were well received. Unfortunately, their set was broken up. They had to run an on stage promotion for the drink you see in the flyer there. Basically, couples had to get on stage and play charades to win free drinks. Alas, it all came apart when they brought up a couple and a non-Chinese girl had to guess the word 'Ge Noh Mang' from her friend's mime. That's Shanghainese slang for the people who crowd round accidents and fights. So that's like asking me and Jake to take Lebron James and Kevin Garnett in 2 on 2 b-ball. It dragged on and poor Candy Shop's set suffered. They made a good come back with their track 'Wo Men'.
Sonnet were next. They had complex video intros to their songs and all kinds of bridges and gimmicks. They presented themselves like super stars and even did their latest single We all have a sorry yesterday acapella with all the members up front. They had the bassist back in the line up, which was good and to be fair, the crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves. Personally, I like Sonnet when they play tight snappy tunes with dance rock beats. They closed out with their old show closer, a cover of YMCA.
At that point I'd been keeping my eye on the crowd. At free gigs that feature bands who attract young locals you see a lot of new people. I felt they were having a good time, but were apprehensive as they maybe didn't know what the standard was or what it was supposed to be like.
And then BCR came on and told them with authority.
This is no disrespect to the other bands, I like them all, but ... from the first strike of the guitar, Boys Climbing Ropes owned that stage and filled up the venue with their sounds and presence. They got everyone's attention and were a true headlining act. They rocked the place. They were loud, fast and tight, everyone knows the songs and those who didn't were all impressed. Little Punk's vocals were properly mic-ed up and crystal clear, it made so much difference. It reminded me of the Pet Conspiracy gig in that here was a band who properly owned that larger space.
Can we now have a BCR headlining show at Mao please? Properly promoted, full up and on before midnight, preferably.
"coming back to their best" - I got there about half way through Pinkberry's set, and it was painful to watch. They were so out of time and tune that it sounded like they were playing three different songs. Xiao Bai Tu just went on and on and on and on...
Candy Shop were Candy Shop, so they were good if you like saccharine pop with choreographed headbanging. They sold out to Jagermeister, though, so they lose major points.
Sonnet were ok - better than they've been in a long time. But then when they crowd chanted "encore!" they came back and did three more songs, turning a decent set into a way-too-long set, and ended on their terrible cover of YMCA.
BCR rocked...nothing more to say. Except that the sound guy had apparently fallen asleep by this point, and the sound was shit.
Once again, Mao ran out of Tsingtao by 10:30pm, and cold beer in general sometime around 11.
Hey Brad thanks for the differing point of view. It's be good if more people did that in the reviews.
One point I agree on there was about Xiao Bai Tu. Seems like this has been selected as the official set closer now and I noticed it had been extended too.
BCR sounded ok down the front. Little Punks vocals were very clear.
I think the sound in general was better down the front.
To be fair, I think EVERYBODY sold out to Jager- since they were the sponsor of the free show. It just looked like poor Candy Shop had to be the messenger. (and it wasn't just one foreigner/chinese couple - it was two . . .and the second couple, the guy wasn't even shanghainese)
anyways, one little gimmick promotion to sit through would've been fine (especially in exchange for a 5 band free show), but it was really painful to sit through two of them.
i really liked sonnet's franz ferdinand/artic monkeys esque dance rock stuff, but i thought the electronic stuff was too clever for its own good.
and unfortunately i thought BCR's set was too short. (i really want to hear pleasure to be here and dirty bots every time they play)
I thought the sound was fine in front.
The cover band was actually very decent muscially (although I think the lead singer was using his own interpretations of the lyrics) and it was a lot more than ac/dc - they did some radiohead, nirvana, i think i heard a van halen tune in there as well. Not too bad, but not anything I'd be interested in going out of my way for.
Hey Terence
There's a story to that. A drinks promotion was mentioned and Morgan had told Lezi, via LP, they wouldn't play if it was a straight product promotion thing. He assured them it wasn't ... but then they saw the flyer once they'd already agreed. And yeah, longer set including the older songs would be good. They generally just play Calculate.
Candy Shop, yeah, again, they said Lezi told them to do it ..usually lezi does his whole Panda Suit thing for promotions ... not this time ...
Ha, excuses all round ;)
I don't think a drinks promotion is, in and of itself, necessarily a bad idea - especially if it produces the sponsorship money to make free shows.
I do think it sucks they made the bands be the vehicles of the promotion. Want to run a promotion game? Do it in-between sets while the next band is setting up. Or before the gig.
(I don't really think the bands sold out - it was obvious they were sort of forced to do something that fell outside the scope of them being, well, bands)
I am the singer and guitarist for Bombshelter - we came on last a little late when the audience had died down. Just to make it clear we are not an ACDC cover band, but we do cover a range of classic rock and alternate songs aswell as developing our own originals. Im not sure where the ACDC thing came from. First time we played a venue like Mao so we are looking forward to improving and expanding. We have only been around a very short time so stay tuned.
Cheers Paul
I am the singer and guitarist for Bombshelter - we came on late a little late when the audience had died down. Just to make it clear we are not an ACDC cover band, but we do cover a range of classic rock and alternate songs aswell as developing our own originals. Im not sure where the ACDC thing came from. First time we played a venue like Mao so we are looking forward to improving and expanding. We have only been around a very short time so stay tuned.
Cheers Paul
Hi Paul
Thanks for clarifying and I look forward to covering you guys when you have a set of mainly originals. The info on your band came from the Mao ppl so you'll probably want to get on that next time you play there.
Do you have a web page for the band?