Shanghai rock revitalization @ Yuyintang

Somewhere in the city, tens of thousands of morons with no idea of what they like outside of what they're told by some form of glowing rectangle were feeling remotely proud as a random bunch of fireworks went up over some concrete towers. 

Elsewhere, five young Shanghainese bands were putting on a show at Yuyintang.

This was the first big show after the raids but the night went off without any visits. Great turnout of mainly younger locals and a new sound guy at the desk who was not afraid of turning it up. Good stuff.

Candy Shop went on first and played the best set of the night. The sound was great, the energy high and everyone appeared to know the songs and be genuine fans of the band. Momo followed with a stripped down short set that lacked the tight organization of the recent shows, but there was a sense that this night was more for fun.

DCW are probably the only band who really fit the tag rock in the pure sense. I was really looking forward to them and had been listening to their famous demos Say Goodbye and Some Just Want Everything all day. I got a surprise though, recent line up changes have led to a complete retooling. DCW played all new material and sounded completely different. So, it was like watching for the first time and we couldn't really get into it. The new sound has more straight hard rock in it and the crowd did enjoy some of the shredding.

FAF played their usual opening of Escape and Parasite and were the first band to get the crowd jumping. They blend the more commercial aspects of the Emo style with big guitar riffs and are local favorites. Singer Ding Ding has a great voice and good energy. They finished the set with a ballad and later a Justin Bieber (I know, why?) cover version. People seemed to like it. Little Nature closed the night, by which time a lot of the crowd had gone due to the younger locals-train times thing.