Friday night at Yuyintang was a special gig promoted as Kai Xue, back to school. There was a selection of Shanghai bands and these kind of events usually attract a very specific crowd of local fans.
The line up shifted a bit but in the end I saw these bands:
The Rank are a newer brit-pop sounding act and Five Pence do mainly covers. Both tracks at their page (vids) are G'n'R songs. Chaos Mind were the only act who were experienced and truly developed.
The usual crowd were largely absent, to my surprise. There were a contingent of metal fans, with some noticeable absentees that made me realize some people only come if their own band is playing. Broken Promises singer Queen was there. There were also a lot of new faces and ex-pats popping in.
In fact, by the time Chaos Mind took the stage near midnight, there was a good crowd and the band was so good that everyone was an instant convert. The band play modern metal with good beats and hooks and plenty of power. They are experienced performers and got the people moving. They have recently changed the bass player, but the new guy is Levi Wang, previously with Shanghai's Mortal Fools, so they didn't miss a step. Their trademark quiet-loud-quiet-loud track Amanda was especially good and I think this band transcend the metal crowd now and can really rock any show and any crowd.
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