There were six bands last night, so things got underway early. For once, I was on time though (actually, I was embarrassingly early, but never mind). The line-up was a really good one, although oddly it didn't seem to have attracted much of a gig-going crowd. The night was up against Au Revoir Simone over at Mao, which may have had an impact, and of course we talked about it on the pod, which is always the kiss of death for a night. Regardless, a lot of the people who were there seemed to be there for Roots & Shoots rather than there for the music. That's fine, it's a good cause obviously, but it doesn't necessarily make for the best gig atmosphere.Resist Resist kicked things off. They get better every time I see them and the addition of Tim Anderson on the drums has made a real difference. If there'd been more people there, everyone would have been dancing like crazy. Or like Little Punk.
Varde, a Norwegian instrumental act were on next with a pretty tripped
out performance, before Triple Smash tore into their set of
instrumental rock. This was Triple Smash's last gig in Shanghai for a
while - they're heading off on tour to promote their new EP - but
they'll no doubt be back in the new year.
Boojii were next and played a solid set, but this wasn't really their crowd unfortunately. Interestingly, they were sporting a new line-up - Sun Ye (who had his tux on last night) has now switched to bass, while Han Han, his replacement at the Modern Sky Festival, has taken over guitar duties.
That meant three quarters of the band returned to the stage moments later as Duck Fight Goose. Together with Panda, they played one of the strongest shows I've seen them play so far and really got people going. The crowd filled up a bit during their set too and this certainly helped the atmosphere.
That left Boys Climbing Ropes to close the night out with a typically upbeat performance, which featured a new song. They'd been on top form a couple of weeks back on the big stage at Mao, but seemed perfectly happy to be back in the slightly more humble surroundings of YYT, Morgan knocking clouds of dust from the ceiling by bashing his bass and then a pair of drumsticks against the ceiling fans just above his head. You can't do that at Mao.
Boojii were next and played a solid set, but this wasn't really their crowd unfortunately. Interestingly, they were sporting a new line-up - Sun Ye (who had his tux on last night) has now switched to bass, while Han Han, his replacement at the Modern Sky Festival, has taken over guitar duties.
That meant three quarters of the band returned to the stage moments later as Duck Fight Goose. Together with Panda, they played one of the strongest shows I've seen them play so far and really got people going. The crowd filled up a bit during their set too and this certainly helped the atmosphere.
That left Boys Climbing Ropes to close the night out with a typically upbeat performance, which featured a new song. They'd been on top form a couple of weeks back on the big stage at Mao, but seemed perfectly happy to be back in the slightly more humble surroundings of YYT, Morgan knocking clouds of dust from the ceiling by bashing his bass and then a pair of drumsticks against the ceiling fans just above his head. You can't do that at Mao.
This was one of the best shows that I've seen in a long time. From crowd reactions I'd say that Triple Smash, Duck Fight Goose and Boys Climbing Ropes were the crowd favourites - particularly of the non-YYT regulars. I know for sure some new DFG fans left the gig that night.
J.