I finally ended my gig drought last night with my first trip up to the new Live Bar, where I saw Chaos Mind, The Fever Machine, Stegosarus?, Pairs and a surprise appearance from Yan Tiao. Actually, I thought the surprise guest was going to be Hang on the Box - I thought the girls were there and everyone was saying they were going to play, but they didn't, which was fine actually because Yan Tiao were really good. I got there a little late, missing Pairs, but arriving for the start of Stegosaurus?'s set. This was the first time I'd seen them in a long time, so I was glad to catch them. They were on good form, with their usual high energy levels and a solid set of songs - including some new ones that I hadn't seen live before - plus some extra special headgear.
The Fever Machine were up next, despite being the headliners on the bill. A lot of the crowd seemed to be there to see them and people were really into their set. Their track 'Dance with Deviance' is still available for free download right here by the way. That left Chaos Mind to play next who now have Levi (ex Mortal Fools) playing with them and were excellent.
Dan then took to the stage to announce that there would be another band who, as I mentioned, we all thought was going to be Hang on the Box. Instead two guys took to the stage, one on drums and one on guitar. And they were really good. Turns out this was Yan Tiao from Beijing.
As for the new Live Bar, it's a great little space. The size and layout are really good and there's a nice mezzanine/balcony overlooking the stage from the back of where the crowd would stand, a bit like D22 but at the other end of the room if you know what I mean. It works. It's actually a much better space than their old location on Kunming Lu, the only real problem being its accessiblity for those of us who live downtown. But then, as I've mentioned before, it's very close to the Wujiaochang area of town, which is a large-sized hub and in particular has a big student population, so while it might be a bit of a trek for fans/bands downtown, it's an excellent space for that part of town. There's going to be a couple of big shows up there in the next month or so (watch this space for more details nearer the time), so I recommend you get up there for them.
Chaos Mind slayed for sure. Their new line-up is probably the best to date.
Yan Tiao was also a great addition to the show; they're not online yet and don't have any demos, but the music was cool, sort of post, post-punk, angular guitar licks ala ATDI.
Michael from Yan Tiao (along with Josh from Pangbianr) is trying to do some new things in Beijing by building up a more organic scene. He was mentioning that people up north have become quite dis-interested in local music, partially because of over-exposure and too much too soon. I think he'll take his experience from Saturday's show back with him as an example of how an unpretentious and mixed genre scene can work.
The Fever Machine & Friends will be back at Live Bar on February 25th with some completely new bands in tow . . .
Hey, yeah, it was a super fun show. Thanks for showing up Jake, it's quite a trek out there. Anyway, HOTB was not there. I merely said from the stage that "The next song is dedicated to HOTB" because it kind of resembled their style, especially Yang Fan's guitar riffs. It'd be awesome if they came here, but yeah, it wasn't last Saturday.
Ah ok, I must have got confused with the Hang on the Box thing. Never mind, Yan Tiao were really good. It'll be interesting to see what impact they/Josh have up north - they've already been doing some great things up there.
It's actually not that much of a trek to Live Bar to be fair. I'm just lazy, plus I started my journey out in Gubei, so it felt further than it would be normally.
Overall, great show and definitely worth heading up there for. Great work guys
Thanks man. Yeah, I liked their stuff too, very Beijing-esque. They're nice, humble guys too. It really counts as a lot, in my opinion.
Yan Tiao are one of the best bands I have seen in the last few years. It's ace that there are bands like this floating about.