This interesting review of a Shanghai New Year’s Eve came the Radar’s way this week. Author Louis Yu is a Chinese born (and raised) DJ on Canadian University Radio (CFUV 101.9 FM). He pays special attention to the emerging Chinese music scene during his programs. In the name of research, Louis went along to welcome in the New Year with one of Shanghai best and most enduring bands, Cold Fairyland. What he saw, and subsequently wrote about, says much about the continuing struggles for Shanghai’s emerging underground. Read for yourself:
Here’s a story, read on, this is my bitter experience at the cold fairyland NYE show So I saw cold Fairyland on NYE, I looked on the Internet and saw that they are playing and I thought “oh cool, at lease I get to see one decent Chinese indie band during my trip to China”. This turned out to be one of the worst concerts I’ve ever saw, and not because of the band at all…
The show was held at “the Melting Pot”. I didn’t know where “the Melting Pot” was and it turned out to be one of those bars on the bar street so right away I was approached by hookers and pimps and people trying to get me to go to their bars instead [ED: the Melting Pot on Hengshan Lu]. I went into the melting pot and asked the waiter” is cold fairyland playing?” “uh?” “band, is there a band?” “yeah, yeah band…” “what band is playing” “I don’t know, new, new band” “do I have to pay for a ticket?” “no, no free”. I sat down and it took me a while to clue in that cold fairyland was just some bar band that night.
Since that there was no cover charge, I had to order a beer (I don’t drink). There was another band playing on stage at the moment. That band was horrible, think John Mayer, but with this 70 year old dude wearing a gold bucket hat trying to rap on top of John Mayer”. During their set the old dude kept going into the the crowd and yelled with extreme enthusiasm “say yoooo !!” (nothing from the crowd), “say yo, yo !” (silence). “Oh my god, this can’t be an opening band, I must be in the wrong place” I thought, but I stuck around for another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the old dude said “thank you, this is our set (thank god), Cold Fairyland is coming up next..” so I thought “oh good, they are playing “. By then another couple walked into the bar and did the same song and dance with the waiter (“is cold fairyland playing?” “who?”) so I had to tell them “yeah they’re coming up”. I looked around the bar, I don’t know from looking at the attendees how many people knew of cold fairyland before the show, I think not many.
Cold Fairyland came out and they were pretty good, better than I expected actually. Perhaps the best part of the show is that the band played games with the audience and gave them little home-made gifts made by each band member. Which is like the fucking sweetest thing ever. Except… So the old dude, every chance he got, he tried to go on stage, at one point he tried to add rap on top of cold fairyland’s music. Then he tried to continuously participate in the band’s game, until Lin Di (the Pipa player and the leader of the band) said “no you had enough”, and he proceeded to tell his friends to go on stage and participate in the game.
For one of the games he was asked to give his fav number, in which he said “oh my fav number, beside cold fairyland’s promotional number (WTF) is the number 69″, and then he looked around the room and laughed proudly. At that point I wanted to throw my glass at him. Another game he was asked what his fav animal was by which he said “pussy…”, and another one, he finally won the game, and the band member gave him a gift, in which he pulled out a condom from his pocket and gave it back to the band member… So by now my eyeball’s rolled back into the back of my skull.
The NYE countdown starts, the 70 year old dude proceeded to go on stage, grabbed one of the Chinese lady and said “This is my wife Ruby, she owns this club, everybody says thank you Ruby”, and then he gave the lady a big wet kiss (and the lady gave one of those look like “oh fuck yeah I married a white guy, jealous?”) So now everything made sense, the classic Caucasian man meets/ marries/ shows off much younger Chinese woman”. Then Ruby, grabbed the microphone “everybody, every Tuesday night the melting pot have Salsa night”, now my Salsa teacher’s going on stage to give everybody’s a lesson. So some random female, went on stage, and danced Salsa with Ruby. Cold Fairyland is then forced to take a break.
Call me crazy but I don’t want my indie rock interlaced with two women dancing Salsa, so that was when I left, I was then repeatedly hassled by pimps, hookers; they followed me for the next four blocks. I then walked for another 20 minutes till I got a taxi. “This is horrible” I thought, “Clueless, people are clueless, art is hopeless in China….nobody fucking get it”. I fucking whined to every one of my friends on facebook that night “worst night ever”.
The next morning I thought of the movie “ghostworld” in which Steve Buscemi’s character Seymore wanted to catch his fav legendary blues singer at a bar, only to have his evening ruined by the Dave Matthews band sound-a-like “blues hammer” (if you’ve seen the movie you’ll know what I’m talking about) The very same day, at noon, I had lunch with Tyson Meade of the Chainsaw kittens (a legend indeed), and I told him the story. He said “oh this sounds like when Husker Du first started out, and when we (Tyson’s first band, Defenestration) first started out, the bar wouldn’t even want us because we didn’t play covers, and all bars wanted bands that play U2 or Thompson twins covers, so we played at just birthday parties and shit, and you know Sonic Youth played countless of these type of bar shows before they finally pushed their music through….”
oh, ok, when you put it this way, I don’t feel so bad…. so the moral of the story is: hang in there cold fairyland, hang in there..
Ha! You didn’t wait to see Noc (that’s the guy’s name) fail to count the new year down properly. He isn’t 70. He’s 40-something. And he isn’t married to Ruby who owns the bar – that was a joke. He is married to a Chinese girl but not Ruby. Sorry you had a bad night.
And I agree…. Cold Fairyland rock it.
If Louis Yu knew so much about Chinese music he wouldn’t have known to go somewhere other than Hengshan Road to see a band. Anybody who’s lived in Shanghai for more than five minutes knows that Hengshan is about a) hookers, b) cover bands, and c) dancing girls. It’s been that way for more than a decade. Hearing Mr. Yu bitch about the hookers spoiling his search for indie cred on Hengshan Road is a bit like somebody bitching about the hookers in NYC’s Times Square circa 1975. Meanwhile, elsewhere in town, especially out by Fudan, there are plenty of indie bands in clubs that DON’T have hookers out front. Louis should do his research next time.
You don’t drink??!
Very funny story, but also a very anti-climactic night for you. I agree that there needs to be a lot more live music (classical, folk, pop, indie, rock… anything!) here.
from, a laowai in Suzhou
Hey Bob
Appreciate what you are saying, but Louis is only in Shanghai (from Canada) for a short time, and wanted to see Cold Fairyland, who are certainly one of Shanghai’s more accomplished bands. His point was more “Why do bands (and bands as good as Cold Fairyland) have to resort to playing shows where
(a) no-one really cares
(b) the venue owners just don’t really get how to present the entertainment
than why are there hookers and pimps on Hengshan Lu”
His story was meant to be a positive shout out to some great musicians.
And anyway, it’s kinda funny, which is why we posted…
So you got indie rock, a little Salsa AND some standup comedy?
Best New Year’s Eve(r)!
Yawn, if you’d read my blog (no shame from me there) you’d have known all about the Melting Pot bars.
Old old news.
Ah that was a bad night indeed, it is a shame, but some clarification does need to be made, especially since you were just a visitor and would not have known a few things.
Melting pot has two locations, the one you went is the newest locale. The first was in a funky, really local area and was the hang out of quite a few cool bands, Ruby the owner always did a lot to foster talent of not only local but foriegn musicians as well. Their open jam nites had musicians from all over doing very great things.
Im sure she oppened the new location as an attempt to offer something that Hengshan road doesnt offer, live, good local and foriegn bands. Every other bar on the street is packed with bar girls and Phillipino cover bands, the fact that Cold Fairland was there, makes it totally unique for the whole damn street. But obviously some kinks in the service, which is typical cluelessness and allowing a pal to take over the stage, is not cool. I guess to she is trying to expand the bars offering by having a salsa night but salsa dancing after a rock band, yeah an odd fit. But then again it is called the Metling pot. Hey don’t give up though. There are good live music places in Shanghai, just don’t expect too much from Hengshan lu.
I guess I have to follow up this post a little. My specialty on my show is just general indie rock. Since that I am Chinese born (and raise) I am very interested in the indie movement in China. However, I do live in Canada as a full time academic researcher so no I didn’t know that melting pot is not of the best venue t go see a band.
Also, as someone that enjoy going to show, I really don’t drink (the best I can do is one beer) and I still havn’t got used to the akwardness if people approach me on the street so I was very uncomfortable on that street yes. I guess my point was that I was a little shot that I had to go catch a indie band on such a street in such a bar. Everything is documented as I encounter these types of situation for the first time, I don’t really live in China anymore.
Yes, the story is a little bitter, and this is mainly a cry out for more people to care and provide support to the wonderful indie bands in China, because I think it is important to foster art in China. Cool?
PS Poor Louis, not his fault.
Next time you’re in town, you can check out what is playing at Yuyintang. They’re just dedicated to live indie music. Actually, I was turned off to them because the first couple times I went there people were really rude to me — the boss has gone on record in a local magazine saying that foreigners have basically ruined the live music scene in Shanghai, and I’m foreign, so maybe that’s why. But, then again, it could have been that I just ran into some rude employees. Anyway, that was a couple years ago at their old location, so maybe things are different now. It IS a good place to see local bands, and now it’s located right next to a qing gui station so it’s easy to get there.
There was also a place called Live Bar that was in the vicinity of Fudan University, but I remember hearing it either had financial trouble or had moved — if it’s still around, I recommend going. The owner is a great guy and I saw some good bands there.
MF, you’re thinking of 021 out by Fuday, which moved sometime middle of last year I think, but is still going strong at the new location.
Live Bar is out in the southeastern part of Yangpu, at Kunming and Tongbei Lus, and is still going strong, although they sometimes go a while between shows.
Yuyintang of course is the heart of the scene. Zhang Haisheng is definitely not “anti-foreigner” – I say this as a foreigner who is good friends with him. Rather, he probably shares the criticism that a lot of foreigners go to concerts in Shanghai not for the music but to party, and get very drunk and pushy and act like they own the place. To the point where Chinese – and some foreign – audience members feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
Melting Pot is an awkward juxtaposition of forces. Shanghainese rocker and music director Wang Hao keeps the original location an alright music venue, but is counterbalancing the business plans of Taiwanese owner Vincent Hsioh. I guess Ruby is his wife, or sister? She seems to push things in the Taiwanese caberet direction, and when I’ve spoken with her she seemed to know and care little for the music aspect of it. The Taikang Lu location has been great for nurturing young bands, giving them a place to refine their game in a more casual atmosphere than a “real” concert. The branches – Hengshan, Pudong and Hong Kong – were never intended to replicate the rock/folk orientation of Taikang, but rather as cover/jazz bars. I was surprised that a veteran group like Cold Fairyland would agree to play at the Hengshan Lu location, but maybe they just want a platform to goof off, in contrast to their very intense, serious “real” concerts. Unfortunately, the Shanghai music scene is pretty informal and unprofessional, and bands don’t realize that doing goof-offy cover gigs like that really hurts their reputations and “name brand”s.
Sorry, “Fudan”. Also, 021′s website is http://www.shanghairock.org and Live Bar’s is http://www.chinalivebar.com. Granted, both are pretty flakey about updating their sites, so you’re best off calling to check show schedules.
Hi Lisa, the band (cold fairyland) was actually great that night. Also I thought they were sweethearts for bringing gifts and give it to the crowd. What other “bar” band can we think of that do that. I don’t really want this article in anyway seen as criticism to cold fairyland.
Also I appriciate all the suggestion at locations to catch good concerts. I guess realistically I was there for 3 days near NYE and no bands were playing and when I saw cold fairyland (a name that I love) of course I jumped to the chance. I had to look up the location and I didn’t know what I was in for. I think anyone would have done the same in a city they are not familiar in.
On principle, I really don’t want this to turn into a location debate anymore. The point I am trying to make is that it makes my heart break seeing one of China’s best indie band playing in environment such as this. A band as good as cold fairyland shouldn’t resort to playing as a bar band in places (shocking to a first time goer) as this (or I don’t think they should, again, the last paragraph described when I talked to Tyson Meade and he told me a lot of great band started out like that). A lot of indie bands in the west have great resources to their disposal, I think cold fairyland should be doing music full time, they should work on their material in a comfortable recording studio, they should be allowed to concentrate on music full time. Again, this is a cry out for people to really cherish and help out with art in China
Hey, did I read this right? What the h*ll was Tyson Meade of the Chainsaw Kittens doing in SH????
Wikipedia: “Born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Meade currently resides in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, where he teaches English.”
sorry I didn’t mean it to sound like this big secret, I just didn’t know if Tyson want me to say things about him in public
since I didn’t consult with Tyson. Anyway, he’s having quite the life in SH right now, you can go to Tyson’s web site (www.tysonmeade.com I think) and read his blog, about his life in SH. Cheers
Dude, why are you whining so much? I was there at the show that night and yes, Hengshan Road can be a p-i-t-a with all the hawkers and hookers. That’s just part of the scene but to complain about a music bar being in this type of area is kind of naive for someone who considers themselves a fan of Live Music.
Most places that I’ve been to to see bands (I’m from the USA)are usually in the worst areas of town. But then you trash Ruby’s for it without knowing the real details. She is one of the hero’s in Shanghai regarding live music/musicians. She does her best to bring an ecclectic group of music/musicians together at her venues. Point in case Noc, (the old guy you refer to) Being Chinese I guess you still don’t get it either. You’re at a show on NYE (on Hengshan Road nonetheless) not the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. I’ve been with him at all Chinese gigs where nobody shows any emotion, he’s just doing what he does best to get the crowd going. Plus he was invited as the MC that night. I thought it kind of pretentious of that chick from CFL telling him “you’ve had enough”
Cold Fairyland where good, I wouldn’t say great, maybe not my type of music. All are great mucisians but I just don’t buy into this China made Indie crap in that just because it comes from China that we should pay special attention to it. I always thought that if the music was good then it spoke for itself regardless of where it originates.
Don’t mis-understand this post as being hostile. It’s not indended that way, its just that I feel that you really don’t understand the Shanghai music scene and you might want to take off you CFL #1 Fan hat when trying to report on a show.
Shanghai is not Beijing when it comes to live music. There are so many fickle consumers in SHA that you need to try to cover all your bases when promoting a music bar. Plus, it’s a business and no matter who plays that night, the goal is to fill the seats.
Thanks to Ruby for at least trying and thanks to Noc for being himself and having fun. With music these days it seems that more people are trying to find the right “look” to make money and fame than to just play music and have fun. CFL kind of looks like one of those marketing executive put together bands to me.
Admin, appreciate your unfortunate reality and input as seen only from the span of your nose and instantaneous surroundings, Cold Fairyland are one of the preeminent idnie bands in Shanghai and Ruby one of the loveliest people, im disappointed you relate what I do to John Mayer , how insulting to John and music!(best you stick to what you know_CM) What were you thinking?, go well my friend
This thread is still going!
I think people are confused about a couple of things. I mean, what is a music scene?
When we talk about ‘the scene’ usually we mean bands and performers who create their own new material. They make strictly original material.
You cannot include bar cover bands or glorified KTV in that. Even skilled Jazz Musicians don’t count unless they are gigging their own new material. That’s all a very different scene. I dunno, lets call it the cabaret entertainment scene or whatever.
If you understand this, then you understand what helps or hinders a ‘scene’. There could be 100 bars all putting on live music, but if it’s all cover bands, musak or DJ’s then it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to the scene.
Yuyintang are the heart of the scene because they have a venue style set up where the focus is on the bands. Also, places like 0093 rehearsal spaces are vital. Both these organisations promote new bands at the grass roots level and are involved in the community. You could see 20 different bands through YYT in a month as well as good shows by more experienced bands.
Of course, the situation is not ideal and many now-famous bands all over the world had to play a bunch of wierd shows when they started etc etc …but – no one should be talking about either of the Melting Pot bars or Ruby as some kind of scene supporter or saviour. That’s nuts talk, that is.
Candidly, I’m not that aware of the Chinese indie music scene. But I do find Tserin’s, an American, assessment of Louis’ experience interesting.
Tserin seems to be willing to discount Louis experience attending a show in China by a Chinese band because Louis is Chinese (ignoring the fact that Louis identifies himself as being Canadian) . Tserin’s implication seems to be that had Louis been American, he would be better able to appreciate the experience. Fascinating.
Being ignorant of what indie music is suppose to mean, I am tempted to assume from Tserin that it means a process of conforming to an American, or Western, cultural experience or expectation. I’m not sure if Cold Fairyland would share this view of their music – that is being essentially an imitation of something American.
MJ,
No, not at all I just pointed out that I was from the USA where most live band bars are in the most seedy locations and that Louis being a Chinese who moved to Canada and through his native Chinese instincts might have been looking for love in all the wrong places.
C’mon, this guy is so infatuated with Cold Fairy land to the point of being mistaken for an Asian teeny-bopper girl day dreaming about Andy Lau. How dare they soil CFL’s image by playing in a bar that is located near hookers and hawkers and how dare they allow that other band to play…Are you kidding me?
Maybe its my American sense of satire/cynicism that mistakenly led you to believe that I am ultra nationalistic, I’m not! I’m an Asian-American born in Philly 3rd generation American (Philadelphia -maybe that’s where the cynicism comes from) I’ve lived in China for over 5 years am fluent in Chinese culture/language.
If guilty of anything, then I am guilty of judging this guy based on the model of other American guys. In other words, c’mon dude get a life and stop being an adult male groupie of some band named Cold Fairy land….
And to the other poster, Rubie may be a lot of things in your opinion but she hires bands to play at her bars and pays them for it, thus supporting the live music scene in Shanghai. Maybe other places do it better or not, that’s just personal preference. But to go out and hire a band gives them visibility and a few bucks in their pocket. In my opinion, that counts for something.
Music is music, there is a difference between cover bands and Noc’s band. At least Noc performs the music from his own interpretation not just the way it sounds on the CD. Again, whether you like it or not is just personal interpretation.
Most of the paying people at the bar that night where there to see Noc. I didn’t see many paying customers there to see CFL, Louis included. Did he order anything substantial to support the bar that finacially supports the band? No, he just bitched about how his beloved CFL where too good to play at Rubie’s that night. Again, very Chinese; order 1 drink and take up space at a business. Call me an ugly American if you will but at least, I paid my money to suport a band that I like…Can you say Waaaay – Ohhh – Noc sure can