I've never warmed to the new Yugong Yishan, I'm afraid. Partly, perhaps, it suffers unfairly from nostalgic comparisons to the old - much smaller, much grungier - Yugong (and, far back at the dawn of history, owner Lu Zhiqiang's first music club, the tiny and super-grungy Loupe Chante). But it is a cavernous, charmless space (and somewhat overlit for a rock club) - it always seems deserted unless there are at least a couple of hundred people in there. And it suffers from a truly terrible acoustic too. Chatter - and the constant clanking of dead beer bottles - from the bar booms down the room and can be an unwelcome distraction even during a fairly loud show; the background noise can completely overwhelm anything quieter - acoustic shows are pretty much impossible there. After various experiments with the decor, they've finally got up some heavy velvet drapes which soften the bright, rattly echo slightly - but it's still not a good space for music. The sound system doesn't seem that great either: they have a mixing-desk that looks as though it should be on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, but they don't usually seem to have anyone around who knows how to operate it! But even if all the knobs were tweaked to maximal effect, I think that high, high ceiling would still squelch the sound.
I think just about every single gig I've gone to there has disappointed (even Charlie Musselwhite, at the start of the year - although that was mainly down to the fact that we'd already had over two hours of great music from two support bands before the great man came on stage, and so were a bit bluesed out), and I now try to avoid the place as much as possible (so - expect it to win 'Music Club of the Year' awards from the undiscerning readerships of all the expat mags!). I figure Des and the boys will forgive me missing one of their gigs. They'll be playing all the other venues in town over the next few weeks, and I know it will be much more fun to catch them at MAO or 2 Kolegas.
Last night there was a rival attraction anyway, the excellent Ningxia folk rockers Buyi - also celebrating a new CD release - at MAO Live House.
Now, MAO is everything that the new Yugong, sadly, is not. The space is pretty much ideal in its dimensions for a small-to-medium-sized rock club. The lights are low, and the walls are black - so it can feel reasonably full even with quite a small crowd. With a big crowd - and last night, it was very big - it gets properly sweaty. And the acoustics and the sound system are impeccable. (Also, it's barely half as far away from my apartment as Yugong; and it's right over the road from my beloved Pool Bar.)
The one gripe I have with MAO is their programming policy. Sometimes they have ridiculously long bills, with more acts than anyone could possibly want to see in one night. On other occasions, well.... there's only one act - which isn't really enough. The advance information about who's on is rarely entirely reliable. And you certainly can't expect there to be any logic in the running order.
Also, rather weirdly, they do seem to be a bit obsessive-compulsive about starting on time (Beijing's other music clubs seldom get going within an hour or so of the advertised start time). I wonder if it's the influence of their Japanese investors, one of the major speaker manufacturers? They're a very orderly people, the Japanese, aren't they? Now, I would probably rather appreciate this unaccustomed punctuality - if I could only get used to it. But I'm so used to rock shows in this town starting late that MAO regularly catches me out with its prompt kick-offs.
So, last night..... well, it appeared that Buyi had started on the dot of 9.30 - if not a little earlier. There was no support. And they played only one rather short set. Jeez! I arrived shortly after 10pm, and only caught the last song-and-a-bit of their main set. Thank heavens for the encores, at least.
The 20 minutes of it I saw was a cracking show. Their statuesque lady bassist is looking even more lovely than ever, her hair now grown almost to waist-length. And the audience was packed with long-time fans who sang along enthusiastically with their favourite songs.
I do, however, feel somewhat short-changed.
And they didn't even have any CDs on sale! (Well, maybe they'd all sold out; but there was no evidence of any having been there in the first place.)
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