A prisoner of the weather

Though I teased The Weeble for being feeble on Friday for declining gig options on grounds of their likely sweatiness, in fact I concurred with him.

I'd really been looking forward to the launch of SUBS' new CD, Queen of F***ing Everything, at MAO Live last Friday, but the suffocating humidity we've been suffering for the past week or so ultimately deterred me from going along to the show. MAO has slightly better ventilation than many live music venues (which is to say some, rather than none), but it gets like an oven with any significant number of bodies in there. On this night, it was scarcely even tolerable to step inside for a few seconds to check out the merchandise. Dozens of punters (the majority of them, in fact, members of other Beijing bands who'd come along to support their friends) were sprawled on the sidewalk outside, wearily fanning themselves and chugging cold beers, drenched in sweat before the show had even started.

I had been contemplating alternative gigs at smaller, less crowded, and perhaps better air-conditioned venues, such as What, VA Bar, and Jianghu, but..... in these conditions, even a short walk becomes deeply discouraging. The next night, I made what is usually a brief and invigorating excursion to check out a few of the venues closest to where I live.... and I really began to think that I would not make it back: the 25-minute return journey seemed to be taking hours, and I was wretchedly exhausted and soaking wet by the time I finally staggered through the door.

Nope, while the weather stays like this, I think I'm going to be holing up at home with the DVDs. I hope there aren't going to be any 'must see' events in the next 5 or 6 weeks; if there are, I'm going to have to miss them.