Rock lives on at Live Bar

With Harley's Bar accused of stealing equipment and Hong Doudou no longer interested in hosting live music, the Shanghai underground rock scene has moved from Xujiahui to Yangpu District. Last night's No Beijing concert marked the official opening of Live Bar, a medium-sized venue in a quiet neighborhood near Fudan University. More than a hundred people, mostly students, showed up -- which was surprising considering the lackluster turnout at previous events.

Drawing inspiration from Brian Eno's 1978 compilation, No New York, No Beijing brought together three of Beijing's best new bands for a concert tour and compilation CD. The Shanghai show opened with Snapline, an experimental noise/electronic band that really seemed to get the audience excited, but lost a little momentum when the lead singer crouched on the stage and played samples off a minidisc for an entire song. Next up was Queensea Big Shark (后海大鲨鱼), who turned out to be the highlight of the evening, thanks to singer Fu Han's impressive swagger and rocking covers of the Talking Heads and B52s. By the time the Carsick Cars took the stage the crowd had thinned out, and the combination of a sound system turned to 11 and some playful roughhousing by a few spiky-haired punks in studded leather jackets resulted in one of the neighbors calling the police.

In the end, the concert had everything required for a successful party: the place was packed, the music rocked, copious amounts of alcohol were consumed, and finally the cops showed up. Did any Shanghaiist readers check out the event? Let us know what you thought in a comment.

Shanghai Streets has photos from the No Beijing concert on flickr.

Live Bar is located at Kunming Rd #721, near Tongbei Rd (现场酒吧，杨浦区昆明路721号通北路口)