Shanghaiist: Rock lives on at Live Bar

Michal

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:20:39 +0800

Did anyone else see the show? Carsick Cars were really good.

Micah

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 11:44:56 +0800

BTW, here's the schedule for the ARK: http://www.ark-lh.com/chinese/info.html In my opinion, bands that play regularly and are worth seeing are The Herb, and Cold Fairyland (冷酷仙境). One timers are good too, but they usually involve a ticket that's even more expensive than the baseline RMB 40 soda, yikes.

Micah

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 11:41:18 +0800

Totally agree with Jeff, it takes some discrimination to make sure you hit a good night at the Ark. Monday November 7th should be interesting, as Beijing band Sound Fragment will be playing their second night in Shanghai at the Ark. Keep your eyes open for other players in the Shanghai indie scene, who might just happen to show up in the audience...

Jeff Rutsch

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 20:25:23 +0800

I hope I didn't sound caustic about slapping people who like the Ark, my intent was just a silly overstatement rather than a call to blows. Anyway my problem with the Ark is empirical: I hear the hype, but every time I've been there, some corny cover band is playing. I guess the yuppie surroundings, the cheesy lasers, and the expensive alcohol don't help, but I wouldn't be whining if I saw a good band playing there.

Micah

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 11:03:57 +0800

> Anybody who mentions the Ark gets slapped. Really? That's great! I didn't know there was enough discussion of music in Shanghai (beyond smartshanghai, and even there...) for there to be controversy and face-slapping. But I don't think it's Ark in particular that brings out that kind of passion, just the cookie cutter Filipino cover-band-style of music that the resident band plays that gets tiring and un-original. Otherwise, their sound-system plus stage are probably the best small venue for rock in Shanghai, and they book some pretty cool bands every once in a while. Off-topic here, but check out the tagline that the latest user to del.icio.us Shanghaiist attached to the site: 丫是一上海外博，老是说些不利民族团结的话，我关注着。 (adsotrans, go!) Hopefully this dude doesn't work for a certain Firewall...

Brad

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 10:00:35 +0800

I'm sorry if the review wasn't clear -- Queensea Big Shark is not a cover band, but the few covers they played were good. What's wrong with Ark? If you want to hear good music, go to every show you can, support the local bands, and maybe in a few years the scene will have developed enough that there's more than one or two concerts a month.

Jeff Rutsch

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 00:52:26 +0800

Going out to Fudan to see a covers band gets a wildly positive review? What's a music fan to do in Shanghai? Anybody who mentions the Ark gets slapped.