No GigShanghai this week -- but two glorious gigs

With the GigShanghai guys attending a combined five to seven gigs a week, being from Austin, and having terrific taste, please take this next statement very, very seriously:

Last night, we separately witnessed two of the best gigs we’ve seen in a long, long time -- and the good news is that they’re both playing again.

We'll start with Jet Echo, who played GigLive at BonBon last night. Admittedly, when bright-red-haired Ripley sat down, lit an incense stick and started going on about learning the Indonesian drum technique at Burning Man back in 2002, part of us cringed at the thought of being forced to listen to … well, Indonesian-drum-influenced-Burning-Man music -- but dear God, did they take all of us for a ride. Jet Echo is all of a two-man group -- but after watching Kiwi Al Hell (guitar and vox) use the entire front half of the stage, and Ripley’s sweat from beating that African drum like it stole something, it makes sense. They called it “space rock”, but we think that simply doesn’t do it justice (and makes it sound like Jared Leto's shit band). Combine Roger Waters and Neil Peart, add acid and Red Bull and you might touch the surface. They play again on Saturday night at Live Bar. This is simply a show not to miss.

Speaking of Live Bar, Brad (the other GigShanghai guy and new owner of the bar) seemed to be texting “What a fucking show” at the same time we were -- seeing how his venue was graced with the Dirty Three last night. “Packed to capacity and the best night Live Bar has ever had” was the message we got at the end of the evening. If you don’t know the Dirty Three, know that Jet Echo's first words to us were “Can you tell us where they’re playing on Thursday?” That should tell you something. Again -- do not miss Dirty Three's second show tonight.

In other news … ah, fuck it -- it’s not nearly as interesting as the above, so we’ll truncate:

• Tanghui has a music license!!! As long as the band doesn’t have drums -- which, you know, should be easy to find.
• Toote6 brings Chapter 3 to Fabrique

You know what? It’s all right there (points to the right side of this webpage) under Public Calendar. Just use that. Or click here.

Per GigShanghai this week -- no show, seeing how Brad remembered to grab his computer and passport when the fire started, but not that little interface of ours that let’s us podcast from anywhere. Will be back next week.

Photo of The Dirty Three by Sarah Vossler
Photo of Jet Echo by Artic Sounds