Cui Jian at JZ: This guy's got something to his name

Lyrics to “Nothing to My Name” (一无所有) were already echoing in our head when we passed through the door of JZ Club on Monday night for Cui Jian's show:

我曾经问个不休
你何时跟我走
可你却总是笑我
一无所有
I have asked you endlessly,
When will you go with me?
But you always laugh at me with,
Nothing to my name

The place was packed, mostly with Chinese in their 20s and 30s. We saw just a few foreign faces scattered throughout the crowd. Were they curious about who the hell Cui Jian was? Or were they fans like us? We couldn’t miss the opportunity to see the "godfather of Chinese rock" — his songs helped us learn Chinese in high school.

The crowd was excited, and amid all the excitement we managed to make our way up to the front. At 10 pm, a rumour came from behind us. Cui Jian and his musicians were actually walking their way through the crowd to the stage (or at least they were trying to). They finally made it, and the the concert started — two hours non-stop of old and new songs, of excitement, of people jumping and singing the lyrics they knew by heart, of encores, and of excellent performances by the jazz musicians accompanying the rock god (especially the two drummers).

我要给你我的追求
还有我的自由
可你却总是笑我
一无所有
I want to give you my dreams,
And give you my freedom.
But you always laugh at me with,
Nothing to my name.

In the end, a trumpeter named Andy came on the stage to join the band as a guest, and the results were fantastic. It was a wonderful show — Cui Jian gave everything and really set the place on fire. Like in his song, we just want to tell him:

噢---你这就跟我走!
Ohhh….
Just go with me now!

Also on Shanghaiist
Video of Cui Jian performing at JZ Club last night
Cui Jian to play live at JZ Club, Jan. 29

More pictures on Flickr.