Results tagged “tanghui”

Just when you think that everything is starting to turn rosy for Shanghai's live music scene, something comes along that hits you like a kick in the teeth.

The sign on the gate that leads to Tang Hui on Huating Lu reads "停止营业" (ting zhi ying ye or "No longer open for business"). Yep, it's true — the new Tang Hui failed to last a year. The bar and supposed music venue closed last week, Tang Hui general manager Morry Morgan confirmed via SMS:

There are a lot of tempting events coming up this weekend. But please don't invite us, we're saving up for Kenny G.

When the new Tang Hui opened back in May, most people were pretty excited. A legit live music venue in the heart of downtown Puxi (and 20 kuai bottles of Xinjiang Black Beer). Things looked promising for a little while, but then shit happened (and they never once had Xinjiang Black Beer available when we were there). Last May, we never thought we'd be reading an international wire story about a dating website holding a pillow fight party at Tang Hui, but that's what happened yesterday (the story didn't mention Tang Hui as the venue, oddly). Tang Hui's website still says it's the "best live music bar" (and we wish that were true, since it is right down the street from Shanghaiist headquarters), but anyone who likes live music knows there are much better options. We're not even sure if Tang Hui is trying to be a live music venue anymore. While the website proclaims "live music is back," it's in reference to a gig on Nov. 10 (they are also pimping "hard core salsa music") and a look at Upcoming.org shows no gigs on the horizon. Let's face it — it just isn't easy being a live music venue in Shanghai. Is Shuffle Bar still around?

Apparently someone up there really likes us.

Tonight, we were all set to show our out-of-town visitors that hip-hop is alive and well in Shanghai. The tide, we reasoned, was beginning to shift, and if the previously moribund live music scene could find its second wind, why not a bona fide community of true hip-hop heads? Of course, much of this speculation hinged on the continued growth of So Much Soul, the weekly hip-hop event sprung into action by the Lab, and hosted by everyone’s favorite hole-in-the-wall that isn’t really a hole-in-the-wall, Tang Hui.

We received an email yesterday from Fabrique telling us about a "re-opening" party on Saturday, and we wondered, How many re-openings can one club handle? But this most recent incarnation looks a little more interesting than previous ones. Zooma, formerly of the old Tang Hui and formerly of the new Tang Hui, is now the GM at Fabrique, which will now be known as 4 Live (same name as the party held at the club not too long ago). Here's the musical line-up for the re-re-re-opening party: Blue Garden, Honeys, Crystal Butterfly and Zooma himself. No invitation is needed for the party and there in no cover charge. Doors open at 8 pm and there's an open bar from 8 to 10 pm. The email we received said going forward 4 Live plans to have live bands before 1 am and "underground electro music" afterward. We tend not to get too excited about such things because the live music scene in Shanghai changes so frequently, but this at least sounds promising. It's a good venue in a non-residential area that is used to music and crowds. And with his connections, Zooma could potentially bring in some solid live acts. Let's keep our fingers crossed -- and hope they start adding their events to our Public Calendar.

Good

So Much Soul is the brainchild of the hardworking folks at The Lab, which some of you avid readers might remember us unfairly labeling “too small” a few weeks back. In fact, it’s a great resource for aspiring turntablists and those interested in hip-hop as an artform—in all its ragged and resplendent glory. Get familiar. As for Tang Hui, if you’re at all like us and tired of seeing salsa lessons every Thursday night with nary a soul in sight, it’s a refreshing change, and one, we might add, that precludes your presence at Guandii or Attica, venues hopelessly in need of savvy DJs, rather than salacious ones. SMS is a much-needed antidote to top-40-itis, featuring hip-hop, funk, soul, and reggae by people who know their Blackalicious from their Black Eyed Peas, and in the kind of venue that favors intimate, chilled-out vibes over mountains of bubbly and freak-a-leek histrionics. Scratchmasters DJ V-Nutz, Mr. Tsang and Fortune will be on hand, as well as mic-wreckers RedStar, and a host of cats hungry to show off their freestyling skills. Think of the famed Back to the Roots parties (also hosted by the Lab), except on a weekly, not monthly basis.

Also scheduled to perform are fun electronica outfit from Spain The Pinker Tones (bottom video above), local rock stalwarts Crystal Butterfly and Zooma himself. Will be good to see him on stage again -- we haven't seen him perform in a while. Starts at 10 pm, tickets 60 RMB.

Ah, the weekend is here again, and Shanghaiist has some big plans for the two day respite. Pier One? So spring 2006. Elite Bar? Been there, and what a disaster (more on that in another post, perhaps). Tang Hui? Well, now that live acts are gone …

…and of course, what post is complete without (more) shameless self-promotion?

This morning, via Micah's blog, we learned of this posting on Rockself.com:

We will not find wa … ah fuck it.

To be completely honest, every time a “loud, angry” band comes down from Beijing, we can’t help but compare it to a line from Nick Hornby’s famous novel High Fidelity in which he pens:

GigShanghai: Robots, poems and bagpipes

There is a catch of course, 40 RMB to get in to La Fabrique and drinks only stay cheap till 11 pm, but, that's a better deal than just about anywhere else for those not in the city on expense accounts, and, once you've sunk a few cheap ones, you can get on down and enjoy one of the few nights in Shanghai where the music being played is not the usual cover band guff, commercial hip-hop or other cheesy shite pervading the scene here.

We weren't expecting much -- just maybe to hear these guys play their dueling guitars, spy on some hipster chicks and down a few Xinjiang Black Beers. What we got was one of the worst cover bands we have seen in China (that is saying a lot) and a crowd that looked like we had perhaps happened upon the 25-year reunion of the Shanghai International School. (There actually was a party there, we think. We saw a sign that said "Belgium, Second Floor.")

GigShanghai: West Virginia house, German metal and ass beer

GigShanghai: The scoop on the city's live music scene

Where do you stand in the 021 Bar/Shrock.cn controversy? Shanghaiist has been light on the scene for a while and wasn't there for the height of the drama, but by reviewing the thread linked above you can get the general idea: a run-down bar in the Yangpu district run by some "rock immigrants" from Xiamen, has the support of local favorites San Huang Ji, over-enthusiastically and haphazardly organizes concerts, sometimes announcing bands who later deny that they had been contracted to play.

Aegean occupies the villa vacated by Cantonese restaurant Secret Garden. The location was also one of the spots considered for the new Tang Hui. And it may or may not be a good place to buy stuff for expectant mothers.

We started out the night getting one of those haircuts that looks atrocious and sends you rummaging through your closet for a good hat. It took us forever to get a cab too, and we might have lost the one we did catch if the cop that yelled at us for almost jaywalking -- "过马路不看灯呀？" "Don't you look at the lights when you cross the road?" ... we pretended to not understand -- had decided to fine us. Getting our pictures shown in public would have been bad, especially since this was near Julu Lu -- could we ever have lived that down?

Since Shanghaiist has been accused of ruining things like the old Tang Hui, we thought we'd share with you the fruits of our actions -- the new, improved (?), definitely not at all dingy, gritty, divey, '50s-Motown-music-during-the-intermissions place on Xingfu Lu you that once knew and loved. Here's the rundown: Tang Hui has not only expanded and moved to a four-story villa on the corner of Huating Lu and Huaihai Lu (85 Huating Lu, just by the Changshu Lu subway station) but they've also expanded the concept -- there are now four floors and will thus feature simultaneous music (one act on floors 1-2, another on 3-4), so that if rock doesn't strike your fancy that night, you might be able to catch some electronic or more intimate (solo instrumentalist) performance instead. And while they're sticking with the mainland scene, expect them to book some overseas acts when they're in town.

Damn, it's already Wednesday and we are just getting around to last Friday's issue of SH magazine. We have been slightly critical of that publication in the past, but now find ourselves reaching for it on a regular basis. They seem to have found their niche and understand what people want out of an English-language weekly in Shanghai -- briefs, quick hits, short pieces that let you know what is new and happening in the city. Basically, they offer what is worth seeing, doing and trying. Some local mags -- well, one in particular -- just feel too bogged down with text. That may sound silly, but we doubt many of you turn to a Shanghai city magazine (or a city blog) if you are looking for a nice, long read. Anyway, SH is very "shitter friendly" -- and we honestly do mean that as a compliment.

We headed over to Shuffle Bar for the first time last weekend, and we have to say we were impressed. It's been described as "warehouse-y but clean," and that's about right. The atmosphere is raw enough that you can bring your indie-and-or-punk-rock friends without losing your cred, but it's also the kind of place where if you drop your jacket on the ground you probably won't have to throw it away. (They actually have a coat rack ... rock 'n roll with manners.) Shuffle Bar is one of the only places in this city dedicated to live music, and for that reason it deserves our support. They have shows -- mostly local bands -- nightly. We just hope the location (Xingfu Lu No. 137, 上海市幸福路137号 ... not really close to much of anything) doesn't hurt Shuffle's chances for success. But if Tang Hui could thrive out there, maybe Shuffle can, too.

For a city notoriously lacking in live music, last night Shanghai rocked. While we (along with headliners Another Kind of Light) weren't able to make it to the opening of Yuyintang's Music Warehouse, we did manage to catch local rock-with-Chinese-characteristics band Three Yellow Chicken at Shuffle before heading to Tang Hui's pre-re-opening party, Electro Town.

We just got this in our email this morning. Has Tang Hui gone electric?

• Are English-only signs in Shanghai discriminatory? Or is it just called knowing your customer base?
• Two new human bird flu cases in China. Threat said to be "massive." Will the Rolling Stones still come?
• Elizabeth II -- the world's oldest ocean liner, not the queen -- is headed to Shanghai this March.

Shanghaiist doesn't know much about emocore or nu-metal (can you be both at once?), but we decided to give local band Slit a listen while they were performing last night at Shuffle, a new music venue on Xingfu Lu, a stone's throw from where the old Tang Hui rock bar was. Shuffle just opened (on December 31 we believe), so there weren't too many patrons there, but that kind of suited us just as well since we hate crowds anyway. The place is decorated/designed in a minimalist warehouse way, and the peanuts are free and plentiful, and you can even throw the shells on the ground. Back to Slit -- we like the frontman's dark tortured artists thing, especially the crawling on the floor punctuated by epileptic fits. The music we thought catchy, if that's the word for this kind of thing -- the guitar riffs could be rousing and the singer's falsetto howls were eerily captivating -- but maybe we're getting too old for this stuff because it's hard for us, as audience members, to keep that buzz going when we have no idea what the lyrics are and are running low on whatever unnamed angst fuels this music. That said, we look forward to the day where this band gets a little more polished because we feel that while they aren't going to be the staple of our live music world (and that's just personal preference), they are a welcome injection of a little something different in what otherwise would be a scene of dreary sameness. Shuffle is going to have more acts of different genres, which we think a good idea, financially as well as "artistically". Definitely something to keep your eye on.