Results tagged “yunfengtheater”

George Benson and Al Jarreau this Saturday

It was inevitable. A week into the New Year and we are already saying goodbye to one of the city's few venues for underground bands. 4Live limped to a close last night after a year of struggling to make it promoting live music in the city of turntables (and laptops). Opening as a beacon of hope for those interested in the underground music scene the venue was plagued by internal management problems and an identity crisis that lead to its demise. Lucky for us that both Live Bar and Yuyintang are going strong with regular gigs, while Logo (despite a crap sound system) and the Dream Factory still hold random shows. Also rumored to be testing the live music waters is the Shelter. It seems that no matter how far under the ground you push it, the scene manages to survive.

This is a little old, but we have a feeling many of you haven't seen it yet. From what we have read and seen (front row last month at Yunfeng Theater) of ?uestlove, drummer for The Roots, we always thought the man also known as Ahmir-Khalib Thompson would be a pretty cool guy to hang out with. And then someone told us to check out his blog on MySpace and now our new goal in life is get invited to one of ?uestlove's cookouts should we ever leave Shanghai and move back to rockin' Conshohocken. His blog is an entertaining and honest glimpse into the life of a celebrity, although it seems as though he's not really sure if he feels like a celebrity yet.

That's what we get for buying tickets right in front of the speakers. But the hearing loss was worth it — The Legendary Roots Crew, the hip hop band from Philly, put on a damn good show. And yes, they even did a brief Led Zeppelin cover (and A Tribe Called Quest and Biz Markie and many others). But for the most part, Black Thought, ?uestlove, Hub, Kamal Gray, F. Knuckles and Captain Kirk Douglas rocked their originals, and the seemingly capacity crowd at Yunfeng Theater (packed predominately with expats) loved it. The musician solos were intense — the boys can play. Also a highlight was Black Thought's uncanny ability to work the word "Shanghai" into just about every song they performed. After their two-plus-hour show, The Roots hung around on stage, shook hands, signed autographs, posed for photos and hurled autographed drumsticks into the crowd. No injuries were reported.

What have we, what have we, what have we done to deserve this?

We think that's exactly what we said when we read this email from the fine fellows at China West Entertainment:

It being late Sunday night, Brad was the only person in the bar at the time. But still, with the fire and the fire trucks and all, he described the experience as "fucking scary" and is now thinking about getting some kind of fire insurance for the place. Brad said there were no injuries or deaths that he knew about, even though dozens of people "unofficially" live in the building. Brad spent the night in a nearby hotel and as of a few minutes ago, there was still no electricity at the bar. Live Bar needs electricity by Wednesday, because (you heard it here first) Australian instrumental rock trio Dirty Three are planning on playing a free show at Live Bar at around 10 that night, a warm-up for their scheduled gig at Yunfeng Theater on Thursday. So let's hope they get this figured out -- and be sure to check out Live Bar's bathrooms: "I went back in last night," Brad said, "and only the back part near the toilet smelled of smoke. It used to smell of urine, so this is actually an improvement."

There are strong rumors that four Englishmen in their 60s will strut what is left of their stuff on a stage somewhere in Shanghai this April. At this point they are still just rumors, but here are some reasons why Shanghaiist believes the Rolling Stones will bring their A Bigger Bang tour to our fair city this year (unless China's "mysterious" disease du jour once again scares them away):