May 04, 2010
Shows At The Legacy
When I first moved back to Taiwan I despaired over the local music scene as I watched the stream of confectionary mando-pop on MTV (at least they still play music videos on Asian MTV). But as I've become more familiar with local living I've managed to find some signs of intelligent life in music. Tizzy Bac was one of the first local indie bands that I got into, and they're a great choice for one of the launching acts at the new Legacy venue at the Huashan Cultural Center.
The converted warehouse is general-admissions only, with only a sprinkling of bar stools along the outside edges. Thankfully the stage is raised high and I'm amongst average Chinese folks so my view wasn't too badly blocked by the crowd. The week after featured the New Jersey indie stalwarts Yo La Tengo on their Asian tour. The ticket prices certainly weren't indie, and the wife wasn't interested in their feedback-heavy lo-fi sound, but the chance to see one of my favorite groups live was good to pass up.
The show was super, with a good mix of old hits and new songs. Beer girls handed out Midori-Sprite shots courtesy of the sponsor, and Ira Kaplan came out afterwards for some meet-and-greet. There was even a little earthquake just before the curtain went up to add a little local geological flavor. I figured that cameras wouldn't be allowed for the show so I only brought in the little Fuji-cam hoping to sneak in a few snaps, but it turned out that they weren't enforcing, and there were even folks there with full DSLR rigs snapping away (thankfully they were respectful and low-key). Thankfully the Fuji's low-light ability isn't too bad, and I could get close to the stage so the limited zoom was enough. They had totally funky lighting, though, so I had to turn to black-and-white mode to get natural tones without blowing out one or more color channels.
Posted by mikewang on May 4, 2010 01:42 PM