Performance Report 1

China Invasion Tour


Introduction
For my first performance report, I attended the Chinese punk concert at the Double Wide, south of downtown Dallas, on March 28th. It featured the three Chinese punk bands AV Okubo, Carsick Cars and P.K. 14. All of these bands have made a strong impact in Beijing and have come to demonstrate their potential, and possibly that of the entire genre as it exists in China, to us here in the USA.

Music
All of the music played that night was, as far a I could tell, original songs of almost entirely Chinese vocals. As with punk music in our own country, It can only be described as original because there isn't much about it that is musical other than the usually constant beat. The texture was course throughout and most likely offensive to anyone not used to it. The Carsick Cars were the smoothest and best performed of the three bands. The timbre is metallic in nature. Short songs filled with harsh and well defined notes mingled with the entourage of electrical modulations of sound. There was an ample supply of feedback in much of the performance.

Performers
Overall they were skilled technically. AV Okubo kind of reminded me of The Romones with their lead vocals, Yu Lan, commanding some stage presence by belting out some serious yells. The lead guitarist of Carsick Cars was also impressive. P.K. 14, despite being the headlined band, seems lackluster compared to the other two bands. In general, they performed on a individual basis. They all do their own thing and when they can, they show off what they can do with their instruments. To add to their individuality, each member dressed flashy. The total stage presence was reminiscent of early rock and roll performances.

Audience
The amount of energy from the audience that I experienced was only second to that of some Japanese punk rock bands at the annual A-kon convention, and that was probably only because of the increased size. If you pieced together scenes from grunge, indie and early rock, and US punk concerts you might have and accurate visual of the crowd that attended. It was hard to estimate the size of the crowd because it was so packed, but everyone looked to be mid twenties or older. Everyone was allowed to enjoy themselves, and I think everyone did. The show and audience, however dispersed as quickly as they showed up for the start of it.

Time and Space
The concert took place a small stage. The largest significance of this being that it allowed greater interaction between the performers and audience. Each of them were able to feed of each others energy. The loud cheers from the audience drove the bands to be more energetic. It was very packed and crowded at the performance. I almost thought that I wouldn't be allowed to enter when the place went from nearly empty to a line a few blocks to get in. People were definitely excited to see what these new bands had to offer and all of that excitement changed the overall experience of the night. Despite the amazing impact of the performance, the musical elements employed would have been better suited for a larger and better equipped stage. I think the loud speaker to the hand held microphone was unintelligible even for those who spoke Mandarin. Less tenuation between electrical cords would have yielded clearer magnification of complex guitar rhythms.

Conclusion
The performance and the elements of this performance were very similar to those in our current punk and early rock and roll bands. The methods of performance and the energetic stage presence incited the crowd and vice versa. The venue and stage setup provided a medium for the excitement, but a larger stage would have increased the quality of the music. All and all it was a life changing experience.