Dressed in tight tops and slinky black pants, the four members of the Chinese Britpop band Super VCon stage at Beijing's Yugong Yishan club performed their hit songs to a large crowd moving hands and bodies to the beat.
The band threw theatrical rock-star poses and the audience -- mostly hip young Chinese in their 20s and a mixed crowd of seemingly more mature foreigners -- loved it. In the end, the vocalist took off his T-shirt and the girls in the audience screamed in joy.
Yugong Yishan club, a mainstay of Beijing's music scene, is named after a Chinese proverb which means a foolish man succeeded in removing a mountain stone by stone.
An unlikely location in the heart of Beijing for a Chinese rock music club, the historic west courtyard of the government of Duan Qirui, the warlord who was the provisional chief executive of China between 1924 and 1926, Yugong Yishan attracts a crowd for almost every live performance.
With chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the space between the stage and the bar counter has no seats and can hold up to 1,000 people for a live performance, according to bar owner Lui Zhiqiang.
"The music scene in Beijing is quite vibrant and a lot of interesting things are happening here," says Chris Hawke, a Canadian who teaches journalism in a university in Beijing.
About three blocks north of Yugong Yishan, M.A.O. Live house, located right across from the northern entrance of Nanluoguxiang, an old Beijing alleyway that has evolved into a favorite destination for backpackers and the chic set, makes a statement with its iconic logo and the iron-riveted facade.
Backed by the Japanese independent music label Bad News Records, who signed Beijing's famous punk band Brain Failure, M.A.O.'s stage is sectioned off from the bar and lounge, just like Yugong Yishan.
"I like M.A.O. It's smaller and more intimate to the stage," says Mikael Salomonsson, a Swedish musician living and playing his music in Beijing.
The cost of each concert -- 20 to 200 yuan (2.9 to 29.4 dollars) for a visiting foreign band and a 20-yuan (2.9 dollars) beer -- are nothing compared with Europe, Mikael says.
Through a hazy mixture of smoke and sweat and raw energy, the Autumn Insects, or officially called Fall InSex in English, an old school flash rock band going back a few years, performed with their exaggerated blond wigs and bloody gothic make-up In M.A.O. on a recent weekend. The audience raised their hands in tribute.
"The music venues in Beijing has changed drastically," says Niu Ben, guitarist of Fall InSex, who formed the band with the vocalist Ying Zi in 1998.
From the stage, to the lighting to the sound system, big changes have taken place, he says.
Music lovers in Beijing today enjoy a wider variety of music than in the past. In its heyday in 2000, Happy Paradise, among the very few venues for live rock music, in Wudaokou, was packed at weekends, according to Yan Jun, a Chinese rock music critic.
With almost no seats and no decoration, the audience simply sat on the edge of the stage when they got tired. In the dark, some were drinking, some were sleeping on the ground in this former roller skating rink when bands played late into early mornings, Yan Jun wrote.
Back then, most rock bands lived in Shucun Village, including Fall InSex, about 40 minutes bus ride from Wudaokou, where the cheap rents gave them a place to stay. Some survived and thrived and even became big names.
"The few music venues at that time had a lot of enthusiasm in supporting Chinese rock music but they lacked the professional equipment and experience," said Niu Ben, the guitarist.
Mikael, the Swedish musician, and his friends who frequent rock clubs in Beijing said the top four venues for local rock music would be Yugong Yishan, M.A.O. Livehouse, 2 Kolegas on the Third Ring Road and D-22 in the university area in Haidian District.
In addition to local bands, big or small, world famous musicians have also played in Beijing's live music houses, including names such as Yann Tiersen, the Go! Team and Keren Ann. This year, the French electronic music duo Air is scheduled to perform in Yugong Yishan in September, according to the band's tour dates on its official website.
"The crowd who comes to see a live band today is quite different from the past," says Li Jie, a veteran gig goer of 12 years experience.
With the Internet, today's bands certainly have more resources such as Myspace where they can upload their music and share it with people all over the world, says Li, admitting he goes to fewer concerts.
"But when there are good bands performing in Beijing, I will definitely go," Li says. "The feeling you get from a live performance is absolutely different from hearing it on the stereo."
(Xinhua News Agency August 1,2008)
