Our Great Mao?

So, it was Mao livehouse this time. At first, I was having a hard time deciding between YYT or Mao, because CANDYSHOP was playing there. Gross. But in the end, since I've never been to Mao and it was FREE, I was happy I went to Mao.

Getting off the train station, I had a rough idea of where to go but I couldn't find the fucking streets google map showed me. So at the shadiest alley I decided to turn, since there were a lot of people. It was quite creepy. But lo and behold, Mao Livehouse, a really nice looking place located in a really shitty area. I guess, however, that's part of the appeal.

The first thing I notice was that this place was fucking huge compared to YYT--many times bigger. They had nice amps also--JCM900 half stack and an Ampeg SVT4 full stack. It was well ventilated despite being pretty packed (never got hot though it was cooler outside so that probably helped) and the lighting was also notably nice. The bar is located on the side and there are seats in a U around the stage. In the middle there is a fenced off area for people to stand--a pretty nice design.

The first band was Five Pointed Star--a numetal band which was, well, whatever. People got pretty hyped and started to mosh, but it was only like 4 or 5 people. During the middle of the set, they had to dedicate a song to a friend of theirs, and of course they choose to cover LINKIN PARK. Oh, China... In any case, as far a numetal goes I can still get a little excited just because it was live.

The second band was Candy Shop. FUCKA YUUUUU WHALE.

After Candy Shop came Plastic Chocolate. FUCK, I missed out buying their CD also. Man, 0 for 2. But their music was pretty sweet. Mostly instrumental experimental post rocky stuff and the drummer was pretty fucking sick. As usual, 95% of the people weren't really moving. But surprisingly, a lot of girls cheered. Weird, right? In any case, their stuff was awesome. I dig it. The live was going pretty well at this point despite Candy Shop, but I should've known. There truly is nothing FREE in this world.

Turns out in between the third set and fourth set, there was a BONUS set and by bonus I really mean shit. These two faggots come out and I'm like "Oh cool, it's the fourth set". NOPE. MINDGAMED, FUCK. They announce that they are a little different and only need a CD to perform. DOUBLE FUCK. Yea it was a Jaegermeister sponsored rap duo. And by rap I mean Chinese/Shanghainese sing-talk. It's hard to say whether Candy Shop is better or worse since they have a faggot sing-talker too. I was, however, promised a really good fourth set, so I persevered.

The fourth set was a Death Metal band Loudspeaker. One thing I learned, is that it's easier for me to dig music if it's live. Loudspeaker is not something I would listen to regularly but I don't think I mind watching them live--especially since they got the crowd going. However, crowd in this case is like 10 people. It was quite hilarious though because these ten people cleared out the standing area with the exception of the people in front by the fence(me included) and the girls who had to crawl on the other side so they wouldn't get hit by the moshers. At one point, the two biggest guys moshing almost got in a fight--a white guy and a Chinese guy. It stopped the show temporarily... pretty crazy.

All in all, a pretty good night. YYT tomorrow. New Band Showcase. YEAH!