riverside...
wow... this place really kicks some serious fanny!
i had been wanting to go check out riverside (www.riverside.com.tw) for quite some time already but never really got around to do so until a couple of weeks ago. this rather inconspicuous basement pub right next to the tai power building is a venue for mini gigs by local rock bands and jazz groups seven nights a week. admission typically costs $300 ~ $350 per head and comes with a drink worth up to $180, which is a pretty good deal. the place packs in around 150 or so people at most and you are always no further than 20 metres away from the stage anywhere in the pub.
there were two acts on the night i was there and the place was already teeming with people more than an hour before the gigs actually started. the first act to take the stage was bibi chao. her debut album was released a couple of years ago and the set was largely based on the songs from it. her live singing voice was solid and had a lot of punch behind it, to say the least, and the guitarist in the band was quite amazing. although her debut album wasn't that big a hit commercially when it came out and i didn't think too much of the songs from the album when they were played on the music channels on telly, the live performance that night was really something else altogether. there was so much energy and passion infused in her pop rock music and the crowd was happily wowed by the entire set of around 10 songs. and for some reason, she just kept reminding me of that female singer from catatonia.
the second act of the night was an underground band that goes by the name "strawberry saviour". i had never heard any of their stuff before, but the zealous reaction from the crowd when the band took the stage promised good things to come. much to my delight, there was an apparent british shoegazer influence in most of the songs performed to offset the few pretty average ballads that were also thrown in the set. the layers of reverb and distortion that they put out with the two guitars were pretty sweet. the first few numbers that they did were more than pleasing. however, it was midway through the set when the band started to really pick things up with songs that wouldn't be so out of place if they were in a mogwai album. when they went full blast towards the end of the set, i was lost for words...
i had been wanting to go check out riverside (www.riverside.com.tw) for quite some time already but never really got around to do so until a couple of weeks ago. this rather inconspicuous basement pub right next to the tai power building is a venue for mini gigs by local rock bands and jazz groups seven nights a week. admission typically costs $300 ~ $350 per head and comes with a drink worth up to $180, which is a pretty good deal. the place packs in around 150 or so people at most and you are always no further than 20 metres away from the stage anywhere in the pub.
there were two acts on the night i was there and the place was already teeming with people more than an hour before the gigs actually started. the first act to take the stage was bibi chao. her debut album was released a couple of years ago and the set was largely based on the songs from it. her live singing voice was solid and had a lot of punch behind it, to say the least, and the guitarist in the band was quite amazing. although her debut album wasn't that big a hit commercially when it came out and i didn't think too much of the songs from the album when they were played on the music channels on telly, the live performance that night was really something else altogether. there was so much energy and passion infused in her pop rock music and the crowd was happily wowed by the entire set of around 10 songs. and for some reason, she just kept reminding me of that female singer from catatonia.
the second act of the night was an underground band that goes by the name "strawberry saviour". i had never heard any of their stuff before, but the zealous reaction from the crowd when the band took the stage promised good things to come. much to my delight, there was an apparent british shoegazer influence in most of the songs performed to offset the few pretty average ballads that were also thrown in the set. the layers of reverb and distortion that they put out with the two guitars were pretty sweet. the first few numbers that they did were more than pleasing. however, it was midway through the set when the band started to really pick things up with songs that wouldn't be so out of place if they were in a mogwai album. when they went full blast towards the end of the set, i was lost for words...
posted by scott lin at 22:57
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