Gig Review: Nancheng Brother @ Jiangjinjiu, 2010.01.23
Before I get stuck into this gig review, I should mention yet again (I think this is the third time) this article at Neocha EDGE. It explains both Nancheng Brother and the tradition of crosstalk, which is a form of comedic performance that can be found all around China — most often for us foreigners, as some strange fast-talking radio play that makes your taxi driver split his sides and swerve on the road. This is what makes Nancheng Brother both interesting and valuable as a group — the crosstalk. Sure, it’s slightly inaccessible to the foreign punter — even if you speak Chinese better than most, humor is by far the last frontier of language learning — but it’s important that such a group exists. I can’t speak for Chinese people, but I would imagine that without groups like Nancheng Brother, crosstalk would grow old and stale (as it has done previously, in its long tradition), easily being forgotten in a world of colorful variety show humor and rehashed Western rock and roll. By revamping both traditional music and crosstalk, they’re bringing a tradition back into the vocabulary of Chinese youth, which is an admirable and, in many ways, important thing to do.
All that said, the gig last night was great. Packed to the rafters with young Chinese people (not a taxi driver to be seen), Jiangjinjiu was alive. The show was billed as the band’s first unplugged show. (It wasn’t, really, of course; there were still mics and an electric bass guitar, but points for trying.) It was meant to bring a sense of closeness with the band, and I think that Jiangjinjiu was the perfect place for it. Not only is the venue small and intimate even on a quiet night, but it positively thrums with life when it’s stuffed full of happy, tipsy punters enjoying some great music and brilliant comedy. It was well worth the 50RMB for standing room only tickets, even if we had to stand by the door and watch over other people’s heads.