Live Review from Underground 65:
Tae Kim arrived at the show in the nick of time. He pulled out the guitar and Underground 65 started in a fresh set of acoustic music. Kim had a following of West Island School students (who were clearly above 18) and they didn’t fail to make the point that Kim was one of the greatest musicians around. Although he had been introduced as from the US, I suspected the association with West Island School must indicate some local relationship/history. This was a set of clean and sweet music with a great variety of guitar style, showing Kim’s versatility. But it was also evident that we were listening to a very contemporary urban folks that are common amongst acoustic musicians these days. This reminded me of Sanjeev Gurung in Underground 56 with the one-tone forlorn solo music, even though Gurung was armed with an electric instead of an acoustic; Gurung would appear in the next Underground 66 as a member of the band The Quasar. Kim held his show together very well, moving from very melodic tunes to more “serious” (his own word) stuff, when he down-tuned his guitar and went into sadder songs. It didn’t matter to the crowd, who were cheering like that was party music, and I would think may be on record the songs would take you through a gentle ride of city life ups-and-downs. Don’t want to say it’s opening, but in good spirit, Kim and company promptly left shortly after the next act started performing. May be, teenage party ensued.
Bun Ng
