Our 50th show! A whole new venue! Thanks so much to Club Cixi for hosting our 50th show, the location and the stage and the space was very much appreciated! Thanks also to our sponsors HKGFM.net & Tom Lee for supplying such cool prizes in the lucky draw. Thanks also to the bands from whom we bought CDs from to spread their musical tentacles further. Biggest thanks goes to the bands and their fans who made Underground 50 a fantastic celebration!
love Chris B xx

FourteenBirds
Kicking off the Underground’s 50th celebrations was an interesting quirky guitarist from UK (he’s originally from Australia and heading back there soon). His previous incarnation as a bass player in a band, has brought a pleasing enhancement to his solo songs. Possessing a strong & pleasant voice added to a toasty-warm feeling that FourteenBirds can do well as a solo act or as a frontperson. His short set was a teaser and justified me checking out his myspace page.
Sam Collier

Mimi.Yeah!
Mimi has an interesting stage persona, she comes across as shy and confident, well-prepared and yet all over the place at the same time – I wondered if her star sign is Libran as she see-saws her way through her set. Nevertheless, I enjoyed her lyrics and dont~care attitude. Mimi would inspire some of the local acoustic solo acts who sometimes just seem to take themselves too seriously. At the end of the day, music is personal and yet begs to be shared and Mimi certainly knows how to do this. Well worth checking her out if you can before she leaves HK and continues with her world tour.
Sam Collier

Fistiwave
Funky, catchy, peppy, meaty, and a bit jazzy. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what they’re trying to do with the jazz parts though, like whimsically scheduled incoherence. Definitely a musical mutt, mixing and matching all kinds of styles. The vocals contribute a consistent flavor throughout the musical meandering that simply goes all over the place, from ambient to 80s tv show themes to marching jazz to almost floydish. The technical skill is good enough that they would be every bit as good without a vocal. Each song got better and better and the last song was equally enjoyed by the audience as well as the band with posturing and huge smiles.
Amos

F.B.I.
Inventively using a slogan of “The Underground” to soundcheck, F.B.I. kicked off their debut at The Underground with energy and excitement. Their stage persona is cheeky and fun and the audience picked up on this immediately. The band also has an uncanny ability to get the crowd doing things from waving their arms and even jumping in a song with “Jump” barked at them. With strange lyrics about boiling children to songs poking fun at wannabe-musicians, I find F.B.I. immensely appealing. The cover of the Chili Peppers was a nice touch and F.B.I played it well (as they do all their songs – the technical aspect of this band is of a great standard for HK). Cain certainly endeared himself by speaking Cantonese to the mostly Chinese audience. It’s easy to like F.B.I.
Ashley B

Velvette Vendetta.
I was captivated even during their edgy-drone sound check. They immediately connect with you and deliver a hauntingly beautiful yet mischevious air quite comparable to muse, but a lot more gothic. Slightly swingy and very carpeting lush low guitars set the stage beautifully for the soothingly unsettling story told through the sound of the vocals. Always on edge, always understanding and with you, incessantly grinding your soul against a plush purple sofa, sometimes hard and sometimes softly. Some songs are a bit more like dirty screaming metal, not their strongest area but still excellent. Their non-velvety songs lack the incisive edge of the smoother ones but make up for it in noise and power. it could use a bolder theme though.
Amos

Above photos © Copyright 2007 by Manek
Poster by Sheli

There’s another website that has also got reviews of the bands that played at Underground 50, click here to visit.