We were so excited to host Black Flag’s first show in Hong Kong.
Thank you to Oliver for the introduction and encouragement.
Big shout-out to Joana for Hong Kong tour management.
Thanks to Calvin and Shaun for being the stage-side security at the show.
Thank you to Round Eye—especially Chachy—for all the pre-show support, great conversations, and for helping the whole band make their way down from Shanghai (and Vietnam!) to perform an amazing support set.
Thank you to Jojo and Josiah for the excellent sound setup, and thanks to Veronika for assisting.
Huge thanks to Yan Yan for all the artwork and for bringing the spare guitars on the night.
Thanks to El Jay for the detailed reviews, and Aaron for the lovely photos.
A big thanks as well to Raven, our wonderful doorperson.
Thank you to The Wanch and its wonderful staff for hosting our event.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to The Wharney Hotel, Wan Chai, our Official Hotel Partner, for their generous support in making Black Flag’s Hong Kong appearance possible.
A huge thank you to the audience—we really, really appreciate your support, and we can’t wait to bring you more shows like this.
Shout-out to the VIPs who got to watch their own private show (aka soundcheck) in the afternoon.
我哋好興奮可以迎接 Black Flag 喺香港嘅第一場show！
多謝 Oliver 嘅介紹同鼓勵。
超級多謝 Joana 為香港巡演做嘅統籌安排。
多謝 Calvin 同 Shaun 擔任場內 stage-side 保安，辛苦晒！
多謝 Round Eye——尤其係 Chachy——由開show前一直提供支援、傾得好開心，仲幫手安排全組樂隊由上海（同埋越南！）一路走過嚟，表演一場超精彩嘅 support set。
多謝 Jojo 同 Josiah 一流嘅音響設定，亦多謝 Veronika 幫手。
Yan Yan 多謝晒你為我哋帶嚟嘅創作，當晚仲帶定多把 spare guitar 過嚟，真係幫咗好多！
多謝 El Jay 做咗詳細嘅 reviews，亦多謝 Aaron 影咗咁多靚相。
另外亦要多謝 Raven，真係好可靠嘅門口負責人！
多謝 The Wanch 同佢哋嘅一班好職員幫手主理我哋今次嘅活動。
我哋衷心感謝 The Wharney Hotel 灣仔粤海美灣際酒店 作為今次演出的官方合作酒店，對 Black Flag 香港演出的大力支持！
*多謝哂觀眾們！*我哋真係好感謝你哋一直以嚟嘅支持，亦好期待之後再帶多啲咁嘅show嚟畀大家。最後想特別shout-out一班VIP：下午可以睇到專屬嘅私人場（即係 soundcheck）—好爽！
❤️ Chris B xx

Round Eye (Shanghai)

Culture Shock
Lanlan
Round Eye
Commie Blues
Billy
Sifter
Troma
Nest
Catatonic
Foreigner
Suntan
Freedom

Punk scenes abound at The Wanch on 24 May 2026; we walk in to the sound of buzzing tattoo guns. Turns out Shanghai noise-punks Round Eye had such a huge one the night before that they missed a tattoo appointment at Sai Kung’s legendary Shoot the Moon tattoo studio. No mind: the parlour comes to them. Owner Julia Seizure inks a “Ni Hao” Butthead onto frontman Craig “Chachy” Englund, with just nine minutes to spare before showtime. It’s not the band’s first time in Hong Kong, but it’s likely their best to date. They race through a frantic quartet of songs to start, locking the packed room into their frequency. Erhu and sax – less likely punk instruments but the kind of unconventional, left-field elements that have come to define Round Eye’s genre-hopping sound – thread through the din, the latter cutting sharpest on “Billy”, where its solo and wiry embellishments lift the track. The mix skews drum-heavy and vocals low, yet the band remain super tight, frontman Craig “Chachy” Englund commanding the room between quick-fire intros. “Troma” rumbles with shotgun percussion, while “Nest” channel pent-up anger. “Commie Blues” and “Foreigner” lean into abrasion; “The Gun Club”-tinged moments edge faintly psychedelic. By “Freedom”, the line “freedom of choice is what you’ve got” land as both sneer and rallying cry – this is Round Eye at their most daring and dangerous. Off to the side, hidden in the crowd, Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn slowly nods in approval towards this sweaty, uncompromising set.
-El Jay

Black Flag (US)

Can’t Decide
Nervous Breakdown
No Values
I’ve Had It
Wasted
Black Coffee
Six Pack
Depression
Police Story
Swinging Man
Nothing Left Inside
Fucked Up
My War
I’ve Heard It Before
Revenge
Fix Me
This Is Good
Clocked In
Room 13
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Slip It In
Jealous Again
I Can See You
TV Party
Rise Above
Louie Louie

If Shanghai openers Round Eye were the accelerant, Black Flag are the detonation. Formed in California’s Hermosa Beach in 1976 and driven ever since by founding guitarist Greg Ginn, the band remain one of American hardcore’s original shock forces; the current line-up pairs Ginn with vocalist Max Zanelly, bassist David Rodriguez and drummer Bryce Weston.

They surprise the crowd with a monster, career-spanning set of two halves, with a 20-minute break in between. This delights ticket-holders, who range from way-back fans wearing tatty vintage shirts to a younger crew embracing the seminal group who’ve finally made it to Hong Kong exactly 50 years after forming.

For a sold-out Hong Kong debut, The Wanch – Hong Kong’s oldest independent livehouse with a formidable history of its own – couldn’t have been a better choice. A makeshift barrier is erected to control the sweaty hordes, a tattoo parlour establishes a pre-show residency and Ginn himself wanders the venue beforehand to have a chat with anyone who approaches.

An extended instrumental “Can’t Decide” blasts in with bubbling bass, rolling toms and a long, needling stretch of feedback before Zanelly tears in, ferocious and unvarnished. As the story goes, Ginn signs her after spotting her singing along at the front of a previous show, while Rodriguez and Weston auditioned their way in.

The vocalist cuts a mean figure throughout the show, leaning over The Wanch’s makeshift barrier to rile punters, leaning back and headbanging during instrumentals, and commanding the room with a punk sneer when it’s her turn to bark vocals. Her voice has a disarmingly low gruffness honed by years of roaring lyrics at punk shows and, now it’s time for her to shine, she strides into the spotlight and owns the stage.

A viral turn at April’s Coachella festival brought attention to the group for the age of its members, with derision being broadcast in certain circles about the authenticity of the group, including everything from Ginn’s ego-driven avarice to the lack of performance experience of his band. Any doubts are carved clean away in Hong Kong tonight: the band’s youthfulness proves its strength. Charged with fearsome energy and as far from jaded you can get, the set feels fresh and relevant; the classic Black Flag themes of railing against authority, navigating relationships and struggling with inner turmoil are more relevant than ever when caught in the pincers of this so-called “Gen Z Flag”.

“Nervous Breakdown” sends the room straight into a sweat-flinging crush by song two, while “No Values”, “I’ve Had It”, “Wasted” and “Six Pack” keep the momentum in that classic Black Flag zone: reckless, ugly, anti-showbiz. On the latter track, Chris B’s husband, the evening’s valiant Hodor, is spotted pushing his weight against the barrier to stop it from flying loose as fighting fans dissolve into a frenzied, liquid state.

Ginn, composed amid the chaos, keeps twisting out solos that sound more wrestled into being than played. Without breaking a sweat, he switches from riffs to soloing, proving why he’s so frequently cited as one of rock’s most underrated players. However, it’s drummer Weston who truly steals the show: he gives everything to every song, balancing punk power with technical precision (this is not an AI review). It’s a roasting night and his utter locomotive force from start to finish is astonishing. Bassist Rodriguez is a lower-key presence, more akin to Ginn in his preference for his bandmates to take centre-stage. But his lines thud through pugnaciously and he locks in with Weston to create an unassailably tough backbone that allow Ginn and Zanelly to get a little wild.

The deeper pull comes when the set swerves into My War material, their sophomore release that’s said to have laid the foundations for the sludge metal genre: its songs are slower, heavier, punishingly strange. “Nothing Left Inside”, “Fucked Up” and “My War” land thick and lethargic.

“Slip It In” stretches into a huge, 20-minute jam, delirious in its psychedelic bluesiness. “Greg’s favourite band is Grateful Dead,” shares a fan in the audience, and it’s an influence clearly heard in this helter-skelter rendition. Massive reactions greet the the closing triplet: “TV Party” turns rabble-rousing and “Rise Above” (there are now three staffers holding the barrier) cracks the room before “Louie Louie” seals it. This was a bucket-list night by a band accustomed to far larger stages, and Hong Kong made sure they felt embraced.
-El Jay

Photos by Aaron Michelson​
由Aaron Michelson、攝影​​。

Poster by​ ​海報由​​​ Yan Yan Pang。