Live review from The Underground Summer Festival 夏季音樂節:
1. There’s No Saviour
2. BFF
3. Sunny Day
When Shotgun Politics pulled out of The Underground Summer Festival (drummer Freddy Gunn broke his arm), there was a palpable nervousness. No one wants to be “the replacement act”, but, as always on a tight-knit scene, bands rallied to make sure there wouldn’t be a gaping hole in the bill where the highly-anticipated party rockers once were. Without the arguably most prominent band on the line-up (before Jun Kung was revealed, anyway), festivalgoers may have feared a night devoid of the band’s signature, high-energy pop punk.
There was no need to worry: handpicked by Shotgun, Jo! Fantasista not only met the brief but surpassed it, with a fun and lively three-song slot. From the emo alternative guitar and “I don’t give a fuck” lyrics of first song There’s No Saviour, to the straight-shooting punk of BFF, the band channelled the pop sentimentality and open-diary lyrics of everyone’s favourite noughties rock bands, like Paramore and Blink 182.
Charismatic front man Matthew was determined to give the crowd a good time, jumping around, shouting lyrics and unleashing a satisfying wail during BFF. Last song Sunny Day blended his wildcat snarls with guitarists E and Mike’s noisy, angsty slew, and drummer Jun’s crashing cymbals. If Jo!’s set sounded fairly generic, it was most likely because they didn’t really have the space or time to really show what they could do. But they got a busy room smiling and bopping, as they fearlessly leapt in to fill Shotgun’s sizeable boots and saved the day.
– El Jay
