Live review from Underground 110:
Setlist:
1. 不可一世
2. 風林火山
3. 流星
4. Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
5. 電腦
6. 世界真細小
7. 張開手擁抱
If there’s one word to describe this band, that word would be ‘polished’. The3Think are the kind of band that sound like they’re ready to play to huge audiences from the very first song, and this night wasn’t an exception. They announced themselves on with a huge, Van Halen-esque riff, to which were added poppy-fast drums and a dash of keyboards. Indeed, if there’s anything that unites their songs it would be their dance-rock mood. All these songs are meant to be danced to, and it appears to work. While they change styles mildly, from the metal-ish 不可一世 to the clubby 風林火山 to light funk in 世界真細小, there is an undeniable feeling that the corners have been sanded out of the sound, and it’s all interpreted through the pop—oriented mindset of wanting to simultaneously appeal to as many people as possible. And, though I often make it sound otherwise, there’s nothing wrong with that, for they don’t pretend to be anything other than entertainers, and they’re good at it. They do also play their instruments generally competently, which is an improvement upon groups that don’t. Their singers have very nice voices, harmonise well, and are generally able to carry off the songs well. However, the focus on pop seems to make peoples’ instrumental imaginations rusty, and this appears to be the case with this band as well; there’s a feeling of tedious sameness among their songs that I think stems from not trying different things. They clearly want to sound different, which was reflected in 張開手擁抱 which, according to a fellow attendee, sounds like “Cantopop trying not to be Cantopop”. So, while they’re good at entertaining their standard audience, I put it to them that if they tried a few things not typical to pop music they would become more entertaining, not less so.
— Shashwati Kala
