Live Review from Underground 70:
Xero came out suffering. They suffer from being a young band, and they suffer from bad sound. Xero is a five piece university graduates band (formed in university in 2003). They have obviously tried some heavy numbers, but ultimately, we must consider Xero a pop band, especially since the Chinese rock ballad number has Canto-pop written all over it. Their bio described them as having been around for a few years, and played as a cover band; that should mean they probably have good experience, but it didn’t seem so. The drummer, Eric, was simply not loud enough. It’s always very hard to judge why certain drummers are quiet because stage monitors could be misleading to the musicians. But for half of the set it was loud guitar, heavy tunes, then pop tunes, slow number in the middle, with drums not loud enough. Towards the end of the set they were actually getting tighter and seemed to be really enjoying themselves – maybe it takes them longer to warm up? So, we have to assume, from 30 minutes of rocking, that it was all just experience. They will come out ahead. There is potential in Xero, we’ll see you again.
Bun Ng
