Review: Linkin Park, Shanghai, Nov. 11, 2007
It was with no little interest that I headed to Shanghai’s HongKou football stadium for the first time last Sunday night. I wanted to see whether the rumours of a sell-out were true (26,000 capacity – I had my doubts) and whether the promoter’s dream-disturbing mental vision of rows of seats being thrown at the stage would actually transpire.
China, and in particular Shanghai, has played host to increasing amounts of international artists over the last few years. As the media casts her roving eye on China’s nascent music scene, festivals like Beijing’s Modern Sky and Shanghai’s Yue were highlights of the year 2007 that has seen remarkable transformations in Chinese attitudes to music. HongKou stadium, 19/11/07 marked another step on the road to a diverse and contemporary music scene, the first real stadium rock show in the country since the Rolling Stones.
Sichuan Bei Road was a seething mass of humanity. Police presence was high, but by and large the crowds were relaxed and respectful, as I’ve come to expect here in China. There was a palpable sense of excitement, a belief that something unique and groundbreaking was in process.
Into the stadium, I was amazed at the number of young Chinese that were already seated. The cheap seats were full-to-bursting, glowsticks waving, even a half-hearted Mexican wave limped its way around the perimeter. A certain amount of disrespect was being shown to Thin Man, the Beijing based support band. Admittedly, Thin Man are old news and the crowd were here exclusively for Linkin Park, but it’s still a shame to see a band trying their collective hearts out on the biggest stage of their entire career and being booed for it…
I wandered around the stadium, marvelling at the crowd but conversely under-whelmed by the production. For a concert that must have grossed well over $1m (US$350 for a front row seat plus 2 big corporate sponsors), the production was little better than that of a large club. It looked and felt “Chinese”: a lack of delay stacks meant that the sound swirled around the stadium and by the time you got half way back, words were indistinguishable. Alas, for the poor people who had paid less than US$75 (i.e. most of the hardcore fans) all they were exposed to was a wall of noise. They couldn’t see the band at all, because the screens were tiny (and cheap) projections. The stage looked like something out of the 1970’s with uncovered scaffolding and a lighting rig that I can better in my bathroom.
Overall, the band worked it as much as they could and tried put on a show to those that could see or hear. I was lucky enough to be in the expensive seats and if I’d stayed there for the duration of the show, I would have had a great time. But I continued walking around, and yes, the promoters probably salved their collective conscience by saying “it’s only China, they won’t know the difference” but for me, it’s simple profiteering and a sign of an increase in examples of “rip-off” China.
It needs to change. Yes, there are Chinese with lots of money. Yes, they will spend it rashly and yes, there are possibilities for opportunists. But the music scene would improve faster if people could start to see what is really possible. Although most of the die-hard fans of Linkin Park would be so excited to see their favorite band, they probably don’t have the experience with live shows to realize the shoddy production is at fault, not their band. If production standards like this continue to be the norm in China, fans will be disappointed in live music in general.
– ChinaMusicRadar.com