Live Music is Back
Especially with Aric’s recent blog about a new live music venue on the horizon, everyone seems to be abuzz about a new place to fill the hole that 4Live left. We hoped we had it with RedBeat, and although it has a solid happy hour and good house band, it didn’t end up being the next live-music-loving hipster hangout.
So what exactly is this new venue on the horizon? To start with, it’s not exactly new. It’s actually one of the long forgotten, yet still active, step-children of the Windows chain, Windows Tembo. Who’s the man behind the Tembo renovations? None other than Brad Ferguson, Shanghai’s live music guru, sometimes better known as the former manager at just about every major live music venue in Shanghai.
To hear everything from the horse’s mouth, we grabbed Brad for a quick chat. CW: So tell us about this new place we’ve been hearing about. BF: I want it to be like what LOgO is now, but not as smoky, small and crowded. I'd like a young expat crowd ... Like the 4Live group? Well, that was the problem with 4Live, it didn’t really have a crowd. Fair enough. So what are your plans for the venue? Windows has a its own crowd and I want to keep that … You want the Window’s crowd? Really? Yeah, I’ll admit I was one of the people who never really liked Windows but it has cheap drinks and good day-to-day business, it's not just about a big show once a week … I’m doing here really what I wanted to do at 4Live but couldn’t ... This is a smaller place with solid financing, good location--below an office building so there won’t be noise complaints--and no Lawsons’ nearby. It’ll be a place with solid infrastructure—we’re putting in a stage and new sound system—but an underground feeling. We feel you, but we’ll miss the Lawson’s. So have any bands set? We’ll probably have a house band two or three nights during the week and then special events on weekend. Free entry every night except Saturdays, but it’ll be less than RMB30. Who’s do you have scheduled for your first performance? The Subs breaking in the stage on April 5
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I was under the impression it was to be taken over entirely - meaning, no more hip-hop.
He mentioned 'house bands', no?
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I thought hipsters were all about doing uncool things ironically -- by that definition, I'd expect hipsters to love Windows. In reality, though, "hipster" in Shanghai just means poor foreigners, so I expect hipsters to love Windows.
Tembo has never had a very large crowd of any kind, which is part of the reason for the change in management. As "management", I expect a lot of people to demand a lot of things from me, but as management the choice of music is my prerogative. Starting from April, Windows Tembo will be a real rock'n'roll club, and anyone looking for Babyface-with-training-wheels can go elsewhere.
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Good luck to Brad, but I think many of Shanghai's hipster crowd, by definition, would not be caught dead at a Windows. Also, Tembo has always had a very large local crowd that will probably demand, and convince from management, to continue the policy of playing pop/hip-hop the other six nights of the week and thus turn the expat hipsters off even more.