Loving the Buzzcocks Buzz

When I watch the old documentaries and movies about England in the '60s or '70s, I often wish I could have lived in that era. However, it seemed that the sounds from back then would only ever be available to me through film and records, so it was such an amazing surprise to me to find out that Buzzcocks, one of the most influential bands who initiated punk rock, were coming to Beijing.

Their show at Yugong Yishan last Friday was in fact more like a wonderful amusing gathering of people who share the same kinds of dreams and emotions. Songs starting with "one, two, three, four" were like a time machine taking the audience back in time. When their lively beats echoed in the underground-looking venue, I could almost pretend that I was in the indie rock scene in '70s Europe – though some people who have lived longer would probably say that I have no idea. Some of them were gathered at Yugong Yishan that night.

I arrived there at around 10pm and was just in time to see the house getting warming up. As the only support band, local punks The Dancers were a brilliant match for the night. Their hardcore punk beats made me soon forget how freaky freezing it already was outside.
Then the Buzzcocks started to shake up the venue with their old school punk classics. It didn't take long for the performers and audience to get wound up. How often do you see 60-year-olds jumping around on stage to punk chords? That night, the guitarist Steve did the punk style jumps like a teenager. I couldn't help feeling they all had punk rock flowing in through their veins.

I further confirmed that talking to Steve after the show. After more than three decades of persistence on the same road he's still energetic and excited about what he's doing. He thinks about the situation of society and gets ideas from it, and still writes new songs. He commented that way back then he never thought he would get the chance to play in China (just like we never thought we would ever have him). But China has changed since Buzzcocks first started playing. As Steve said, now we have more corruption we need a bit of rock & roll.

My only criticism of the show was it was probably too short. Maybe Beijing has made me used to seeing at least four or five bands at a show, so that night I felt that I didn't have enough. The encore, especially the song "Ever Fallen in Love," brought the party to the climax, but it stopped right there.
Besides that, the Buzzcocks made my weekend gorgeous.