感謝 The Underground HK 舉辦野豬音樂節, 好耐無出show, 上到台嘅感覺真係返晒嚟, 仲要係對住中環摩天輪嘅舞台! 多謝Angus Leung幫我地記錄低🤘
希望盡快可以再同大家見面🥺
另外附上Underground網頁裏面Cyril Ma寫嘅show review, 多謝你, 我哋睇到好感動!
An Underground show is special because you get new bands, veteran bands, English bands, French bands, marching bands (we did have one) and of course good old fashioned Cantopop bands. But that’s not what Nowhere Boys is. They’re Cantopop, they use ‘old’ music (we’ll get to that), but they’re not old fashioned.
What first struck me was the violin. Standing in the corner was keyboardist Fisher Kan who decided to whip out a violin for their first song 天外飛仙 (Little Fairy). In their musical video, the band members dress up in classical Chinese outfits and do Kung-fu outside Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau temple, and rock-out next to the Star Ferry pier. They didn’t show up in costume but the whimsical, yet hardcore vibe was just as present. The violin was a little quiet, it could have been the mics, or it could have been their placement, but it would have been great to hear it more.
The second song 狂想曲 (Rhapsody) gave more surprises yet. Released in 2015 near the beginning of their career, the song is an eclectic mix of hard rock, Baroque piano, choir music, rap and more. Nowhere Boys is a band which excels in both recorded and live forms; they understand the difference between the two media and artistically transform themselves depending on what their stage is. In the Rhapsody music video, the band members don different outfits showing the many sides of the band, someone’s the Joker, someone’s a cop, they’re in an old timey Hong Kong style barbershop – then everyone changes roles. The chorale section has very strong Queen vibes and seems to reference Bohemian Rhapsody. For such a chaotic video, the performance is actually incredibly tight but not overwhelming. On stage, however, they change completely. The whole performance is a musical whirlwind. The hard rock starts, pinning you to your seat. Then the baroque piano solo comes in – in the video, it’s underscored by black and white visuals – here the whole band stops and points synchronized at the pianist to great applause. The performance is intense; they’re jumping around the stage yelling into mics but then comes the chorale. Everyone stops and sings in perfect acapella harmony despite having just run a marathon.
There’s something to be said for a Cantopop band incorporating so much classic rock, pop and classical music into their performances. Hong Kong is a city where almost everyone has a Grade 8 in musical performance, but becoming a musician is not a career most people will consider. It’s unrealistic, useless, for a hobby only. Our professional choirs and opera groups are performed in by amazing award-winning singers who are actually bankers and doctors. This means that just in terms of classical music knowledge, Hong Kong really is world class – much of local slang actually comes from musical terminology – but it’s ignored. Nowhere Boys whether they know it or not, is bridging that gap. As a rock Cantopop group, they excel perfectly with creative lyrics, great stage presence and top-notch performance, but more than that, they encompass the musical soul of Hong Kong, telling those that play classical music that the pop world does have a space for them and simultaneously letting popular music fans know that the classical side also has a place. Their creativity and performance style weren’t just for a good show, it was inspirational. At least it was to me – a classically trained musician writing rock show reviews.
– Cyril Ma
#UndergroundHK #NowhereBoysHK #WildBoarFestival #野豬音樂節
