Personal Dork Assistant

新光三越週年慶接力開唱

The SO had to work over the weekend so I was left to my own devices. I savored the sweet taste of freedom and it tasted... kinda boring. Thankfully I remembered seeing a poster on our periodic trips through Mitsukoshi Dept. Store mentioning a courtyard concert as part of their Annual Sale festivities.

It was cool with bouts of misty rain, but a jacket and a cap warded off the chill. Got there early enough to squeeze into a singleton seat near the front, before the rest of the shopping crowd gathered into the Mituskoshi A4's 4th-floor courtyard. The entire A4 building is aimed at the young, fashionable, female shopper, and the concert lineup was aimed at the demographic. Indie, alternative, but not too heavy, for the young women who've outgrown the pre-fabbed boy-bands.

The festivities kicked off at 6:30pm with 宇宙人, featuring kids dressed up in sci-fi getups. Their alien-from-outer-space schtick was kind of endearing. I didn't realize it's so hard to find parking space for a UFO around here. The jam-band style music with the quirky lyrics probably does seem like music from outer-space to the Taiwan audience.

旺福 was up next. They actually had noticeable amount of fans in the audience who could sing along to all the songs. The four-piece two-guy-two-girl band featured a peppy rock sound, kinda like the B-52s, but with a J-pop sensibility and singing in Chinese.

旺福 did a good job getting the audience warmed up on this cold and wet autumn evening. By now the courtyard was really filling up with people for the featured act.

Tizzy Bac is a keyboard, guitar, drum trio offering light, jazzy pop music just different enough to be unconventional but still fun. Picked up their album on a lark a while back and found them to be ray of indie light in the dismal, contrived Taiwan music scene. Tizzy B may not be the most challenging, cutting edge material, but it's a good time without subjecting the audience to saccharine shock.

All in all, it was a great show featuring some solid bands. Got some good pictures. And you can't beat the price. Except for the cold I had to live with the week after.