As a party venue, the Huazhong Bridge is literally and figuratively about as far as you can get from the glitzy East District nightclubs. There, you won't find the herd-culling NT$700 entrance fee. You won't wait a half hour for a NT$200 bottle of low-grade alcohol. And you won't be asked to fork over NT$10,000 to sit at a table, because there aren't any.
What's even better, DJs @llen and Lim Giong (林強), who together are largely responsible for launching Taipei's electronic music scene at that exact site almost a decade ago, will cede part of the spotlight at a free party tomorrow to three of Taipei's better underground bands -- Emily, Bohemia and KbN -- that will help mix up the music selection for the afternoon and evening.
Parties at Huazhong Bridge take place on a multi-purpose concrete section under the bridge far out on the flood plain, in other words out of earshot of the cops, near the banks of the Jilong River.
The acoustics under the bridge can play weird tricks on your hearing. In some spots you'll swear there are two entirely different songs playing at the same time, and in other spots the volume is almost entirely canceled out. If someone knows anything about physics they can keep themselves busy for the duration of the show.
The poor acoustics won't be much of an issue anyway when the bands play, given their distortion-heavy melodic dissonance and blips and bleeps. Which isn't to say they play bad music, they just like it loud and a few muffled or echoed notes here and there adds a little unexpected something to their songs.
When the bands aren't playing, a line-up of Taipei's mainstay old-school DJs Lim, @llen and Stingray will be lashing out with underground hard house and drum `n' bass.
The music starts at 2:30pm and will go until about 10pm. To get to the site, go through the flood gates at the end of Wanda Road and walk toward the river under the bridge, or just follow the noise.
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