After years of waiting for the right opportunity, musician and club owner Geddy Lin (林正如) has opened a new live-music venue at the historic Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in Ximending.
The Riverside Live House (河岸留言西門紅樓展演館), which held its first show last month, boasts a top-of-the-line sound system and seating for 800 people.
The new venue is the next logical step for the session guitarist and teacher, who started the Riverside Cafe
(河岸留言), a small basement bar now known as one of Taipei’s best live-music venues for both up-and-coming and established artists.
It’s time for a venue like this, according to Lin, who has seen a lot of “original bands, artists that have grown up on stage” at Riverside Cafe. As the bands have matured, their audiences have grown, says Lin, who wanted to open a new venue three years ago but lacked the funds.
Lin’s luck came through when the Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs (台北市文化局) offered him space at the Red House Theater at non-commercial rental rates, in a bid to improve Taipei’s live-music scene. The low rent allowed Lin and a business partner to put NT$10 million into new stage and sound equipment.
Covering 400 ping (1,322m2), the mid-sized venue will be able to accommodate more intimate shows from bigger name artists: Taiwan’s “King of Rock,” Wu Bai (伍佰), is slated to appear in January.
But Lin intends to stick to the spirit of the Riverside Cafe in choosing acts: it’s not important what kind of music a band plays, he says, but whether it’s “good music” and whether the band can put on a “good performance.”
He acknowledges that there will be pressure to fill seats, which he hopes to address in the future by also holding daytime events and music seminars. The venue now runs a bar, and will eventually serve lunch and dinner.
For now, Riverside Live House is open for shows in the evening from Wednesdays through Sundays. This weekend features indie band Jacuzzi and pop/jazz combo Sunny 4 tonight, and pop-rock band Rock Oriental Express (搖滾東方) tomorrow. Renowned jazz-fusion bassist Alain Caron performs on Nov. 19.
Riverside Live House is located at 177 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (台北市西寧南路177號). Tel: (02) 2370-8805. On the Net: www.riverside.com.tw.
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