For true rock fans around Taiwan who are tired of the cheesy soft rock and pop that blare from every street corner and alley, there's relief around the corner this weekend.
On Sunday, Steve Vai, the legendary hard rock guitarist will arrive in Taiwan for his third visit to the country. He will perform at the Taipei International Convention Center at 7:30pm.
The solo recording artist has worldwide sales of more than 2.7 million and he has played with luminaries such as Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake, as well picking up two Grammy awards and a slew of other honors from around the world. His upcoming album, Real Illusions, is due out in February next year.
The musician Frank Zappa once dubbed "my little Italian virtuoso" has enjoyed popularity all over the world, and Taiwan is no exception. Fan Charlie Lee (李宥魴) describes Vai as both mysterious and noble, like a magician who can be both righteous and evil.
"I purely like his music -- his guitar can really grab your heart," said Gina, another Vai fan.
From his first solo album Flex-Able to his recent Alive in an Ultra World -- which incorporates unique sounds from numerous countries -- Vai has always aspired to produce a sound that's different from other rock gods.
One of Vai's finest moments was in July 2002, when he performed renowned Japanese composer Ichiro Nodaira's Fire Strings with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
Accompanying Steve will be a handpicked lineup of outsanding musicians, including famed bass guitarist Billy Sheehan along with Tony MacAlpine on guitar and keyboards, Dave Weiner on rhythm guitar and Jeremy Colson on drums.
Steve will be rocking out on his guitar, dubbed "Evo, "with a list of mainly instrumentals, including the classic Whispering a Prayer.
Last night, Rock Empire said 2,900 out of 3,000 tickets had been sold already. The remaining tickets, priced from NT$1,000 to NT$2,200 may be purchased online at www.rockempire.com.tw or by phone at (02) 2723 2535. The doors open at 6:30pm.
By global standards, the traffic congestion that afflicts Taiwan’s urban areas isn’t horrific. But nor is it something the country can be proud of. According to TomTom, a Dutch developer of location and navigation technologies, last year Taiwan was the sixth most congested country in Asia. Of the 492 towns and cities included in its rankings last year, Taipei was the 74th most congested. Taoyuan ranked 105th, while Hsinchu County (121st), Taichung (142nd), Tainan (173rd), New Taipei City (227th), Kaohsiung (241st) and Keelung (302nd) also featured on the list. Four Japanese cities have slower traffic than Taipei. (Seoul, which has some
In our discussions of tourism in Taiwan we often criticize the government’s addiction to promoting food and shopping, while ignoring Taiwan’s underdeveloped trekking and adventure travel opportunities. This discussion, however, is decidedly land-focused. When was the last time a port entered into it? Last week I encountered journalist and travel writer Cameron Dueck, who had sailed to Taiwan in 2023-24, and was full of tales. Like everyone who visits, he and his partner Fiona Ching loved our island nation and had nothing but wonderful experiences on land. But he had little positive to say about the way Taiwan has organized its
The entire Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) saga has been an ugly, complicated mess. Born in China’s Hunan Province, she moved to work in Shenzhen, where she met her future Taiwanese husband. Most accounts have her arriving in Taiwan and marrying somewhere between 1993 and 1999. She built a successful career in Taiwan in the tech industry before founding her own company. She also served in high-ranking positions on various environmentally-focused tech associations. She says she was inspired by the founding of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in 2019 by Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), and began volunteering for the party soon after. Ko
During her 2015 trip to Taiwan, Sophia J. Chang (張詠慧) got fewer answers than she’d hoped for, but more revelations than she could have imagined. “That was the year I last saw my grandmother. She was in hospice care in Tainan, and it was painful to see her in bed, barely able to open her eyes,” says Los Angeles-born Chang. “The grandma I’d known, a fantastic cook and incredibly kind, was already gone.” After their visit, Chang and her grandfather went back to his apartment. There she asked him how he’d met her grandmother. “He hesitated, then started talking a bit.
RSS