Time to break out the earplugs ... and your wallet. A string of big-name rock acts are scheduled to perform in Taipei throughout the summer, as bands from the West make their way to and from Japan’s Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic festivals. Here’s a list of major shows scheduled through September.
WHAT: Chemical Brothers (TWinkle Rock Festival)
Photo courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
WHEN: Tuesday at 9pm
WHERE: Taipei Show Hall 2 (台北展演二館), formerly the Taipei World Trade Center Hall 2 (原台北世貿二館), 3 Songlian Rd, Taipei City (台北市松廉路3號). Free after-party at Room 18, B1, 88 Songren Rd, Taipei City (台北市松仁路88號)
TICKETS: NT$3,500, available online through taiffon.net and 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
Photo courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
ON THE NET: www.twinklerockfestival.com
Two guys, two DJ booths, and a stadium full of sensory overload: Electronic music duo Chemical Brothers are bringing their spectacularly psychedelic stage show to Taipei for the first time, performing at Taipei Show Hall 2 on Tuesday as part of the second annual TWinkle Rock Festival. But the show is more than just a bunch of trippy lights and lasers. Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands, pioneers of the “Big Beat” sound and producers of a string of party hits in the 1990s, know how to push an audience’s buttons, a skill that has brought them to arena-sized raves all over the world. Their latest album, Further (2010), sees the duo moving away from big-name guest vocalists and has been hailed as a fresh approach to their synth- and sampled beat-driven sound.
Photo courtesy of atlantic records
WHAT: The Cranberries
WHEN: July 30 at 8pm
WHERE: Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall (台北世界貿易中心南港展覽館), 1 Jingmao 2nd Rd, Taipei City (台北市經貿二路1號)
Photo courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
TICKETS: NT$1,400 to NT$3,800, available through ERA ticketing and online at www.ticket.com.tw
The Cranberries left a lasting impression on 1990s rock with a string of chart-topping hits that combined celtic folk, post-punk and ethereal pop, including Linger, Dreams, and Zombie. After years of touring and commercial success from tens of millions in album sales, the Irish band called it quits in 2003. They reunited in 2009 to back up singer Dolores O’Riordan, who was pursuing a solo career at the time, and have a new album planned for release this fall, titled Roses.
Photo courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
WHAT: 30 Seconds to Mars (TWinkle Rock Festival)
WHEN: July 31 at 9pm
WHERE: Studio 18, 5F, 22 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路22號5樓), tel: (02) 2723-5671
Photo courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
TICKETS: NT$3,500, available through taiffon.net and 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
ON THE NET: www.twinklerockfestival.com
30 Seconds to Mars broke onto the rock scene with music full of the same kind of rage, angst and guitar fuzz that fueled 1990s grunge. These days, however, the Los Angeles trio, which formed in 1998, sports a little more polish. Frontman Jared Leto’s heartthrob looks and heart-on-sleeve demeanor are well suited to the band’s current brand of anthemic and epic pop rock.
Photo courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
WHAT: Tricky (TWinkle Rock Festival)
WHEN: Aug. 3 at 9pm
Photo courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
WHERE: Legacy Taipei (傳音樂展演空間), located at Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914), Center Five Hall (中五館), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號)
TICKETS: NT$3,500, available through taiffon.net and 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
ON THE NET: www.twinklerockfestival.com
Photo courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
HE came, he sang, he chewed betel nut — Tricky had a good time in Taiwan headlining the Music Terminals festival in 2009, at least according to a written account by Cameron Potts of the band Cuba Is Japan, who also played that now-defunct summer festival. This time around, the UK trip-hop legend will be performing at Legacy Taipei as part of the TWinkle Rock Festival. It’s likely he’ll focus on tracks from his latest album, Mixed Race (2010), which sees Tricky restlessly wandering from the dank and gloomy atmosphere of his 1990s work into more upbeat territory.
WHAT: The Ting Tings (TWinkle Rock Festival)
WHEN: Aug. 5 at 9pm
WHERE: Studio 18, 5F, 22 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路22號5樓), tel: (02) 2723-5671
TICKETS: NT$3,500, available through taiffon.net and 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
ON THE NET: www.twinklerockfestival.com
The Tings Tings are a Manchester duo that performs electro-rock and dance punk. Vocalist Katie White has a pristine voice that serves as the perfect foil for the band’s raw guitar and sampled electronica sound. The Ting Tings have a keen ear for big, hipster-pleasing pop hooks — one good example is Shut Up and Let Me Go, which was featured in an iPod commercial. Their debut album, We Started Nothing (2008), has sold more than 2 million copies, and as a new album is expected for release later this year, fans might get a sneak preview of the new material.
WHAT: Suede
WHEN: Aug. 5 at 8pm
WHERE: Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall (台北世界貿易中心南港展覽館), 1 Jingmao 2nd Rd, Taipei City (台北市經貿二路1號)
TICKETS: NT$1,800 to NT$3,800, available through ERA ticketing and online at www.ticket.com.tw
Taiwanese Brit-pop fans were treated to a solo show by Suede lead singer Brett Anderson at the Simple Life Festival in 2008. This time they’re getting the whole package. Suede received a warm reception when it started playing reunion concerts last year, which included an appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California. Suede will be in Taipei as part of the group’s Asian tour, and fans yearning to hear classics like The Beautiful Ones, Trash and Saturday Night played live should not be disappointed.
WHAT: James Blunt
WHEN: Aug. 16 at 8pm
WHERE: Taipei Show Hall 2 (台北展演二館), formerly the Taipei World Trade Center Hall 2 (原台北世貿二館), 3 Songlian Rd, Taipei City (台北市松廉路3號). Free after-party at Room 18, B1, 88 Songren Rd, Taipei City (台北市松仁路88號)
TICKETS: NT$1,800 to NT$3,800, available through ERA ticketing and online at www.ticket.com.tw
Just in case you haven’t heard You’re Beautiful enough times — it was practically the theme song to every store in Taipei when it was released — James Blunt is scheduled to play the venue formerly known as the Taipei World Trade Center. The British singer’s pop hooks are as sharp as ever on his latest album Some Kind of Trouble, songs from which Taipei fans are likely to hear next month.
WHAT: Beady Eye (TWinkle Rock Festival)
WHEN: Sept. 14 at 9pm
WHERE: Studio 18, 5F, 22 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路22號5樓), tel: (02) 2723-5671
TICKETS: NT$3,500, available through taiffon.net and 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
ON THE NET: www.twinklerockfestival.com
Brit-pop lovers in Taipei are in for a treat this summer. First they get to see Suede reunited, and then there’s Beady Eye, the band composed of the former members of Oasis, minus guitarist Noel Gallagher, who left the band after an altercation with his brother, vocalist Liam Gallagher. Despite Noel’s departure, Liam continues to lead the band and has kept on with Oasis’ signature combination of sweet and brash pop rock. The band is the final act of the TWinkle Rock Festival.
WHAT: Linkin Park
WHEN: Sept. 19 at 8pm
WHERE: Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall (台北世界貿易中心南港展覽館), 1 Jingmao 2nd Rd, Taipei City (台北市經貿二路1號)
TICKETS: NT$1,500 to NT$4,800, available through ERA ticketing and online at www.ticket.com.tw
The beloved American nu-metal/rock band makes its regular annual Taipei stop in September.
In the next few months tough decisions will need to be made by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and their pan-blue allies in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It will reveal just how real their alliance is with actual power at stake. Party founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) faced these tough questions, which we explored in part one of this series, “Ko Wen-je, the KMT’s prickly ally,” (Aug. 16, page 12). Ko was open to cooperation, but on his terms. He openly fretted about being “swallowed up” by the KMT, and was keenly aware of the experience of the People’s First Party
Aug. 25 to Aug. 31 Although Mr. Lin (林) had been married to his Japanese wife for a decade, their union was never legally recognized — and even their daughter was officially deemed illegitimate. During the first half of Japanese rule in Taiwan, only marriages between Japanese men and Taiwanese women were valid, unless the Taiwanese husband formally joined a Japanese household. In 1920, Lin took his frustrations directly to the Ministry of Home Affairs: “Since Japan took possession of Taiwan, we have obeyed the government’s directives and committed ourselves to breaking old Qing-era customs. Yet ... our marriages remain unrecognized,
Not long into Mistress Dispeller, a quietly jaw-dropping new documentary from director Elizabeth Lo, the film’s eponymous character lays out her thesis for ridding marriages of troublesome extra lovers. “When someone becomes a mistress,” she says, “it’s because they feel they don’t deserve complete love. She’s the one who needs our help the most.” Wang Zhenxi, a mistress dispeller based in north-central China’s Henan province, is one of a growing number of self-styled professionals who earn a living by intervening in people’s marriages — to “dispel” them of intruders. “I was looking for a love story set in China,” says Lo,
Standing on top of a small mountain, Kim Seung-ho gazes out over an expanse of paddy fields glowing in their autumn gold, the ripening grains swaying gently in the wind. In the distance, North Korea stretches beyond the horizon. “It’s so peaceful,” says the director of the DMZ Ecology Research Institute. “Over there, it used to be an artillery range, but since they stopped firing, the nature has become so beautiful.” The land before him is the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, a strip of land that runs across the Korean peninsula, dividing North and South Korea roughly along the 38th parallel north. This
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