Massive Attack @ Taipei

One of these days while walking on the street we saw the promotion of a rock festival in Taipei, the TWinkle Rock Festival

Massive Attack was on the line up and we like Massive Attack :). The fact is that Taiwan is only able to get this kind of groups (Pet Shop Boys were playing the day after) because the group are attending big festivals (mostly Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic in Japan) and they agree to play in Taiwan on the way in or out from Japan. This short article (.pdf) explains about it in detail.

At the very last minute, as usual, we decided to buy the tickets. After browsing around we could find Islandjam Tickets selling discounted tickets but we were too late. In Taiwan it is a lot cheaper if you buy things in advance or you buy a pack of things. In our case we had to buy normal price tickets at a FamilyMart (this is a chain of convenience stores in Taiwan, originally from Japan).  They have a type of kiosk called “FamiPort” where you can buy a lot of things. Really convenient I must say :)

With the help of a friend who can read Chinese characters we managed to buy the cheapest tickets, for the most far away area from the scenario. Around 2000TWD ~ 47€ each, so really expensive!

The concert was taking place at the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall, that is at the end of the blue and brow lines of the MRT at Taipei, very easy to reach.

Martina Topley Bird, opened the show with a solo set for 40 minutes or so. After a short break the concert of Massive Attack started with a combination of old classic songs (it was kind of flashback to my days at university) and songs from their latest album Heligoland. Visual elements are a big part of Massive Attack’s concert, which include a light show and LED signboards that broadcast the band’s political concerns in a format similar to a cable TV news ticker. They paid attention to the details and had all messages both in English and Chinese.

It was a good concert that lasted around two hours.

Few “funny” details for foreigners like us:

• People from the organization were patrolling around to avoid people from the public taking pictures or videos from the concert. They tried their best but it was a kind of useless job. See video at the end of the post :)
• I think it was smoke free concert or something… we just saw very few people smoking cigarettes.
• There was no place (inside the concert) to buy drinks. You had to go outside to a nearby convenience store and bring it to the concert.
• The floor was really really clean at the end of the concert :) (see below)

And if you are interested, few videos: