2 Kuai richer 物超所值的2块钱

Plenty has been written so far about the one kuai challenge last weekend so I won’t go on about the background – go read it elsewhere on this site. I won’t be reviewing Saturday night as there were plenty of people there much better at that than me who will I am sure. I am not going to review the bands on Sunday either as I am way too lazy for that. So what the fuck am I going to write about?

Sunday afternoon. The new Friday night? Probably not but on the basis of this most recent Sunday and the Pairs organized one a few weeks back could Sunday shows be something we will see more of? The Pairs show had a pretty good crowd which was cool but this one was completely bonkers – I arrived about 15 minutes late (on time start – hooray) and wandered in and pretty much stopped dead. I couldn’t move for people although as for last time the bar was empty which was handy. So I armed myself with a beer and contemplated trying to squeeze my beer belly in to the front of house crowd but thought better of that.

So I went around the back and didn’t make it further than the stairs. Which were also packed solid. I can’t remember the last time I saw YYT this full and from what my rather slapdash market research revealed the majority of folks were at YYT for the first time which was seriously cool. One girl was there with her Mum which I thought was awesome as Mum was well into The Horde.

So there you go – YYT packed to the gunnels on a Sunday afternoon with a predominantly (almost totally actualy if we exclude the bands) young Chinese crowd who normally don’t go to gigs. Hats off to the organisers – absolutely stunning turn out, talking to people it seems the show went sort of viral on the interwebs here, I should have asked where and stuff but didn’t so let’s guess Weibo. Or something, the word Douban was met with blank stares more often than not. Or maybe that was due to my rubbish pronunciation.
So the big question is why so many folks? I have discussed this with a few people and my view is it comes down to two things – cost and cost. And study pressure. That’s three then. Cost – it was free, Pairs show was RMB20, RMB40+ is a lot when you are a student and who knows how anyone can afford to go a certain other venue. Cost – transport, as shows have got later catching the last train means missing most of the show and a taxi back to university land is stupidly expensive. Study pressure – even crazy Mum allows her future doctor/lawyer a wee bit of time off on Sunday. Or maybe it is easier to lie and say you’re meeting your mates down the mall.

That’s all great then but what about the venue and the bands? The bands all played for free, there was no door take and of course the bar wasn’t exactly doing a roaring trade. But perhaps that’s just an opportunity to provide something a bit different for what is a very different audience/market? Soft drinks – back when I was doing my national service bar work during University the mark up on post mix was enough to fix the EU debt crisis. Food – sure it’s a bummer that the park is out of bounds during the day but maybe there is an opportunity to flog some simple stuff? I have yet to meet a 20 something kid here who didn’t love stuffing crispy animal or whatever products down their mouth or feasting a bit of BBQ. Or awesome buns of boiling liquid and pork stuff. Or maybe I am talking complete rubbish, how much mark-up could you make on one of those lethal buns?

Anyway, all that commercial bollocks aside, many moons ago when I thought spots were horrible and not something to celebrate as a sign of youth and lived in the country I was born in there was this cultural tradition called a “Sunday Session”. Idea was being a school night and all that you started early so you could impress the ladies with your ability to jump around like an idiot to your favourite band and then pass out in a heap all before 7PM. Wouldn’t it be cool if we saw Sunday afternoons become a regular thing?

目前为止，已经写了很多关于上周那极富挑战的一块钱，在此我就不再多做介绍了——到这个网站上其他地方看一下吧。这次我没打算写周六晚上演出活动的回顾，相信比我擅长的大有人在。也懒得提笔写周日乐队的情况。所以，写什么好呢？

周日下午。又是一个新的周五晚上了吗？或许不是但近几个周日，看乐队演出几乎排满了我的行程，还记得几个星期前Paris乐队组织过一场非常出色的演出，不知道今后能不能多一些类似的周日表演？Pairs乐队的演出聚集了大量的粉丝，非常棒但也几近疯狂——我迟到了15分钟（演出准时开始—万岁），几乎迷失在拥挤的人群中，彻底不能动弹。还记得之前吧台是没什么人的， 可如今已是举步维艰。买完瓶啤酒，我尝试着挤进前面的人群，突然觉得还好有这啤酒肚。

绕到人群后面，我发现就连楼梯附近也已挤满了人。已经不记得上次育婴堂这么人潮拥挤是什么时候了，但仅凭个人粗略的市场调查发现这里大多数的人还是第一次来育音堂，这一点着实令人可喜。其中有一个女孩和她妈妈一起，妈妈很快就融入了人群，随音乐一起舞动，非常厉害！

你会发现——一个周日下午，一群通常不会看演唱会的人簇拥在育音堂，其中主要是中国的年轻人（几乎是全部，事实上如果不包括乐队的话）。向活动的主办人致敬——绝对叹为观止的精彩构思和强烈反响，据说关于演出的精彩反响已经像病毒一样在网络上迅速传开，我本应该问具体是哪个网站或者网页什么的，但没有。试想应该是微博吧。又或者是那个叫“豆瓣”的网站但往往也有可能不是，可能是因为我糟糕的发音所致。

最大的问题就是，为什么这么多人呢？我们几个人也有讨论过，个人认为这归结于两点——门票和交通费用。还有就是学习压力，这是第三点。门票——免费，Paris 乐队演出门票之前是20元人民币，对一个学生来说，40多块钱不是小数目，而且谁知道是不是所有人都能负担的起去另一个地方看演出。交通费用——交通，如果演出延时了，赶末班轨交就意味着要错过大部分的精彩演出， 而打车回学校的费用又将会是一笔巨大开销。学习压力——即便再严厉的母亲也会允许她未来的医生/律师在星期天放个短假吧。或者谎称和朋友同学去逛街也许会更简单一些。

倘若一切顺利进行，那么演出场地和乐队又将如何？所有乐队免费演出，不会关门，当然酒吧也并不是做什么大生意。这也许仅仅是一个机会，为一群特别的观众/市场提供一些不一样的东西吧？软饮料——这让我回想起之前的大学时期的打工生活，费劲心思给那些饮料标价足以解决欧债危机。食物——无意是个坏消息，天山公园白天是属于界外不能使用的，但希望有机会能租用提供一些简单的餐点。我还没见过一个20多岁的孩子不喜欢BBQ这些脆皮烧烤类 或者是蒸猪肉之类食物的。或者我可能又要说废话了， 您觉得应该给这么一个小面包开价多少呢？

不管怎样，闲话暂且搁置，很多年前我住在一个乡村，那是我出生的地方，那时候的我还觉得斑点是非常可怕的，作为青年人的成长印记也没什么值得庆祝的。那里就有一个传统叫做 “Sunday Session”。大概是每周一到周五的其中一个晚上，所有的人都会很早出发，为了给女生们留下印象，他们会竭尽全力像傻瓜一样痴狂的随音乐舞动，跟随着自己最喜欢的乐队蹦跳狂欢，直到晚上7点之前累晕在人群中。如果能把星期天下午的活动发展成为定期演出，难道不觉得非常酷吗？

Translated by Zoe.