Event:	Suidakra: Chinese Mini Tour
Written by:	Ernis
Published:	03.07.2009
Galleries:	CHN, Beijing - Suidakra: Chinese Mini Tour by Ernis (25)

'Twas in Beijing during the German music week when several German artists were playing at various concerts and happenings in different towns all over China. That week there we had already attended a concert of Doro who victoriously returned to the loving Beijing audience after her most successful previous visit in November. The people could all join in singing along the anthem "All We Are" with our mother of all metal once again and it was grand.

Metal events are a relatively rare occurrence in China which means that every event of a similar kind is a true blessing for the local audiences, especially if it is free of charge for visitors since ticket prices can be very high in Beijing's venues. This week's main headliners and peoples' favorites were Doro and Suidakra, Doro having performed two days earlier in the more stately Starlive hall and Suidakra raising the roof in the comfortable and small Yugong Yishan club. I have already covered Doro's story once when she was in Starlive last year. This time the focal point of the review shall concern Suidakra's performance in Yugong Yishan.

Everyone had gathered in the bar to wait for the gig to begin. That evening there were two warm-up acts to get the party started. The first one was a very nice musical experience offered by Kira, a beautiful German alternative-rock singer who had already toured in China the previous year and had gained considerable popularity. Her success in China had also inspired her to translate some of her songs to Chinese such as the "Geboren im Winter" ("Born In Winter"). She delighted the audience also by including more Chinese surprise songs during the evening. Her free and soft style somewhat similar to Alanis Morissette and Anette Olzon's Alyson Avenue was a nice and pleasant introduction for the event, made even more enjoyable by the leisurely and carefree positive stage presence of the singer.



After Kira the stage was taken by Vorzeigekinder, a punk group. Of them I do not have that much more to write about except for that they were lively, heated up the room and whipped those near the stage to the required level of excitement. The young German lads seemed especially to attract young girls. For more mature and male audience the time was perfect for having ale and cooling oneself in the evening air on the street, sitting down, waiting for proper metal and deciding which Suidakra albums to buy which were available for sale that evening at the bar reception.



And then it finally started. People gathered around the stage, sat on the stairs ascending to the stage, waited for the headliners to arrive and start playing. Since I had planned a gallery of decent pictures for Metalstorm, I was rather concerned with the business of taking them from amongst the audience. Doro was relatively challenging to be caught on a photograph because of her restless and powerful but very fast-moving-around stage presence. The Suidakra members didn't stay exactly still on the stage either. Luckily I managed to get some misty shots which I hope suit the gallery fine and illustrate the current review well.


I admit Suidakra was new to me, as was Doro before I saw her for the first time. And here come the main strong points of the bands. If a band is so grand and good on stage that can leave a profound good impression even on audience who listen for the songs for the first time, then the band is truly doing a wonderful job. I was positively impressed by both Doro and Suidakra. It is a very large gift for the faithful Chinese metal audience indeed to have had the chance of attending events such as this.

Suidakra's style, melodic death metal with folk influences, and their stage presence made them loved a lot by the Chinese people, both these who were new to Suidakra, some new to metal all in all and of course for those who had waited to see the group. The setlist was catchy and kept the audience energetic during the whole show. The band was proudly presenting new songs from their new album Crógacht and also introducing Sebastian now as a full-time guitarist and singer and he did a good job on stage. Arkadius being the spirit of the group was the source of most of the force from the stage with Marcus and Sebastian being the steady vocal, instrumental and moral support and not to forget Lars behind the drums doing his best.



Thus the band did raise the roof that evening with their catchy performance and merry interaction with the audience (including Arkadius stagediving and sharing the moshpit with the people). A very pleasant night it was and of course the people asked them to return to the stage for some more songs. In the end the band announced they would be playing in Beijing again very soon, more precisely, the same week, but in another club. As for those who wish to know which songs were played, I raise my hands in the air in ignorance since I am new to the bands music after all and in the review I'm merely covering the event as such. They did play "Pendragon's Fall" though, yeh that's the song's name I caught. The overall stage presence and the evening was very fine, the music was good and both the band and audience feeling great of being there. It is good to see the band and all the musicians doing all good and fine. Let us hope they will return to China and also visit many other countries in the future as well and continue writing fine Celtic metal tunes to share with us.