Hi all,
Just moved to Taoyuan county last month from Shanghai to escape the environment and was wondering if there are venues in Taipei similar to the JZ Club, JZ Latin, or Yuyintang in Shanghai where there are different live big band/smooth jazz, Latin, funk, hard rock, or electronic bands playing almost every night. I’ve searched a bit and found names like Sappho, Brown Sugar and Riverside. Are these still recommended places to go? And does gigguide.tw provide listings for all types of music or just specific ones? I’m not expecting a big US or European scene, but at least something to get me out and introduced to non-pop music made or at least played in Taiwan.
On a side note, is there a website, magazine, or newspaper with a comprehensive listing of restaurants and art exhibitions like smartshanghai.com?
Thanks.
I like Brown Sugar, granted it’s been some time since I’ve been but one night was there they had salsa dancing (which i suck at so I just watched and drank) but another night they had a live band playing top 40 which is more my speed.
One thing you will learn about Taoyuan is that if you want to do things in Taipei the location doesn’t give you a lot of flexibility unless you have wheels. The trains stop running about midnight and I’m not sure what time the buses stop into Taoyuan from Taipei but I’d imagine close to the same.
Sadly Taoyuan is lacking any really good places like that but if you don’t mind hanging out in Taipei until the early hours of the morning you can always take the train home when the sun comes up too. (Oh wait it doesn’t in Taoyuan)
Brown Sugar is what you are looking for. I think there was one in Xintiandi until a bit ago, but it started in Taipei. The woman who the club was named after, Mandy Gaines, is there for the next four months or so and she is an amazing singer so check her out.
Sappho is good for band nights but pretty small. Bobwundaye is intimate but has lots of bands playing there (facebook.com/pages/Bobwunda … 2530779773). Wednesdays are jam nights.
Revolver has a second floor which is almost purely bands now and there is a variety (facebook.com/RevolverTW)
also a great event coming up is the Urban Nomad party which will feature 7-8 bands outside (+ DJ tent) and the headliners are the Drowned Shrimps, a Japanese 8piece funk outfit and they all dress up like shrimp. it’s going to be a pretty amazing day
facebook.com/events/946531262033009/
cheers
Actually, there’s a nice, small bar with live band and super atmosphere (Friday & Saturday) that you could enjoy in Taoyuan, especially you don’t want to stay with many people.
It’s a historic bar for 26 years, I saw many foreigners there last time, and my French boss loves it as well.
Since there’s not many seats, I will send you the private message or I will have no seats next time, haha~ 