Live review from Underground Heavy #5
Setlist:
1. Shining Kiss
2. 10 Minutes’ Love
3. Where Did You Go?
4. Heng Xing
5. Love Trap
Aaah, Wu So Lui. Not much had changed about his set from the last time I saw him – there’s still the same cooked up drama, the very self-conscious manner of performing, the dresses, and the accomplice who proceeds to get beaten up. A big part of why the act works is that his acknowledgement of its comic basis is implicitly obvious, but never explicitly stated. The fact that he finds it funny and is enjoying himself tremendously up on stage also adds to the entertainment, with all the three ponytails going in different directions as he headbangs and jumps around on stage. This was, of course, the same approach that made KISS and others of their ilk so popular – making any implied femininity a butch joke. Which is good, because if he hadn’t tacitly indicated the joke, the persona would become a lot creepier and make people uncomfortable (a la the New York Dolls). The act is still essentially un-musical, and is hence stationary. There can be little change to its basic contents if the ruse is intended to be maintained; which means that if you’ve seen him once, you won’t see much different the next time. It is purely entertainment for entertainment’s sake.
However, the entertainment quotient is quite high, and people do enjoy the act – and this night was no different. He did the ‘over-earnest-talent-show-participant’ bit while opening Shining Kiss, abandoning it intermittently to do the ‘knees-bent-assaulter’ bit, while screaming the words. It basically remained the same through the other songs, with the oodles of cheesy pop-metal riffs provided his only back-up. This was inadequate on the night, as the volume of the track was way too low for the synchronised singing to be seamless – one kept being distracted by the thin-sounding track. Even though it was made progressively louder through the set, it never was quite enough. Luckily, most people would’ve been watching, rather than listening, the pantomimic activities during Heng Xing, consisting of a guy in a massive panda costume-head and a plant in the audience being ‘beaten up’ somewhat comically. 10 Minutes’ Love even featured a guest vocalist in the form of a petite girl, who could actually sing and scream, and compete with WSL. However, this was not taken advantage of as both singers were separate on stage, and didn’t use the opportunity of having someone else on stage. There was even a blow-up-nurse doll that was crowd-surfed around during the song. The set ended with Love Trap, which had the meatiest and arguably the best-quality backing track, and right up to the end, the audience was in all the way. While I still maintain that it’s not a musical act, it’s still an interesting interpretive metal pantomime (not to mention the only one around).
– Shashwati
二零零一年一月二十九日，是Underground 今年第二個音樂會“Heavy 5″的舉行日子。當晚演出者包括The priceless boat、This is ammunition、The innercore、Trash 21、Intellectual morans和鬍鬚女。 鬍鬚女，一個身型健壯的大男人，一身短裙跟摔角裝扮。當晚不認識他的人，有些覺得驚訝，亦有人覺得有趣或可笑。但當他踏上台表演時，場內的觀眾都為他而喝采。鬍鬚女的演出十分之特出，不僅因為他是一個白人在唱廣東歌，而且他也把香港的流行音樂變成外國的重金屬音樂，令到本地的觀眾都不停地讚好。雖然鬍鬚女沒有樂隊伴奏，但他的氣勢也沒有比其他樂隊弱。他除了是一個俱創意的歌手，也是一個出色的表演者。他會在每一首歌後和大家製造氣氛，也會在演出時大叫一句「let’s mosh！」，和觀眾融為一體，也令現場氣氛大大增加。當晚的音樂會真是令人難忘，我亦相信，如果沒有鬍鬚女的話，當晚的氣氛一定沒這麼好。
- SuperW
Global Battle of the Bands Hong Kong 2010 Special Guest PerformerLive review from GBOB HK Final 2010 
This was followed by Wu So Lui, who was, as always, fascinating to watch in all his dressy glory, and cool to listen to, singing to the cheesiest, most awesome-sounding riffs, and his many ponytails spinning as he headbanged. And, as always, the crowd ate out of his…er, her…whatever’s hands, taken in by his immense stage-presence, infectious energy and the riff-laden music chosen for the many antics to be performed against. – Shashwati
Live Review from Underground Heavy #4:
Wu So Lui is such an exception he (she?) had to break The Underground rules. On the home page of this very web site, it is said that “THE UNDERGROUND was created in April 2004 as a result of the dearth of live music venues in Hong Kong, and to provide a showcase for the unsigned talent in Hong Kong to strut their original music.” Wu So Lui is such an exception that he has no original music. Not only that, he also does not have live music, only live singing. And you’d probably think that as soon as the music started, the organizer would have kicked him out (not that she could actually kick him at all). Not only that, I was asked by different people throughout the show, prior to his (her?) hitting the stage whether I have seen him (I have not) and to treat his show more like entertainment. So, to sum it up, Wu So Lui is a karaoke comedy performance of his very own style of Cantocore, which is hardcoredized cantopop. Now it’s much more exciting than it sounded, and Wu So Lui would definitely treat you to lots of headbanging and Cantonese interaction (apparently English-speaking folks need not apply) even though he’s clearly (both visually and vocally) a Westerner. Pause. If I write any longer everyone else would probably think I’m serving favouritism. But with no run-of-the-mill background music, you could tell his hardcore music is really quite good. And, really, it begs the question, when is he going to record all these mutant cover songs? - Bun Ng
Live Review from Underground Heavy #3:
Setlist:
1. My Pride
2. Love Trap
3. Let’s Get Wet
4. Love Tutorial
Before I say anything about this act, let me specify that very little in the following portions of text will be about music.Dawn introduced him, but she really had to sweat the nomenclature; plenty of arguments and smart-assed comments mixed with the “intro”, about gender. The “Bearded Lady” had to be coaxed out of his backstage hiding-place (I know…just get used to the rapidly switching gender references) by the audience chanting his name. Out he came in floral, strapless garb that the pepperpots on Python would have been proud of, and proceeded to take the stage in classic Susan Boyle stance. When the first track began to play, a sweet American Idol-esque song began; but the audience was onto him, as chuckles and anticipating banter abounded. Then, as the music got heavier and moved into hardcore territory, the headbanging began, the vocals were spit out, and the audience was rolling with laughter mixed with feeble attempts at headbanging, led by him (which most people were too busy to do, for filming the thing going on onstage, anyhow).Love Trap saw the act escalate, with his partner in crime coming on, and an action-comedy-pantomime-type-thing followed, replete with fake punching, mean stares, pelvic thrusts, and exaggerated 3 Stooges style slapstick. His control of the crowd was remarkable - they were certainly all on …uh… his side, and went along with every beat of every joke that I’m guessing he cracked (I was not privy to the meaning, not speaking Cantonese myself, but it sure seemed like it was funny). He moved between smarmy pop and pissed-off metal-style personas with almost schizophrenic ease. His 3 ponytails were clearly free spirits as well; each moved of its own accord. The thing about the act is, though, it would be MUCH less enjoyable if he wasn’t a good singer, much like Tenacious D. I’ve never seen Jayne (formerly Wayne) County play live (just videos), but I imagine this was a lot like that. However, to add a legitimate musical side to his show, he really should get a band to back him - he’s certainly got the pipes for it. The massive roar that saw him off left no doubt that he had captured the audience’s hearts.– Shashwati
Performances:
