The most anticipated act of After the Scream was definitely The Hsu-nami. Other than sporting a completely awesome name, The Hsu-nami also brought some amazing music and a wild show to Revolver. It’s no wonder that their set had the second floor completely packed with people. The Hsu-nami was definitely one act that I wish I could have seen at Spring Scream.
Before the set even began, I had already gotten a taste of what kind of wild show to expect since Jack Hsu played with Monkey Pilot earlier in the evening. Despite that, I was completely looking forward to hearing what the man could do in the company of his own regular bandmates. Let me just say, it was awesome. Before that night, I would never have thought that an Erhu could rock with the rest of the instruments, but boy was I wrong. In Hsu’s hands, that particular traditional Chinese instrument was turned into another voice in a very complex, but ultimately awesome musical performance.
What was probably the most surprising aspect of their performance was that Hsu wasn’t the only maniac on stage that night. Guitarist Brent Bergholm and keyboardist Dana Goldberg both put on extremely energetic performances that matched even the topsy-turvy whirlwind on the Erhu. Between Hsu running rampant around (and off) the stage, Bergholm pumping the crowd up with shouting and headbanging, and Goldberg’s inspired keyboard act, there was never a dull moment. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Taiwanese bands really need to get it together on the show end of business.
Notes
Because The Hsu-nami had the longest set that night, I got the chance to experiment and shoot literally hundreds of frames. Things started off available light, shooting with my now Revolver standard of ISO3200, 1/200 @ f/2.8. Afterwards, because of the poor light distribution on-stage and also to play with flash some, I went with my SB-700 on the SC-29 i-TTL cord. After going back to available light for while, I started using the on-camera flash on my D7000 @ FEV-3.0 — camera settings remained at available light levels — for fill. In the end, I think the on-camera flash worked extremely well, and I look forward to trying it out some more should the opportunity arise.
Gear
Nikon D7000 (Amazon)
Nikon AF 24mm f/2.8D (Amazon)
Nikon AF 50mm f/1.4D (Amazon)
Nikon AF 80-200mm f/2.8D (Amazon)
Nikon SB-700 (Amazon)
Nikon SC-29 (Amazon)
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