This weekend we were treated to a rare and special performance by some Beijing rockers. Beijing punk rock is known for its creative, aggressive, gritty, and down to earth sound. A group of bands are currently on tour in the US. The concert stop in Washington DC was a show with Xiao He and PK14 at the Velvet Lounge. Coincidentally, my own band performed at the Velvet Lounge some 10 years prior to just a small audience of friends on a quiet Sunday night. This night was different as the Velvet Lounge was packed to the gills with a curious, young, and preppier than average for a punk concert DC crowd. The first act was Xiao He, performing his solo experimental artsy sound. The place was uncomfortably hot and crowded so we only caught part of the show as we were downstairs trying to stay cool. We got to say hello to Xiao He after the show however and found him to be a friendly pleasant chap. In between sets we also chatted with PK14’s bassist and guitarist. They seemed very down to earth and a bit awestruck by the energy and size of the DC crowd packed into such a cramped upstairs concert space. It turned out that their recent Philadelphia show, similar to their European shows, only drew a fraction of the DC crowd. Perhaps the combination of the Washington Post article about Beijing rock and the new associated photography exhibit featuring portraits of Beijing’s rockers really drummed up quite a bit of publicity. CNN also recently featured this tour as a historic first for mainland Chinese music. Prior to PK14’s performance, we tried to find a suitable spot to stand. We lucked out as we discovered that standing right next to the staircase gave a direct unobstructed view of the stage. With such prime real estate I was able to capture the ENTIRE performance unobstructed on my tiny Flip camera. Thats right, below is the COMPLETE concert footage of this high energy powerful rock group! Check out the videos and notice that at the end of the concert the audience just kind of swarmed the stage with their frenzied dancing causing the band to take cover and try to finish up the set without being shoved off stage. What a night!