I’ve only been to a few concerts in China and most of them involved a lot of foreigners. I’ve never been to one of these outlandish concerts where male popstars walk a fine line between tacky and cross-dresser like. I wasn’t sure that Chinese people even liked music where the singer’s sex was virtually indistinguishable, let alone 70’s country-rock.
But then I got to go see the Eagles in Beijing and my perceptions of Chinese and their music tastes changed – for the better.
First of all, I was a little surprised that the Eagles, of all bands, were coming to China. They didn’t start advertising it until about January and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be another hoax (Bob Dylan was supposed to come to Shanghai last year, but someone up in Beijing put the stop to that). I knew I wanted to go see them and knew a few other lao wais who would want to go too. I didn’t really know any Chinese friends who would be interested because frankly, I didn’t know the Eagles were popular among the natives. Sure, I’ve heard cheesy renditions of Hotel California playing in the mall and Desperado is a go-to song for non-Chinese singing KTVers, but I didn’t realize how popular the Eagles were until I asked around about a week before the concert.
I told the mother of the little girl I tutor on the weekends that I wasn’t going to be in Shanghai the next weekend because I was going to Beijing to see my brother. She asked what I had planned to do and I told her we were going to the Eagles concert. “Oh we’re going here in Shanghai.” Oh really? I was surprised this conservative-looking family (who is definitely racking in the money) knew about and even liked the Eagles. She went on to explain that her husband was a big Eagles fan in college. “He used to want to be in a band like the Eagles. He used to play the drums.” Ok, I thought. So maybe this guy is like Chinese 30-year-something-old version of my dad.
Then I was talking about the concert with some coworkers. While the post 80s generation (those born after 1980, younger than 30 and are only children), might not be too keen on the Eagles, a lot of the 70s-born are it seems. My coworker was telling me that she and her classmates learned English in high school and college with help from the Eagles. “A lot of us grew up listening to the Eagles, and it brings back happy memories of younger years for me.” I told her that I also grew up listening to the Eagles – not to improve my English but from my dad playing on the stereo all the time.
After learning that the Eagles do actually have a significant fan base in China, it was time to go to Beijing. The concert got off to a slow start with the Eagle’s playing some stuff from their “new” album, which I equated to my mom was “Grandpa music.” But about three songs in they really got going. Now, I’ve been to about 5 Eagles concerts in my life and this was by far the most unique. The band is getting on up there in age, but it was neat to be sitting with a bunch of Chinese people who appreciate the same music I grew up listening to. They cheered, danced and were a pretty energetic crowd! And boy did they go crazy for Hotel California and Desperado.
My brother, who has been in China for going on 5 years, said it was the best concert he’d seen in China. I was glad to not only see a really good show, but also share in an important part of my culture and my home country’s culture half way around the world.
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