Today was meant to be Funk Ska Nation, a show I manifested, planned and curated in the latter part of 2019. I had an awesome line-up and it was going to be an amazing opening show for the Underground’s 16th year. Then it all unraveled yesterday as I got an update that a crucial member of The Red Stripes was ill and they would have to pull out…
In all of these years of The Underground, we’ve only ever rescheduled one show and that was for Ladybeard in 2016 (he got sick and wasn’t permitted to fly to HK!). We have had bands pull out for various reasons in the past and normally we would find another band to replace the unable-to-perform band but in this case, I just could not bear to do it. I have been waiting years for The Red Stripes to match a date with our Underground events, I’ve curated them for other events over the years and as one of our few International acts in HK, I am prepared to wait for them.
Yesterday went quickly, as an alternate date was fixed, deliveries cancelled, postponement news sent out, rescheduling of other bands, etc etc.
I was feeling down overall as I had put in heaps of promotional hours into this show and I had been so looking forward to attending the event for a couple of months. What I did feel grateful for, was the understanding of the venue, the other bands, the alcohol sponsors and the general support & love from family and friends. The event has now been rescheduled to 21st March and sadly JUNK! cannot make that night (now you’ll never ever know what ‘anti-ska’ is!), but we have secured an equally-amazing replacement band for the event, so I’ll be busy working on that now!
