Earlier this year we had an interview and made a review about Hanggai’s newest album in which they said they would promote the new songs in their 2019 tours and we wanted to check that out. This time however we got the opportunity to catch not one but two shows of these interesting musicians; November 7th in Luxor Live, Arnhem and November 10th in Paradiso Noord, Amsterdam.
Arnhem
Léonie: Really close to Arnhem’s central station is venue Luxor Live. It is a really pretty venue on the out- and inside due to that it’s an old monument renovated to the beautiful space it is today. This created a perfect environment for this traditional band mixed with rock. Greeted by staff saying that it will be a very special night I stepped in the venue, I haven’t listen to Hanggai that much and didn’t know what to expect. A little bit before the start of the show the venue was filled with about 350-400 people, Hanggai really is loved by Dutch people!
There was no openingsact so the men begin their show at 8 straight, one for one members entered the stage and got a loud applause. Last but not least singer Hurizha entered in his long beautiful punkrock coat. This coat has many details in it and I was actually sad he took it off after a few songs. Hanggai’s music this night was really diverse, they played some rock-ish songs followed by quiet moments to appreciate and respect the Mongolian traditional instruments and throat singing. I really liked that they gave attention to that.
Two songs I won’t forget from this night are the Drinking song and Horse of Color, both songs are very upbeat and fun. The crowd enjoyed those too, everyone was dancing and jumping around. Although not much English was spoken between and in the songs you could still sense what was happening, and that’s what good music is. Hanggai played for 1,5 hour so I was confused when it was only 21:30 which meant I didn’t had to stress about train times and got time to check the merch, that’s some good planning Arnhem! It was a very special night, just what the staff said and we’ll meet again.
Amsterdam
Mayo: For me it’s been around 9 times now that I’ve had the pleasure to see this band live so for me it’s not a new thing however I absolutely loved this show. I was shocked how jam packed Paradiso Noord was when the lights went out, it were mostly Chinese with a couple of dutch people. The only thing that’s changed for me is the group itself. One of the original members and the drummer I knew well weren’t there but in his place two new members joined. One on guitar and the drummer. Starting their set out with Wuxi and some slower songs that had everyone sway slowly and as always as soon as Batubagan and Ilchi were throat singing I couldn’t keep my eyes of them. Batubagan did his solo of Hairan Hairan, which is my favorite song ever. I absolutely loved it and when they came to the faster songs everyone was dancing around excitedly for some reason I’m always without a drink when they launch into Drinking Song but it will never not make me join in happily.
When the show ended Allan announced they would be selling merch and signing for people and they got the time so everyone seemed to rush out to meet the band. Hurizha was the first to stand at the table and we bought the Homeland album since that’s the one we didn’t have yet, though it was quite the struggle because some of the fans seemed extremely frantic and even pulled the cd out of our hands to check it out. The tour manager scolded her slightly before giving us another one and we paid for it and had the vocalist sign it before patiently waiting for the guitarist, Batubagan and Allan to come out and sign our album aswell. Unfortunatly Ilchi didn’t come out while we waited and we gave up and went back home. Out of all I have no regret seeing them 9 times so far and the next time I’ll still come out to dance to this awesome band.
Don’t forget to read our interview with Ilchi from Hanggai, Our Big Band Brass album review and to follow Hanggai at the following social media and streaming services
HP: https://hanggaiband.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hanggai
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hanggai.official/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvBGQ_iAm-B9aPSvRYZt3uw
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/hanggai/281982368
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2m4rcnifN39Q2ix2vbpLlx
