Former Police Married Quarters, February 27

One of the great complaints from people who strive to put on good music in Hong Kong is the glaring lack of decent venues. Well, here’s a cracking one: the beautiful Former Police Married Quarters on Hollywood Road at the border of Central and Sheung Wan. The historic complex, with tall concrete ex-residential blocks of peeling paint, stained windows and crumbling façades built in a rectangular horseshoe around a wide open courtyard provides both an atmospheric and novel amphitheatre for good tunes. It’s also currently the host for the Heritage x Art x Design exhibition, staged by the non-profit cultural organisation Hulu Culture.

A grand Cantonese opera stage has been built in the courtyard for the exhibition, and it is this that will serve as the bandstand for the afternoon and early evening shows of 'The Indie Ones' music series taking place over on Saturday 27, March 6 and March 13.

The events, curated by local experimental music icon Kung Chi-shing and staged for free, bring together a diverse range of musical talents from afar afield as Canada (melodic French hip-hop act Samian), Belgium (ace electro pop group Labiur), and France (sparky electronic-backed hip-hop trio Al K Traxx) and thrust them into our not-so-great outdoors. Local indie bands are also very well represented, not least by the People Mountain People Sea showcase scheduled for March 6, which will bring together Jing Wong, Pixel Toy, Veronica Lee, Cedric Chan, Edgar Hung, and even pop duo at17. The kick-off show on Saturday 27 is also an all-Hong Kong affair of indie acts, featuring Time Out favourites The Yours and Wilson Tsang, among others.

All shows start at 2pm and run until 7pm. The early evening timeslot is supposed to be insurance against the noise police, who continue to plague any attempt to stage an outdoor show within our borders. If the organisers can somehow beat that restriction, then there falls another of those great complaints.

Hamish McKenzie