Taiwanese metallers CHTHONIC have announced a huge landmark gig in Liberty Square at Chang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, in the country’s capital, Taipei, to an estimated 10,000 fans. The free show will take place on December 26 — Boxing Day.
20 years after the band’s founding and 70 years after the end of World War II, CHTHONIC has decided to hold the outdoor gig in Liberty Square, Taipei. The show will feature all of the band’s classic songs, and will be the band’s biggest outdoor show to date.
The gig on Boxing Day will be a hugely significant moment not just for the country, but for the band themselves, marking as it does their 20th anniversary as CHTHONIC. At a time where Taiwan’s social reforms are about to unfold, the country is politically at a critical point, and with the band’s influential status, the gig is a huge effort to bring the young people of Taiwan together and push the country forward.
In other news, CHTHONIC frontman Freddy Lim is running for congressman in Taiwan, at a crucial time in Taiwanese politics, which could have enormous significance for democracy worldwide. Famous for his long-hair and tattoos, he is the first rock star in Eastern Asia to do this and is standing for a brand new political party — the NPP — which is leading the pro-democracy Youth movement in Taiwan.
A longtime political activist, frontman Freddy Lim has recently lent his public profile to several social movements. He’s now running as an NPP (New Power Party) candidate for the legislature in central Taipei. The NPP were founded in January 2015 as a brand new political party and emerged from the Sunflower student movement of the previous year, which Lim was at the forefront of. They are advocates for universal human rights, civil and political liberties and protecting Taiwan’s independence as a sovereign state. The party’s main policy is “Transitional Justice,” which, lyrically, has been covered in all of CHTHONIC’s studio albums.
Many of the polls show that the NPP has risen up to the third biggest party in Taiwan as young people reject the ruling KMT party which lists reunification with mainland China among its core policies.
CHTHONIC, who are currently signed to Spinefarm Records in the U.K. and are mainstream stars in their home country, have graced the stages of some of Europe’s biggest rock and metal festivals, including Wacken Open Air, Download festival and Bloodstock. Their music relates to many histories in Eastern Asia, which are not being taught by the government.
Source: Blabbermouth
