West Kowloon Xiqu Centre Freespace Hall | FreeWave Vol. 5: Midnight Cowboy – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Description

Three restless spirits turn Cantonese poetry into rock, finding love amid the world’s disasters

“May you leave this moonlit night full-hearted and loving one another – and smile whenever the memory returns, in some midnight reverie.” — Midnight Cowboy

Local band Midnight Cowboy return to the FreeWave music series with a live performance of their debut album See You Down The Road, a body of work that unbridles the verse of Hong Kong poet Yam Gong and lets it run wild through sound.

Formed almost by instinct in 2024, Olivier Cong, Benson Koo and Travis Leung draw on distinct creative worlds spanning film scoring, visual art and holistic practice. Their songs take shape instinctively, with improvisation letting rock’s raw energy move through the natural rhythms and cadences of Cantonese. Moving from murmured verse to full-band intensity and back again, their sound preserves the spontaneity of discovery, and the distinctive chemistry of three musicians following a shared intuition.

At the heart of the performance is Yam Gong’s resonant line: “We love one another in the midst of disaster.” Moving between tenderness, absurdity and unease, his Cantonese poetry finds new life through surging guitars, restless rhythms and the distinctive textures of the spoken and sung word. Joining the trio are saxophonist Andrew Wong and vocalists Pata Chan, Stan and Bunny, chanting verse against a curated live-video canvas.

Performance：Midnight Cowboy
 
Guitar: Olivier Cong
Bass: Benson Koo
Drum: Travis Leung
Saxophone: Andrew Wong
Vocal: Pata Chan, Stan, Bunny