Chinese American Bear and Alice Costelloe

Three-piece, hour-long show on their 2025 UK tour. Good crowd, with an even mix of Chinese speaking and English-speaking audience. Bryce killed it on guitar, and Anne was great on keys and vocals. The banter and stage performance seemed a bit stiff and forced, but was still fun.

Unfortunately, they played with a backing track on all songs, with bass guitar, pretty sure some vocal overdubbing, and synth sounds. It was triggered by the drummer using a midi controller, so better than a laptop, but still detracted from the live experience, making things feel quite stiff. One time Anne pretended to modulate a warbling synth sound on her keyboard but seemed to just be a track playing. Would have preferred a slightly increased ticket price to see a fully live band.