Mobile music

Drivers find a ‘special stage’ on trucks to make their concert debut

On the back of a truck festooned in fairy lights, Liu Dongfang held a microphone in his hand and addressed the crowd.

“Good evening, everyone! I’m Liu Dongfang from Zhoukou, Henan province, and I work in the freight industry,” he said. “This is my truck and also my stage.”

It was August 18 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and Liu and his fellow truck drivers were holding their second concert on the back of their trucks. With Liu as the emcee, the truck drivers performed their songs on stage one after the other. Together, they performed a total of 17 songs including solos and duets. Though they are not professional singers and sometimes sing out of tune, everyone still gave their best.

As a truck driver, Liu usually likes to sing alone in his truck. This then gave him an idea to spontaneously organize “truck concerts”. Soon, he managed to gather other like-minded truck drivers to hold their first concert.

Their first truck concert was a huge success and quickly became popular online. Not long after, many people started requesting that they stage a second performance, and the drivers came back with bigger and better performances.

At a national forest park in Hangzhou, many locals who were out for a walk after dinner were delighted to come across the live concert. They could not help but stop to enjoy the performances of the truck drivers and cheered them on. Unsurprisingly, some people even requested to sing on stage and have fun with the truck drivers. Although most of the truck drivers are migrant workers, locals still hope that they can treat Hangzhou like their hometown and feel right at home.

Clockwise from top: Audio equipment being set up in the afternoon before the start of the “truck concert”. A rear view of the second truck concert stage and audience. Two volunteers use fairy lights to decorate the truck before the concert. Several truck drivers, including Liu Dongfang (top center), sing as a group during the second concert. Many Hangzhou locals turn on the lights on their mobile phones and sway along to the truck drivers’ performances during their second concert.

PHOTOS BY JIN KE AND XU KANGPING A local singer joins a “truck concert” in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Aug 18.

A driver gives a performance on the back of a truck.