If the end of world is truly coming, then rock fans in China are going out happy thanks to Cui Jian's concert on Saturday. "There is no end for rock," the "godfather of rock" in China said during his Blue Bones tour performance. "We died once already. Now let's rise from the dead!"

The constant cheering of thousands kept the MasterCard Center in Beijing at a boiling point for rock music. In China, you can hardly find a more zealous group of fans, and for good reason - Cui never lets them down. His performance is always like a fire that ignites the audience's passion.

Classic touch

The audience roared the moment a red five-pointed star, Cui's trademark, first appeared on screen over the stage. Cui kicked off the show with two old-school hits - "No More Concealing" and "It's not that I Don't Understand," which heated up the arena on a cold December night.

Then the rock pioneer said hello to the audience, and recalled the hardships Chinese rock has experienced in the past two decades with "The Last Complaint." Before singing, Cui said, "10 years ago I thought I was done. 10 years ago I thought Chinese rock was done. We are not. There is no end for rock. Let's start fresh after the death!"

He proved these words with an inspired nearly three-hour solo performance.

Though in his 50s, the die-hard rocker showed he's every bit as good as 26 years ago. Without a break, he belted out over 20 songs accompanying himself on guitar. Most of the tunes were classics from the 1980s and 1990s, such as "Fake Monk," "A Piece of Red Cloth" and "Greenhouse Girl."

These songs, despite their age, are always in the fans' hearts, so they sang along with Cui on almost every song. In fact, because there was so much cheering and singing every time an old favorite rang out, it is difficult to tell at what point the concert hit its climax.

It was really impressive to hear everyone shouting hysterically throughout the show. And you can hardly find a Chinese singer that attracts fans of such a wide age range: mostly from the 1970s and 1980s, but also from the 1960s, 1990s and even 2000s.

Before the concert, Cui said that he didn't want to feel estranged from young people. So, he selected his songs carefully and recomposed his most popular ones such as "Greenhouse Girl" and "I Walk This Road Alone" to touch the audience in a different way.

He also performed new songs like "Outside Girl," his first English song, and "Love between Fish and Bird," which he performed for the first time, showing how the veteran rocker has been moving forward in his rock universe. "Outside Girl," for example, takes listeners to the exotic loess plateau, and by stressing the "outside" is also extraterrestrial. The piece had such a hazy and illusionary effect that for a moment the audience forgot to applaud.

From red to blue

Cui is not as nostalgic as some of his older fans. He once said that he hoped his concert would not merely be one of nostalgia. He still wants to create music, movies, and a future society with even more people.

Midway through the concert, Mao Amin, a pop-diva around Cui's age, appeared as Cui's guest. This combination was a big surprise for the audience, because the two have such different styles.

They sang "Lost Season" from the movie Guns' N' Roses, and "Blue Bones," top song off the album Show You Color. "I put the two together because only with blue bones can we find a lost season," Cui said.

Cui also calls the tour Blue Bones to symbolize his transition from red to blue, calling for wisdom and freedom. "Red, yellow and blue, represent the human heart, body and wisdom," he sang. The lyrics to "Blue Bones" continue, "Years of political campaigns make people tired of red. Yellow body has buried soul. I can only twist myself and look above, to find the rare blue sky.… Blue sky gives me unbounded rationality."

Cui also introduced his movie Blue Bones, which is scheduled to screen early next year. It is Cui's directorial debut. It involves "one song, two generations, three stories and four singing styles." The movie tells how an underground rock singer and hacker encounters an unknown singer, and they discover a plaintive love story involving their elders concealed during the period of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).

Cui invited Mao to sing the song and cast her in a role in the movie. Cui explained it as an extension: The concert is a musical demonstration of the movie, while the movie is a screen version of the concert.

To inject freshness into his concert, Cui also invited Yuan Yawei, who rose to fame on the talent show TheVoice of China. The two performed Cui's new song "Love between Fish and Bird."

But one thing did fall short of fans' expectations - there was no dancing as advertised. A staff member reportedly said that Cui was not satisfied with the combination of dance and music, so at the last moment he cut it.

Rock's future

As the first Chinese rock artist to win a global reputation, Cui was regarded as one symbol of China's reform and opening-up and the flag bearer of Chinese rock. An audience member in his 40s told Global Times that Cui has influenced his generation with his courage, power and idealism.

Though Cui's new works won applause, his old hits won more hearts: "I Walk This Road Alone" got the audience up and singing right from the start. It was reminiscent of the night 26 years ago when Cui declared the birth of Chinese rock at the Beijing Workers' Gymnasium and made himself known to the whole nation.

It is said that Cui expressed what young people in the 1980s wanted to vent. But to Cui, rock should live on to express more. He recollected the development of rock in China before singing "Opportunist." "We've gone from underground, to the stage, to gymnasiums, and now to the best [arena]," he said, "It's marching forward. It's a good sign."

Cui wrapped his concert with "Get over that Day," but he came back for an encore and sang "Greenhouse Girl" and "Rock' N' Roll on the New Long March." Xi'an, Shanghai and other cities are next for Cui and his Blue Bones tour.

Looking at this vigorous man and his zeal for rock music in spite of his age, one cannot help but hope for the best.