Gerrard Street in London’s Chinatown will this year host its first ever outdoor gig kicking off a great weekend for the 7th annual City Showcase - the free London festival noted for uncovering great new talent including Amy Winehouse, Hot Chip, Scouting for Girls, Lady Sovereign, Keane and Razorlight.

The home of all things Asian in the heart of London, Chinatown will play host to five outstanding new artists with influences from around the globe and around the corner.

Check out London based vocalist MC TRIP, Filipino British melodic funkcore three piece FireFallDown, spacey R&B artist and DJ Eric Lau, the ‘distorted pop’ of The Xcerts and the soulful tunes of campaigning Chinese singer songwriter Sophie Yau.

Entry is completely free with a City Showcase wristband.

About the bands playing in Chinatown Friday 8 May, 2009:

“Absolutely Brilliant...About as offensive as you can get” said Steve Lamaq on Radio 1. Tipped by Music Week as "one to watch", XFM favourite London based Alex Child aka TRIP kicked off his career at mates’ studios, on pirate radio and at open mic nights as both live vocalist and MC. He has won numerous MC battles, hosted the DMC world championships and toured with NERD, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes and Outkast. His new single "River Phoenix" is out on Autonomy Recordings with album ‘ShortCuts’ coming soon. Trip MySpace

"Nothing short of astonishing" says Kerrang. Frequently found on MTV2 and featuring in MTV’s ‘Spanking New Sessions’ series, The Xcerts have recorded sessions for Tiscali, Radio 1 and Xfm including popular covers of Radiohead’s "All I Need" and The Pixies "Gigantic". They have toured extensively with Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Make Model, Fighting with Wire and Twin Atlantic and hit the festival scene in 2008 including T in the Park, Zoo8, Offset and Connect Music Festival - headlining their first tour in December 2008 with Aberdeen band Right Hand Left. Their debut album ‘In The Cold Wind We Smile’ was released in March through Xtra Mile. The Xcerts MySpace

Filipino-British three–piece FireFallDown have brought their own brand of melodic funkcore to the UK underground scene, bringing together skate punk, motown and pop punk through high-energy live shows and songs described as “dynamic, intriguing and underpinned by a refreshing intelligence”. The band have just finished debut single “Commissioned” with the Animal Farm (One Night Only) and Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Biffy Clyro) released 3 June. FireFallDown MySpace

British born Chinese singer-songwriter Sophie Yau grew up on a mix of Cantopop, Cheesepuffs and Christian hymns. Hitting the London open mike circuit in 2002, she scored gigs at The 12 Bar Club, The Blues Bar, Battle-fest and Buddhafields Festival. Committed to social justice, she frequently promotes the Burma Campaign UK, Crisis London and Amnesty International at her gigs. Sophie is currently working on debut demo/EP ‘Some great Union in the Sky’. Sophie Yau MySpace

Needing little introduction London based producer DJ Eric Lau is renowned for his work with the likes of Lupe Fiasco, Dudley Perkins and Guilty Simpson with his 2008 album NEW TERRITORIES delivering a sterling collection of retro-minded soul tunes. Described by BPM as "...probably what it would sound like if the late, great J Dilla decided to make an album of love songs.” his spacey R&B/hip-hop-tinged album is noted for two sultry, smoothed-out jams “I Don’t Do It To” featuring Tawiah and “Confession Lounge” featuring Rahel. Eric Lau MySpace

The 7th annual City Showcase takes place from Thursday 7th - Saturday 9th May 2009 at venues across the centre of London with acts including Sky Larkin, White Belt Yellow Tag, My Toys, Like Me, Swound!, The Telegraphs, Blue Roses, Gurrumul and The 9000 - all of whom are playing free at venues including Carnaby Street, Regent Street, Covent Garden, Borderline Soho and - of course - London’s Chinatown.

**TRIP to headline Free Chinatown Gig**
East West flavour kicks of City Showcase weekend
Plus Sophie Yau, FireFallDown, The Xcerts and Eric Lau confirmed
6.30 - 9.00pm, Friday 8 May 2009: Gerrard Street, Chinatown, London W1

City Showcase wristbands are free. Register online at City Showcase or collect during the festival from the City Showcase Hub in Kingly Court just off Carnaby Street.