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Feb
25th’tis festival season in Beijing: 2011 MIDI, Strawberry, Jue and Ephemeral festivalsReally? it’s that time of the year again? Hell yeah!!! Looks like all the pieces are falling in place for a culturally exciting couple of months in Beijing. First, we have the Capital M and the Bookworm literary festivals (good writeup on The Beijinger here)that will keep us busy over the next few weeks. I’m especially psyched by Wednesday March 2 session about food writing. and while literature is fine and dandy, we’re all about rock n roll at ‘daze inc. Jue Festival: http://www.juefestival.com/ This one is really all over the spectrum with music/arts/poetry and more combined into a cultural celebration. They’ve got a few cool concerts scheduled at the place previously known as Starlive and even D22. The 24 Hours, Me guan Me gig on MArch 18 is worth going to haidian for. Ephemeral Festival: http://www.fuyoufestival.com/ Talk about coming out of nowhere. I’m really excited about the prospects of this one. I’m not sure who’s organizing nor do I care, the names and locations are just perfect. It’s scheduled for 5 nights early April with a slew of good acts, notably Xiao He, Mamer, Wu Fei, Li Tieqiao just to name a few. MIDI & Strawberry 2011 Beijing’s traditional festivals running from April 30 to May 2 2011 this year. MIDI has started the announcements already by bringing in 80s escapees, Mr. Big. I think by now, every one knows what to expect out of these two giants. MIDI will have the heavy rock emphasis, Strawberry will be the [...]
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Dec
16thMIDI Awards 2010 Announced… Ramblings, Predictability and SurprisesThe MIDI awards nominations came out yesterday on Douban and The Beijinger was kind enough to translate the list. I would have given my two cents earlier but a freaking chest infection is getting in my way. SO.. what’s the deal yo? It’s an interesting list and it’s really tough to find any faults with it because those are all deserving artists. That said, I question Miserable Faith‘s hold on these awards starting from last year. This year, they just put out an EP (4 songs) and that baby is nominated for album of the year plus has 2 songs nominated for song of the year. That’s not a very good statement to make because what you’re essentially saying is that the market lacks quality. I mean gee, 2 songs out of four? I have listened to both and they’re ok but definitely not Head and Shoulders above the rest. Sure the band has excelled with every live show I’ve seen, especially that memorable MIDI unplugged performance so all the kudos are deserved… but not for a 4 song EP that is really weak sounding. It’s still funny to see Suffocate put at the same level as Miserable Faith ( Best Hard Rock) and then appear in the Best Metal category. Same think with one of the original Oi bands, misandao, who is as punk as they get. That needs a category of its own. On the bright side of things, Shijiazhuang’s own “Omnipotent Youth Society” have made a huge [...]
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Oct
25thRock Coming of age: The government used to see us as dangerous, Now they see us as a marketThanks to my fabulous peep at Quirky Beijing for pointing this article out on sunday: The New York Times revisits the festival issue and actually does a decent job addressing it with a good write up and a nice video that deserves lots of street cred since Matthew Niederhauser , who knows a thing or two about music in China, is involved. The whole write up is nothing new really.. especially if you’re a festival goer/music lover based in China. What really grabbed my attention and got me thinking over the past 24 hours was this quote by Yang Haisong of P.K.14 : “The government used to see us as dangerous,” he said. “Now they see us as a market.” Yang has been around the block a few times and around the world touring a few more… and he’s no fool apparently. Government involvement, corporate sponsorships and many vested interests all around China are slowly diluting the essence of rock n roll here, or at least taking away some of its rebellion! One could even argue that the lion is being tamed for the circus: Cui Jian is performing regularly in Beijing without problems. Foreign artists are allowed back in and bands are fine as long as they sing certain songs in English… these performers once feared and revered are now the arrowheads of corporate China! But is that necessarily a bad thing? As more and more generations of musicians are coming up, they’re squeezing each other out of the [...]
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Aug
2ndSweet Rumor: Metallica in Beijing for MIDI??? (updated)I don’t get over excited by rumors nor do i endorse them usually but this one is way too big to ignore if it proves right!!! The folks over at China Music Radar who usually have great insight into the happenings within the mainland’s musical sphere were the first one to get wind of this rumor that is apparently all over the Chinese news even though i haven’t been able to find it anywhere. The story is that none other that Metal God, Metallica, will be headlining MIDI in Beijing this October…. let me write this again, IT IS ONLY A RUMOR, but oh such a sweet one! If this proves true, MIDI could be the biggest festival we’ve seen in China since the 2007 Chaoyang Pop Festival with NIN and Cui Jian. Discussion thread on Guitar China: http://bbs.guitarchina.com/thread-1016548-1-1.html Discussion thread on Douban: http://www.douban.com/group/topic/11661913/ Finally, here is a piece from the horse’s mouth ( pointed out by @chinabuzz on twitter) saying that their show at Christchurch, New Zealand at CBS Canterbury Arena on September 21 is the last one on this tour. Make up your own mind.
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May
5thHeroes of the Day: Miserable Faith brings MIDI to an end, and what a glorious one it wasI think we can safely say that the May 1-4 period is one of the most exciting, musically rich ones in Beijing: 3 festivals, tons of stages and bands as well as lots of good music. Yesterday was the last day of it with MIDI day 4 and it was a truly magical end. I was extremely impressed by Nanwu‘s brand of what i would describe as “crosstalk meets rock” These guys are really amazing performers. Their interaction with the audience is commendable and i see great things for them! Yesterday was probably the biggest crowd they’ve ever played to over at the Pilot Stage. Other standouts were veterans of the metal scene Nakaram whom i’ve never even heard of before. Their lead singer has got to be one the friendliest lads in Metal with a huge smile on his face throughout their set. Another cool band that’s also been around for a while was Fallin Sex, which was a weird mix of Gothic pop rock. I was a bit disappointed at Perdel and definitely not into Singaporean Soundgarden-wanna-be Caracal. The party was just getting started when Free The Birds got on stage around 6:00 pm. Despite lead singer and ubercrush Helen Feng being on a wheelchair, they were solid with the 2 songs they played and that’s when the floodgates of heaven opened and lightening literally struck the show down. There was a loud band and just like that, the power was gone! Understandably, the performances were stopped and [...]
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May
4thMIDI day 2: This is how a festival is done!I think I made no secrets of my feelings for Strawberry Festival this year and I must admit that on Sunday morning, i was extremely hesitant to head up to Haidian for day 2 of MIDI… I strongly considered not going but the draw was too good and i had faith in MIDI’s experience. I also received a lot of good feedback from folks who had gone there for Day 1. The crew got there about 1:30 pm and within 15mn, we were through the gates! Ruby, who was also there with me for the Strawberry fiasco, were instantly relieved! MIDI had 4 tickets booths, completely separated from the entrance gate itself. The queue was orderly and we had our passes in no time! Another 5mn of queueing at the entrance gate which also had 4 separate lines waiting to get in and we were through! We took the first few minutes to walk around Haidian park scouting the premises. There was a multitude of vendors peddling everything from wigs to CD sitting around the main path. There were also plenty of vending points for drinks and food throughout the park. Paul, over at The BarProp, had some interesting comments about the availability of 5 RMB beers along with other musings on days 1 & 2. What i did like this year was that with the exception of the Tang and Yen stages, all the others were scattered around far from each other so that they wouldn’t interfere. The Tang [...]
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May
3rdStrawberry Day 1: How Music Saved the Day When the Organizers did Their Best to Ruin itI’m generally a nice guy…most of the time and i takes a lot to get me all wound up and angry! It’s takes even more to keep me fuming for 3 days in a row after the fact! Well, my little trip to Day 1 of Strawberry music festival in Tongzhou managed to just do that! Why I hear you ask? Let’s bullet point this sucker: 1- Underwhelming, irresponsible and hazardous procedures to get in: There were 2 ticket booths only to access the festival area and these 2 ticket booths were also leading the the security check point causing even further wait and delay problem. I got there with my crew at 1:00 p.m., we managed to get in around 4:00 pm! At that time, I would estimate that there were a good 4000 to 6000 people still waiting in line; This was the the first of many logistical fuck ups! First, there is the safety aspect of things where you had 1000s of people lined up under a heavy sun with no easy access to liquids so that they could hydrate themselves because in their infinite wisdom, Modern Sky made no provision for a crowds and lines. The small shops in the vicinity were caught by surprise and ran out of a whole bunch of things by 3:00 pm. Secondly, as they saw the lines getting increasingly bigger, the staff and management made NO ATTEMPT to rectify the situation as far as I was aware! There was another [...]
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Apr
27thTaking a Stand: Mao LiveHouse moves to MIDI for a few daysThis little blurb was posted on Mao Livehouse’s website yesterday: MAO LIVEHOUSE MOVES TO 2010 MIDI FESTIVAL！ MAO LIVEHOUSE入驻2010年迷笛音乐节，届时将分为现场演出及娱乐休闲两个区域。现场演出区主要以乐队演出为主，稍后乐队阵容将会公布！娱乐休闲区将提供好喝的特调鸡尾酒及咖啡。 虽然天有不测风云，但我们也不想闲着，所以大家迷笛见吧！ It looks like the good folks at Mao are not ready to give in yet and fully intend on rocking away sooner than later! Their Douban page lists gigs as early as May 9th which does seem a bit optimistic but we’d love to see the doors open again. In the meantime, they’re setting up a Mao Stage at MIDI for all 4 days with some of the bands whose shows were cancelled/postponed amongst others which is great news for those bands and makes this year’s MIDI an even better value than it was already! Here is the lineup for the Mao Stage as seen on the Douban announcement: http://www.douban.com/group/topic/11007251/ and a link to the event page on Douban as well: http://www.douban.com/event/11823911/ 迷笛音乐节MAO舞台乐队名单 5月1日 蜜三刀 李漠 红乐团 Skarving Hellcity 5月2日 Me灌Me Double harvestman DUDE Lazy Camels Dirty Seed Desert Son 5月3日 末裔 新香水 高峰（G-ELEVEN） 核 Early Bus 5月4日 逃跑计划 王凡瑞 吴永峰（RollingRolling） 庙 Dish The Urbis yeah to Mao for keeping the spirit alive!
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Apr
21stBeijing’s 2010 Outdoor Music Festival Season is here: MIDI, Strawberry and Folkit’s festival season folks, celebrating that time of the year when we can go outside, enjoy warmer weather, chill on the grass and just listen to some good tunes…. ok so it’s Beijing and the weather kinda missed the boat so far but the music is arriving! So here’s your primer MIDI Festival Dates and Duration: 1st til 4th May 2010 Location: at Haidian Park, in Haidian District, Beijing. After a year in exile, MIDI comes back home and by the looks of things, it’s got a newfound resolve and energy! Lineup wise, this is shaping up to be one of the best festivals ever and one of the best MIDI to date. Why? One of the biggest complaints against MIDI is how incestuous the whole thing can be. The same bands with connections to the MIDI school come back ever year usually, think about that scene from Casablanca: ” Round up the usual suspects“. Not this year! On top of the usual acts like XTX, SUBS, Brain Failure, we’re getting some of the Maybe Mars acts like Carsick Cars as well as Free The Birds. As far as international acts go, I’m personally stoked about Sahara Hotnights, Stalingrad Cowgirls and Izia amongst others! Some of the other names sound quite promising as well. The Beijinger did a great job laying out the schedule and links so give them a spin for more information: http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2010/04/21/Festival-Countdown-Midi-Music-Festival-Haidian-Park-Beijing Also check out the official MIDI site http://www.midimidi.cn/english/index.htm Strawberry Festival Dates and Duration: 1st til [...]
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Oct
26thBeijing MIDI Day 2 Review and MusingsSaturday ended up being a busy day! After a trip to Nanluoguxiang where I spent most of the afternoon soaking up what will turn out to be one of the last great days to be outside before winter hits (that’s a mouthful), I jumped up on a 40mn cab ride to 798 for MIDI. This year, the festival was indoor in an industrial east-German style warehouse smack down the center of the Art district. Upon arrival, there was no chaos there of lines or such, the likes of which had made previous MIDI treks hectic. Outside was well organized with 2 tents: 1 for tickets and 1 for VIPs (whatever that may be). There were also 3 food stall with Hot Dogs, a Shawarma-looking thingy and Ma La Tang. I got myself a ticket for RMB80 and a huge Hot Dog for RMB25 Once we were inside the warehouse, I found myself looking for Batman!! My friend insisted that this would be the perfect venue for Ramstein to play were they to come to Beijing. We were a bit late so we missed a substantial number of acts but arrived on time for Muma (木马): The band sounded tight and was doing a number of heavy songs with the highlight being a reworked cover of The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues that got an A in my book. Next up was Xie Tian Xiao (谢天笑), another one that I had never heard of before! A buddy mentioned how good he was! That [...]
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