Live Music Quickslants: 2 Kolegas Turns 7, Voodoo Kungfu Says Goodbye and more

I think May is officially “Music Month” in Beijing… we got things started with festivals and we’re finishing them up with the yearly 2 Kolegas bash and the Beijing Blues Festival. It’s been a good but loooooong month folks and summer is just arriving! Sad thing about this week is that we’re saying goodbye to two bands I care about… Goodbye, Thank You For The Fish played their last show wednesday night at Temple. Voodoo Kungfu will play their last show sunday at Mao Live. I hate when this happens to good bands. anyways, let’s see what’s cooking for the next few days:

Friday May 25

2 Kolegas 7th Year Anniversary – Part 1
Devils at the Crossroad, Buyi, Skarving, Rolling Bolling and Nucleus will be on hand to get the festivities started at the drive-in… It’s gonna be loud, fun, messy, grungy and there’s really no where else I’d rather be tonight. Last year, both nights, people were still on the lawn at the wee hours of the day. My appreciation for that place is well documented and i’ll see you there for a bourbon!

Yunggiema @ Yugong Yishan
She has one of the best voices in China, bar none! The Tibetain minority songstress will delighting the audiences at Yugong Yishan with her beautiful melodies and dreamy tunes. I’ve seen her enough times playing with Song Yu Zhe but as far as I understand, tonight at yugong is her own gig. It should be good and special!

Saturday May 26

2 Kolegas 7th Year Anniversary – Part 2
Whai, Wu & the Side Effects, The Amazing Insurance Salesmen, Helen Feng as well as DH & the Hellcats will be on hand to rock your socks on the second day of celebration. This is definitely a interesting mix of sounds for saturday. What’s interesting is that Helen Feng is on the bill as herself so I have no clue if we’re getting DJ stuff, Nova Heart, Free the Birds or something entirely different. Either ways, it’s gonna be another night of mayhem.

Zhang Wei Wei Album Release at Mako
Man I really wanna see this one. One of the original Wild Children, extremely talented and well appreciated member of China’s music family releases his new record. I actually haven’t heard it yet but I have no reason to think that I’m not gonna enjoy this. If for whatever reason you can’t make it to 2K, then this should be your default choice.

Brain Failure Unplugged at Blue Stream
Looks like Beijing’s favorite punksters are really getting in touch with their organic acoustic side. Their show at jianghu was nothing short of great and here they are repeating at the tiny Blue Stream. I expect it to be packed to the rim.

Sunday May 27

Voodoo Kungfu @ Mao
We say goodbye to a legend.. for me this is like closing a circle because the first time I heard Li Na’s growl was at Mao Live years ago and I love what they sound like in that cave. So much more suited to their music that the cavernous Tango. One last shot at seeing one hell of an original act do their thing. I’m gonna be hurting on monday, seriously.

Also, remember that the Blues festival is taking place all weekend at 798 and that Intro is also happening.