Mao Shanghai

Back in June, we reported that there had been a breakdown in the business relationship between Soma and Zhijiang Dream Factory.  This had been a controversial move in the first instance and you can read early thoughts HERE.

Having failed to make the Dream Factory work, SOMA are now moving a little further out of downtown, to a slightly larger venue.  We know that they will have managed to broker a better deal at the new venue, because we were acquianted with the venue’s previous (and brief) tenants, WTF.  WTF had a short spell in the previous Candy Club, which was the previous O2 Club.  In fact, no-one has managed to make that space work and all prior owners have shut down within months.

So why do SOMA think they can do any better?  They do have a couple of things in their favour.

• they seem to have investors now (the same Japanese label as Mao in Beijing) which should allow them to survive while they get on their feet, although having semi-run a live house for the last 4 months, they should be further along than a cold start
• there will be some hype around the Mao name, even though it will mean very little in reality
• the venue is an excellent one, probably marginally more suitable as a dance venue than a live house, but if they design it well, it has great potential (Ghostface Killah showed it to its full potential back in June – some photos HERE)
• the location, although slightly further out than most lazy Shanghai-ers are used to traveling, is close to most of the other live music homes in Shanghai (Yuyintang, Logo, Anar)

On balance, we think that it’s a great move, and if they offer local promoters good deals, it should have a decent chance of success.  That said, the competition for bands will be extreme, and the Dream Factory was very rarely home to a decent crowd except when outside promoters were involved.  And the words of the ex-WTF manager ring in our ears – “It was that far out, nobody ever came.  There was nothing we could do about it”.

Good luck to them!

You can read Jake Newby’s analysis HERE