We love a good tour diary here at Radar HQ. After the last rather downbeat Morlocks Tour China epic, comes one written by Australian artist Jamie Hutchings. With insights into China like the “Beijing Bra” and “Oyster Farming”, Jamie tells his story with irony and gentle amusement.
You can read in full over at Australian music website Mess and Noise HERE.
Lonely Drifter Karen is coming to China. Who, we hear you ask? Well, truth be told, we don’t know either, but we did see this groovy bit of promo that the artist herself put together for the Chinese interweb. Simple, creative, and a great and easy way to connect with a Chinese audience before actually arriving. She is coming courtesy of Pocket Music, who are doing a LOT of touring at the moment.
Beijing gets another independent slice of label goodness.
The boys and girls from the Offset:Spectacles have put together the wonderfully monikered “Rose Mansion Analog” which, according to them, is
an analog music label based in Beijing, China. Its goal is to get things done right.
Devan Clifford, the drummer for Canadian band You Say Party! We Say Die! died on a Vancouver stage this weekend. He was 30 years old. You can read more about the tragic circumstances HERE. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Devan will be remembered in China for the 3 week tour the band undertook in 2008 with Shanghai based promoter Abe. In memoriam, Abe sent us these photos form the tour.
The poor Chinese Ministry of Culture. They get it in the neck every time a promoter doesn’t pay up or can’t sell any tickets. The latest in the Bob Dylan saga featured in the Guardian yesterday, in which the spokesman for the Taiwanese promoter/ agency Broker Brother’s Herald (BBH) claim that the Ministry of Culture deemed the artist too controversial. You can read the Guardian article HERE.
We don’t have any inside information, but this claim doesn’t sit very well with the 3 month running saga that we’ve followed quite closely. When we first announced that Dylan was meant to be touring (HERE), we noted that BBH had promised a massive guarantee for the entire 5 date run. Our initial sources put that figure at close to US$2m. At the same time, there were questions raised about BBH’s cash flow. They had guaranteed this astronomical amount in order to flip the shows to individual promoters for a vastly inflated fee (HERE). At the same time, it was rumored that the local promoters weren’t biting, particularly in China.
And so, predictably enough, we receive word that BBH have put the blame squarely at the feet of the Ministry of Culture. A great excuse to get out of the guarantee, but another blow to the credibility of the Chinese touring market, and let’s face it, likely a big nail in any ambitions of mainland touring BBH had…
Sorry people. On an Asian tour with Andrew Bird. We have lots to post, but no time to do so. Please bear with us.
In other news, the Ticketmaster/ Livenation deal seems to have been ratified by America’s Department of Justice. You can read more about the merger HERE. What does this mean for China? Well, we have plans to talk to some of the key players – we will have our thoughts up at the beginning of next week…
Until then!
The Killers may be cancelled, but fret not. You can still get your big arena fix this March. Those gods of the 90′s kiddie pop scene are back on these shores – the Backstreet Boys will play Beijing and Shanghai in Mid March. Hold tight…
Bob Dylan will tour Greater China and Korea in April 2010. The 60′s folk legend will finally be rewarding his China fans with a fleeting visit:
The Taiwanese promoter is picking up the (very) hefty tab for the whole tour, so we don’t know who they will be using locally. All we know is that if the last time we saw Dylan is anything to go by, he should be paying us…
Timeout in HK have been doing some heavy investigative reportage. Things got a bit messy when American band the Torino’s, on a festive tour of Greater China, sent a press release around via their (duped?) promoters. Among other claims were:
That big, hard to use tool, the Internet, failed to corroborate any of these claims, prompting a diligent Timeout to contact Third Man Records. The label replied immediately that they had never heard of the band. In fact, they gave this rather ascerbic statement:
The band The Torinos are absolutely in no way associated with Third Man Records. Nobody in our organization has ever had any contact with them, and until today I had never even heard of the band. And now that I have, I am not terribly impressed. In fact, there is little here to recommend to any label, in my opinion.
You can read more at Timeout HERE, and check out the Torino’s MySpace HERE. The lack of information on the Myspace gives clues, but big-up to Timeout for hunting this one down.
It is hard enough promoting relatively unknown international bands in China, without bands that arrive waving CVs that are full-of-shit. Avoid these shows when they come to your town…
If you head over to Livenation’s Asia site, you will see confirmation of the Killers live in Beijing. They will play at GongTi Worker’s Gymnasium on the 26th January. Tickets prices are as yet unconfirmed, but we imagine they will be ex-pen-sive…
Livenation are also promoting Karen Mok’s Original show in December (11 Beijing, 26 Shanghai). These shows will be popular as she hasn’t toured for a while.
You can see all information at the Livenation Asia site.
In other news, it seems like Lady Gaga world domination is coming to Beijing. Nothing is confirmed as yet, but we are expecting an imminent run of Gaga-gear in the Sanlitun YaShow markets.
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