Way back when we first reported on Midi Zhenjiang suddenly turning into Strawberry Zhenjiang, Midi made it clear that once their Rizhao festival was over, they would hold a press conference to tell all. The Beijinger kindly reported on the press conference that was just held in which Zhang Fan, Liu Huan and Shan Wei seem to have been very restrained in naming and shaming and have demanded an explanation for how this could have happened. Key excerpts from the Beijinger:

a Midi employee named Liu Chang began to hear disturbing rumors; a promoter for another band in their lineup, German metal band The Ocean, claimed that they had been invited to play another festival (i.e. Strawberry) at the same time in the same city

When asked whether they have communicated with Modern Sky and what response they might have received, Midi’s representatives said only “We wish them success,” because “they are all old friends, after all.”

“It’s as if I had invited Shan Wei to my place to have dinner and he promised me that he would come. I bought a lot of food, cooked a whole meal and was waiting for him happily. Then he called me 15 minutes before he was scheduled to arrive – to say that he was having dinner with Liu Huan instead.”

Zhenjiang Wenguang now claims that Midi must hold a music festival in their city later this year. In response, Midi wants them to first apologize and then to explain exactly how to hold a successful outdoor music festival in the wintertime.

Supporters of Midi have called upon the public to boycott “that other music festival.” And we still don’t know how it will end

High profile press conferences, underhand deals, China’s music festival has come a long way in a few short years………. in the right direction?

In another side note, we came across this article in Chinese a couple of weeks back – an article that suggests the decision was made on the Zhenjiang side because Strawberry’s target audience was a better fit for the real estate money that was actually behind this whole thing.

Again, some key pullouts via Google Translate:

According to the “Yangtze River Strawberry Music Festival,” one of the organizers of the source told reporters, Zhenjiang, “Ming La dark push” the real reason from the Midi Music Festival in the real estate needs. Real estate that “Strawberry,” the audience is relatively more “white collar”, more spending power, advertisers are also co-Benz Smart, Le Pen and other major international brands, these new real estate projects to promote a greater effect.