The summer may be over, but we have a majorly busy month ahead. In this post we’re going to take a look at some of the more ‘festivally’ action on the table.
The incessant ramping up of festivals in China seems to have focused a laser on Shanghai. Whilst Beijing becomes a harder and harder place to launch outdoor events, Shanghai seems to be welcoming them with open arms. Fittingly, we have a new mega version of Midi and a much improved (and newly named) version of last year’s West Bank Festival. Plus we have incoming news all around us of a new “EDM” (how we hate and despise that new corporate moniker for a genre of music that features so much more nuance) festival set for mid-November and featuring some heavy hitters.
Getting Jazzy with JZ Festival
Going strong for 9 years, this major jazz festival has played an important role in building the profile of the genre, helping it to break out of exclusive hotels and expat digs.
The event boasts an eclectic range of artists showcasing some of the best the jazz, blues, soul, funk, R&B and world music genres have to offer (amongst other breeds of boppy styles that’ll get you wishing you’d clad yourself in your finest tie-die t-shirt). There will be a mix of indoor, metropolitan and outdoor action across the 3 grandiosely-titled curated events, including the ‘Sennheiser Green Note’ Expo Park on the 20th – 21st of September, followed by the ‘Nong Qing Jing’an – BMW Masters Hall’ series at the Shanghai Centre Theatre from 15th – 19th October. Here’s the official page.
Shanghai West Bund Festival
If hyperbolic haircuts and line-ups that read like a jamboree of cartoon characters are more your thing, then the Shanghai West Bund Music Festival might be the one for you. It takes place in the Shanghai Xuhui Bingjiang Area, and will see G-Dragon – K-pop group BigBang’s biggest break out star – bring the hypest hype with a performance on the second of the 3 day event (2nd October). Leave the cravat at home.
Midi Festival Shanghai
Then there’s the big gun, with a line-up that features Carsick Cars, AK47, Top Floor Circus, Reflector, Muma & Third Party, Brain Failure, CMCB, Cold Fairyland, Subs, King Lychee and other names known to those who give a damn about China’s music scene. Announcements are still underway, so here’s a link to Timeout’s coverage.
There is no shortage of stuff to do over the October holiday, but things seem comparably quiet over in Beijing – perhaps a sign that the city’s tightening up.* We’ll be down to most of these shows, with our scrutinising expressions and crossed-arm tut-tutting (just addressing the fact we’ve been a bit hard on the live scene recently, it’s all in good spirits really). Readers come and say hi.
*Edit: Beijing is getting involved: Canal Kyrin Music Festival 2013 takes place at Tongzhou Canal Park. Headliners include Cui Jian and Miserable Faith (Tuesday, October 1), Lao Lang, Zheng Jun, and Zheng Zhihua (Wednesday, October 2), and Shuimu Nianhua and Tengger (Thursday, October 3) plus more.