We’ve been kept busy for the duration of the “will they, won’t they” Chinese music festival (and Olympic) year. The latest (and hopefully final) twist to this saga is the sad news that Midi has once again been cancelled at the last minute (thanks to our friends at Outdustry for pointing this out to us). Modern Sky festival still looks to be going ahead, which will be some solace to bruised and battered Chinese festival fans. Modern Sky happens at Haidian Park, Beijing from the 29th September to the 2nd October.
When I first went to Midi in May 2005, I was astonished that something so exciting, so contemporary, so outdoor, so loud, and so rock was actually happening in a park in Beijing. Midi wouldn’t have looked out of place in Sydney’s Centennial Park or Rock am Ring in Germany. Zhang Fan and everyone at Midi deserve huge love and credit for working so hard and against all odds to put on something for the kids, both those playing the stages and those moshing in the circle pits. The quality sometimes suffers, but Midi is a vital wheel in the development of the Chinese music scene.
However, my gut fears for the future of the festival. This is the second time Midi has been cancelled this year, both times under two weeks before the festival was due to open it’s doors. In May, many international artists had already bought and paid for their tickets to China (note: Midi doesn’t pay performance fees or travel costs for international artists) and they were forced to scramble (themselves) to find shows in China’s tiny live houses. Midi should perhaps have taken a longer-term view and sat the rest of 2008 out, rather than disappointing everyone a second time. Artists who had been booked to play the October iteration were asking us at this blog as recently as last week what was going on, as they couldn’t get any information from the organizers and didn’t know whether or not to arrange travel and accommodation.
China now has 4 other music festivals, with the promise of more to come. With this kind of competition, Midi really needs to step up in terms of organization and communication if it is to continue to command the respect that it deserves.