By Benjamin Cohen In Shanghai, everyday is great. Here are five reasons why: Tuesday April 15th: Clouds of Crowds If you haven't been out to Island6 yet for "Clouds of Crowds," stop in before it drifts away (last day is April 29th). This interactive multimedia installations seeks to draw the viewer into blurry realm of chaos and order. Island6 Arts Center 2F, Bldg 6, 120 Moganshan Rd. Thursday April 17th: City Sound Sessions Take a......

We're not sure if this has anything to do with this earlier story, but Beijing police do seem intent to really CLEAN UP the city in time for the Olympics. In a massive raid on Sanlitun recently, the city's popular nightlife area, Beijing police have arrested 20 people (including eight foreigners) and many young people are said to be shaken. Blogger Beijing Boyce happened to be in the vicinity, and observed:1) this raid was much......

By Jake Newby Let there be rock! Alright, it's not the real AC/DC obviously. Shooting to thrill instead will be a Belgian tribute band. Yep, that's a Belgian AC/DC tribute band. Magic. Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution and these lads from Belgium are supposed to deliver a pretty high voltage performance that will shake your foundations. They've headlined festivals all over Europe and have even opened for the mighty Status Quo, leaving their audiences......

Touring season has official started for Chinese bands and this weekend Shanghai is bursting with shows worth checking out. Tonight the action starts early with three Xian bands playing at Yuyintang. Both Hush and 24hour Party People have played in Shanghai before and put on solid shows. This time they are joined by punk band Sucker. If you miss tonight's earlier show, you don't have to feel like a total bum, all 3 bands will......

Most Shanghaiist readers are familiar with legendary dive bar C’s and with the music pub Logo too. Darkness, taxi rides and alcohol make the rest of the area a bit of a blur but we have the benefit of living there. The area, called The Xinhua Community, is centered around Xinhua Lu’s heritage architecture and greenery. We covered this a bit by introducing J. G. Ballard’s old home in a previous post. It also has......

No, it's not the new dining craze in Shanghai. If you're tired of mainstream house and trance, try giving Infected Mushroom a listen. Shanghaiist guarantees their brand of psychedelic trance will put you in a different frame of mind. To help convince you, the Israeli-based duo performs live tonight at the Tanghui VIP Club. A live set means no pre-recorded songs on vinyl or CDs - this is strictly synths, drum machines, and other instruments,......

Argghh..can you feel it? With the end of the holiday season things in the realm of live music are starting to pick up again. After a much needed break from Shanghai, we are back and ready for some musical action. During the break it seems that venues around the city have started to warm up to the idea of holding more gigs. In April, Windows Tembo, will reopen as a live music venue and is......

The dire restaurant choices at Pudong Airport will get a boost when Terminal 2 opens on March 26. Restaurants announced in the new terminal include:1930s style fine dining at "Peace @ The Bund" Cafe Ritazza Burger King Korean fast-food Heineken Baran Italian restaurantHK-style dumplings There are also the requisite Chinese options and a Teppanyaki place. No word yet as to whether the Teppanyaki will feature an all-you-can-drink option for any nervous flyers. More news here.......

Are you starved for techno? Real, honest-to-gosh techno? Well, Shanghai's Void crew has you covered. Several times a month they fill up LOgO and The Shelter to bring you the foot-tappinest, head-noddinest, neck-snappinest techno you ever could lay ears on. They've showcased both DJ Nomadico and Jason Hodges in Shanghai, and this Saturday March 1st they bring a little bit of Detroit and Berlin to The Shelter. We sat down with Shanghaiist football contributor and......

By W.E.B Lowery When you’re a musician who’s lived in/contributed to the scenes of storied musical cities such as New Orleans, New York, London, or Melbourne, seeing live local music can pretty much define who you are. Those of you who’ve been here awhile understand how this causes a major inner confliction, because we do love living in Shanghai. It’s just that for us, an underground music scene is something out of the tales of......

GUINNESS PRICE GOUGING UPDATE: In our last post, we accused Big Bamboo (132 Nanyang Rd) of having the most expensive draft Guinness in town at RMB70 (their new price, as of a few weeks ago). Apparently that is incorrect. Since then, a Shamrock snout has reported to us that actually the priciest Guinness in Shanghai is somewhere in Xintiandi where they charged RMB88 a pint! Holy Hippopotami! We'd be interested to find out which establishment......

This weekend venues are still suffering from the New Year hangover and not many events are happening. You might check out blues band, Studio 188, who will be performing at the Blues Room on Saturday. Or maybe join the firecracker loving crowds throughout the city for a bit of noise. One event we are excited about (and bummed that we will have to miss) is the Get in the Van event scheduled for Friday the......

If you like your basslines rinsin' and your selektas rewindin', you'll be in broken-beat heaven this weekend. On Friday the 15th, Hospitality Shanghai sends Logistics and Cyantific to disinfect Club Bonbon. The duo will storm the emergency care ward to celebrate Bonbon's new status as a resident stop on the Hospitality tours. Cyantific is bringing an extra turntable just for us and will showcase his own brand of three-deck trickery. Still not satisfied? Then head......

RYE WHISKEY AT MARTINI BAR: D&G Martini Bar (1/F, 6 on The Bund) has acquired a limited stock of Templeton rye whiskey, probably the only rye whiskey commercially available in Shanghai. Martini Bar has specially prepared some cocktail recipes featuring this much sought after liquor including "The Horse's Neck" and the "Klondyke Clipper." Should you be a whiskey or Bourbon aficionado, mosey over to Martini Bar and sample one of these delightfully different drops. PUB......

Winopete has 'read' the dregs in his wine glass and come up with the following predictions for the Year of the Rat:Another 3 or 4 night clubs will open, and another 3 or 4 will evapoRATe into Shanghai's failed business netherland, with at least 2 or 3 of them being reincarnated as something else. We're not naming names yet to avoid legal complications.Pudong will remain a wasteland for iRATe pub-goers, with salvation only delivered by......

Photo by Ken Yip BAR AT LE GARCON CHINOIS: Heading south down Hengshan Rd from Dongping Rd, turn trustingly left down a dark lane with a large ad for Yang's Kitchen on the wall. Keep walking till you see an old villa on your right-hand side where there is a faded brass plate with the faint engraved lettering "Le Garcon Chinois." (Actual address is No.3, Lane 9, Hengshan Rd). Go up the stairs and......

Alcohol companies (especially in Shanghai) are known for their lemming like approach to parties (maybe it is the incestuous nature of their cliques). The latest trend is in throwing expensive "invite only" parties like the Hennessy Artistry series and this weekend’s upcoming Smirnoff party featuring Hard-Fi and DJ Sasha (gag). Just like at the Hennessey party, we loser expats aren't overly welcome (at more than one of these parties we have been told that our......

Master Kai Uwe Pel has been a fixture on the Shanghai Kung Fu scene for nearly six years, working at the Jing Wu school and the Long Wu International Kung Fu Centre before finally going it alone in 2006. He has spent more than 25 years in Chinese martial arts. He lived and worked in Hong Kong and then Singapore where he studied Seven Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Pre-war Shanghai was the site of......

The weekend has arrived and with Chinese New Year looming things have gotten much quieter on the live music front. Friday night Club 8 and Pelle Carlberg, both from Sweden, will bring their pop sound to the crowds at the Shanghai Concert Hall. It had been scheduled for the Dream Factory but due to lack of a proper live music license has been moved. Shanghaiist's interest in this show has been piqued by the oddly......

Photos courtesy of Red Beat Bar We're in that terrible time of year when the weather is so bad that even this scribe opts for hibernating in his heated home, rather than exploring Shanghai's bars. There's also the annual hiatus between western New Year and Chinese New Year which puts many happenings on hold. Nevertheless, there are some interesting upcoming events that will draw us out from our cosy dwellings with much to lure......

This may get to you too late (unfortunately we have a 9 to 5 and can't blog on demand), but tonight, instead of sitting on your ass in front of the computer, stop by The Shelter and witness their first experiment with a four-piece (or more) band. Angry Jerks (last seen playing in Shanghai in March of 2007) from Nanjing, one of the tightest punk outfits this side of the Pacific, will be joined by......

RIP: 4Live (November 2006-January 2008) We don't envy publishers of Shanghai guide books — shit never stays the same here for very long. Yesterday we told you about the closure of 4Live, arguably the best venue for live music in downtown Shanghai. Now we have some insight on the news from two guys who worked at 4Live during its 14-month existence: Michael Ohlsson, marketing manager at 4Live from December 2006 to May 2007, and Brad......

It was inevitable. A week into the New Year and we are already saying goodbye to one of the city's few venues for underground bands. 4Live limped to a close last night after a year of struggling to make it promoting live music in the city of turntables (and laptops). Opening as a beacon of hope for those interested in the underground music scene the venue was plagued by internal management problems and an identity......

In no particular order 1. Glenfiddich 40 year old: Blended with whiskies from Grant's 1920s and 1930s vats, this special Glenfiddich was sweet, smooth and very long in taste. We sampled this recently at Constellation Bar, together with another dozen or so whisky fanatics, the bottle being one of only 600 bottles in the world. Estimated retail price for this very special Scotch, according to the Constellation manager, would be about RMB3000 per dram! 2.......

By Derek Sandhaus The new year is almost upon us and it's time to start making plans for the big night. One option is to drop a lot of cash on an upscale option like Bar Rouge's Monarchy Party (black-tie and pleasant smelling flatulence required) or Xintiandi's S.H.E.-licious Countdown Bash . For some of us though, New Year's Eve is all about the simple pleasures in life like open-mouthed kisses with horse-faced strangers and drinking......

With the holiday season in full swing things usually slow down in the music scene. But this weekend there are a few shows that should get us through to the New Year. On Saturday Live Bar is holding a show that we are pretty excited to see. Voodoo Gongfu from Beijing will be on stage. Shanghaiist happened to pick up a copy of their DVD in Beijing and with all the costumes and addition of......

- Lance has left the British Bulldog to work in a pub next to the Intercontinental Hotel in Shenzhen. He was seen lugging 3 brand new suits to the airport on his day of departure. The new owners are supposedly a group of finance industry bods headed by an Australian bank GM. - Gerard and Kinsey, ex Blarney Stone, will open a pub on Hengshan Rd soon after Chinese New Year. Stephen Sands, ex O'Malleys,......

UPDATE: As stated in this comment, Shanghaiist was contacted via email by the Director of Sales & Marketing of Shanghai Golden Sands F&B Management Ltd., the company running the two establishments mentioned in this report. He requested that we take the story down and issue a retraction. He also threatened legal action. The author of the post stands by his story, and says his sources included current employees of Trader Vic's. In his comment below,......

We have never actually experienced or even witnessed a person's ears bleeding from a live show, but last night we were pretty damn close. Thursday, the Ex-Models put on an interesting show of sharp, sonic blasts for a small 4Live audience. If you happened to miss it, no worries, the band will be joined by Carsick Cars and Torturing Nurse on Saturday at Yuyintang. Carsick Cars has enjoyed a stellar year, opening for Sonic Youth......

For all of those of you who stayed at home, hunched over the computer, waiting for an update on the happenings in live music this weekend....well, we apologize. Dust yourself off, pick up the shaver and take a shower, today is a big day for music. Getting things started early, 4:30pm at 4Live, are Taiwan indie pop duo, Natural Q. Seems to be the season for indie pop, after performances last month by Carrchy and......