This weekend is fairly dead as far as indie live music goes. The one show we recommend people checking out is the Defys, a rockabilly band from Beijing, who will be playing at Yuyintang tonight. Joining them on stage will be Sonnet, a very promising Shanghai band featured in City Weekend's last issue. We also hear that You Mei You, also from Beijing, might be on the lineup. Fans of reggae should head to Anar......

Barely two weeks after their successful first event, FREE the WAX will bring in multi-instrumentalist hip hop duo, Hermitude (Elefant Traks) tonight from down under for a show at The Shelter. Sydney-based Luke Dubs and Elgusto have been playing in bands together since their early teens and have garnered a strong following over the last few years playing alongside progressive acts such as DJ Krush, Kid Koala and DJ Kentaro. Using turntables and keyboards, their......

Last night's gig was much welcomed after a long drought in Shanghai's experimental/ indie electronic music scene (think DJ Krush back in December 2006), judging by the large turnout ready to party on a week night. Daedelus, outlandishly dandy as ever with massive sideburns (that would do well to give Gaz Coombes a run for his money), certainly did not disappoint. He started off his set with pop-infused electronica then improvised onward to harder sounding,......

Most might assume that a week without a weekend might make for a dull time, void of events worthy of checking out. Well, this week they would be wrong. In the lead up to the October holiday there are 4 solid nights of gigs to choose from. Tonight in order to promote the inclusion of a few Shanghai bands in the Modern Sky Festival, those bands will be performing at Yuyintang. It should be a......

After months of nothing more than a trickle of live shows, there is a flood of gigs this weekend and Shanghaiist is left wondering how to manage with all the choices. Tonight at Yuyintang, Tookoo will be playing with 3 other bands. Being called everything from EMO to Indie, Tookoo is puts on a solid performance and we expect the small confines of YYT to be bursting with people. PK-14 is finally back in town......

While the big news this week was the postponement of the Kayne West concert, Shanghaiist was busy contemplating what gigs to check out on Friday. Tonight there is a new(ish) bar getting in on the live music action. Bee Dees bar on Dagu road is playing host to Hard Queen with a free show and we are curious to find out what this bar is all about. There has been some confusion over where the......

Olympics are over and that means we can expect more live shows to start creeping into our weekends. Tonight, Institutional Crush, an old metal band from Changchun is heading to Live Bar to show the youngsters how to properly head bang. Yuyintang is trying something a bit different; with a night of local DJs that includes B6 and Fish, two members of the infamous Antidote crew. Saturday, mellow electro outfit, Life Journey, will be at......

With the Olympics winding down, the underground gigs seem to be finally picking up. We still aren't sure what is going on at Yuyintang, their webpage isn't loading and the message they were sending out on Facebook was vague on when they were planning to re-open. Yesterday we text-messaged them regarding The Gar, who were scheduled to play tonight and YYT confirmed the gig was still on. Shanghaiist plans on showing up tonight, but with......

These days it seems Vice magazine is trying its hand at almost everything. Besides the iconic music magazine and record label they do some interesting web documentaries at VBS. Like every other news organization in the world they decided in the spirit of the Olympics to do a month of pieces on Beijing and China. Since their main focus is music they did a bunch of interesting little stories on bands like PK-14, Subs, Demerit,......

All hail the fun killers. In their infinite wisdom (idiots) the powers that be have deemed live music to be threat to national security and two casualties are Yuyintang and Windows Underground. The folk scheduled for tonight at YYT has been moved to Dream Factory and everything else is up in the air until after the Olympics. Super VC won't be able to play at Windows tonight and STD are trying to find a location......

Finally, we are back. Unlike the unfortunates who fell victim to visa restrictions our reason for being absent had more to do with laziness from too much heat. Being a pastie white red-head, the sun is not our friend. So what is happening this weekend? Well, not much, but there are a few shows. Chaos Mind and 5-pointed Star, two of Shanghais few metal bands will be playing at Yuyintang, while Live bar is letting......

If any of you have been in Shanghai for over 3 years you might remember a time when Ark Livehouse in Xintiandi was one of the few bastions of live music. Slowly disappearing from the scene and limping along for the past 3 years with the rare live show, Ark is finally calling it quits. Saturday they will hold one last show featuring some of Shanghai's oldest bands, including The Honeys, Blue Garden and Crystal......

Folk or Punk? Tonight that is the question you should be asking yourself. Demerit, a tight group of old school punkers, are playing out at Yuyintang tonight in celebration of their new cd. While out at Live Bar French folk bands, Kandid and Zedrus, will be showing Shanghai what French folk is all about. Tomorrow the STD party people will be at Windows Underground with Underground Baby, from Beijing, and King of Retards. Live Bar......

This weekend there is no lack of gigs worth checking out with some in familiar places and some in places that are new to the live music scene. Celebrating their 1st year anniversary, party promoters STD have pulled out all the stops, booking a massive space in the heart of Moganshan Road's art district. On Friday, Beijing heavy weights, New Pants, will be joined by Shanghai masters of chill, Cold Fairyland, and DJ R3. Saturday,......

It is not uncommon for many of the Chinese indie bands to have their actual popularity and accomplishments embellished and twisted in order to drum up hype for upcoming shows. One of the few indie bands that actually is and does have the huge local following to justify the hype is Xie Tian Xiao and Cold Blooded Animal. This grunge/acid rock band formed back in 1994 when grunge was still riding out the Nirvana......

This weekend and next there are a couple of parties of notable exception that should be on everyone’s calendar. Saturday - June 7th Get in the Van II - Windows Underground & Anar - 10pm (50rmb) Saturday, the Get in the Van boys are back for another round of boozing it up on the buses. This time around they have decided to bring down Joyside, a hard partying garage band from Beijing who will be......

After Windows Underground, we wanted to check out Anar but were turned away at the door because we weren't exclusive enough. Good for us, we walked down the street to LOgO and caught Beijing dance rock band, TooKoo in the heat of action. They sang entirely in English and gave an excellent show that got the crowd all riled up and hysterical. LOgO, 13 Xingfu Road, near Fahuazhen Road 幸福路13号,近法华镇路 Part 1 TooKoo - Part......

Shanghai's newest live music venue doesn't look too bad for a start, especially with veteran folk rock band, Second Hand Rose working the crowd. We like it that it is spacious enough for everyone, from the pool-playing dudes to music junkies prancing about near the stage. Did we mention that the wait staff will take your drinks order right where you stand and then serve it to you pronto? We like this very much! Windows......

This weekend is a tad light on the live shows, but it doesn't matter too much because we expect most people will be heading to West Nanjing Road on Saturday for the grand opening of Windows Underground, celebrating in style with the always entertaining, Second Hand Rose. If you are looking for live action on Friday night, then Wang Wei will be playing out at Yuyintang in what is being billed as a night of......

So we have been slacking off this week on getting out the list of gigs. But there is a valid excuse... laziness and heat doesn’t mix well and hit us like that proverbial ton of bricks. The good news is that not much was happening last night, while tonight is full of choices. We aren't sure what is happening out at Yuyintang but we have been getting reports that both No Name and Guai Li......

The one show that shouldn't be missed this weekend is by a local band that you have probably seen a dozen times, Boys Climbing Ropes. Friday night these stalwarts in the underground live scene are celebrating the release of their debut EP with a party at Windows Tembo. A great chance to show support for a band that (along with the many friends they bring) have helped keep some of the smaller venues alive through......

Bands left drifting helplessly after the cancellation of Midi have found a sort of oasis in Shanghai. The past week has seen a multitude of Midi bands play and this week things get even busier. Even as we write Karin Park should be wrapping up her first of two consecutive nights out at Live Bar. Should be a surreal experience watching a pop act prance around the stage of a proper dive bar. Tomorrow, the......

Windows Tembo is set to move from its current location Shaanxi Bei Lu to new digs near the Nanjing Xi Lu metro station at the end of the month. The new venue is being renovated at the moment and plans to open on May 30th. The transition will be seamless however, with no downtime between the old venue closing and the new one opening. The new location on Nanjing Road will also come with a......

May holiday was looking a bit bleak for music fans after the cancellation of the Midi Festival both here and in Beijing. However, despite initial setbacks Yuyintang are determined to put something on. Here's the breaking news from YYT:Since Midi is cancelled, we think there should be something special down here for the May holiday. How speical is it? Well...that depends on you! Although there won't be some stages outside, you can still have fun......

With Midi being canceled our mood has definitely turned glum. But what sucks for those festival fans and the Beijing scene might not be all that bad for us here in Shanghai. More of the bands originally scheduled to attend Midi are scrambling to book gigs in Shanghai, packing our schedule with quality shows. Kicking things off tonight are the Hussy Hicks a folk/jazz duo from Australia who will be providing plenty of much needed......

UPDATE, 17:15: An article over on Sina (link in Chinese) is pointing to policing problems and a lack of adequate security as the cause of Midi's demise (a claim seconded by theBeijinger) whilst also quoting festival organiser Zhang Fan as saying that "a postponement is possible, but only possible, there has not been a definitive decision yet". Meanwhile, CityWeekend also quote Zhang: "I'd rather not say right now. There will be an announcement tomorrow". That,......

With so many shows on last night and the rain coming down you might think that a multi-band party at Yuyintang would lose out. That is if you reckoned without the Crazy Mushroom Brigade. Yuyintang made moves to improve the latest edition of the 0093 Rock Party by bringing in a couple of larger acts: Crazy Mushroom Brigade and Mortal Fools. It was the Mushrooms who brought their 'A' game and tore the place up.......

This weekend there is no shortage of gigs to check out and we suggest you take a little nap this afternoon so you will be ready to tackle as many as possible. Shanghaiist recommends checking out Queen Sea Big Shark tonight at the Living Design Center, last time we saw this band (way back when 4Live was still around) they had the crowd rocking hard to their surf garage sound. At Live Bar, experimental Korean/Japanese......

Any fan of electronic music in China has heard of Antidote. Headed by DJ Ozone, aka Michael Ohlsson, Antidote is a crew of electronic musicians and DJs based in Shanghai. This Thursday April 17th at The Shelter, they're introducing a new party-as-concept: City Sound Sessions. Michael explains. What is City Sound Sessions? City Sound Sessions is almost a nostalgic look at a vanishing music culture. At our events, the DJs will play music that represents......

We told you the other week about the CD shop down at Yu Yin Tang now being open and a quick scan of the shelves (well, shelf) tells us we're going to be in there a lot. The shop's size reflects the size of the independent music scene in China but it's quality not quantity that counts and you can find pretty much all the main releases that have come out from the bands at......