From the New York Times: Foreign entertainers who have taken part in activities that China deems a threat to its sovereignty will not be allowed to perform in the country, according to a new list of rules posted Thursday on the Web site of the Ministry of Culture. The rules say that the background credentials of performers from foreign countries, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan will be scrutinized carefully. “Those who used to take part......

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......

Tonight (Tuesday, 3 June) "Hip-Hop" group the Black Eyed Peas are playing a hastily arranged benefit gig for around 700 people at the Shanghai Concert Hall. Although previously set up as a brown-nosing corporate show for Chivas and Pernod Ricard the invite-only show will now apparently help victims of the Sichuan earthquake in some way. "We will invite our VIP guests, main customers in China, along with media to the concert"says Chivas spokeswoman Vanessa Wright......

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......

They're not coming to play together, but rather in two separate shows happening this week. Swiss trumpeter Erik Truffaz is performing Thursday (tomorrow) at JZ Club with his band, and Saturday is Mike Stern's show. Each of them are bringing a quartet, ostensibly touring to promote new albums. Mike Stern's quartet consists of Bob Franceschini, Lincoln Goines, Lionel Cordew. Erik Truffaz is bringing Marcello Giuliani, Marc Erbetta, and Patrick Muller in his band. Both 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......

After 2 weeks of unrelenting natural disaster horror stories there are a couple of good shows this weekend to help you release that built up anxiety. Friday the sounds are a bit mellower with Chinese folk singer Hong Qi and jazz saxophonist Adam Diller holding court at Live Bar, where they will be joined by beat masters $.99 Dreams. Yuguo will be playing at Yuyintang. Saturday things get faster with SMZB, one of the best......

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......

In fact TTing has already been open for nearly four months, but has yet to do a formal grand opening. Like any fledgling business in Shanghai, it's their first year so they're still struggling, but slowly the place is building a following — not just for the jazz-pop band performing in the main room but also for the pool tables and VIP nightclub vibe happening downstairs. In fact Shanghaiist went in a few weeks ago......

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......

We left a little disappointed after The Analog Girl's gig at La Bella Cafe last Saturday. Recent hype aside, we had been hooked on the Singaporean musician's 2005 The TV Is On album and had been in eager anticipation ever since to catch her live. Never mind that the venue was intimate and our mojito well-mixed, The Analog Girl only performed a few tracks off her new EP Sometime Next Galaxy, scarcely lasting half......

Since we didn't make it to Saturday's show at twocities, we made a special effort to go hear the Canadian piano-cello duo this afternoon at Glamour Bar, and enjoyed it. The two players are both quite virtuosic on their respective axes, not to mention well versed in both the classical and jazz realms. And though there were plenty of jazz and classical influences present in the music, most of it was generally unclassifiable, eclectic melanges......

Our bad for not publishing this earlier, but tonight at the twocities gallery there will be an amazing show by the piano-cello duet of David Braid and Matt Brubeck. If you can't make it tonight, there's still hope as they play tomorrow afternoon at the Glamour Bar. We think both rooms are going to be perfect for this duo, each usually have an intimate quiet setting focused on the music. Of course the Glamour Bar......

As we feel frankly uncomfortable in anything else, Shanghaiist frequently rocks the t-shirt and jeans look. Classic. To that end, eno is one of our favourite shops to head to — with a great range of creative and oh-so-cool clothing, including designs by some of our favourite bands and musicians. So, when they say they're throwing a party we're naturally interested. When they say there'll be live music we get pretty excited. And when they......

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......

We didn't make it to James Blunt's concert in Shanghai last Saturday at the Yun Feng Theatre, but from what we heard from a friend who went and these videos that we found on Youtube, it was a show worth watching. What did you guys think who went?......

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......

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......

Following the explosive opening weekend at Windows Tembo and another great Subs performance the scene is still buzzing with activity and expectation. One side effect appears to be hype and punditry getting in earlier than usual so Shanghaiist does not want to be left out. The hype this week is building around the You Say Party! We Say Die! gig at Dream Factory this Saturday and with Hard Queen and Banana Monkey also on the......

We told you a little while ago about Nas coming to Shanghai and how the whole thing confused us a little. Well, we just got a message from the promoters and we're pretty clear on the meaning this time:Due to visa issues amongst the entourage of guest star, NAS, the date of the Solid Hip Hop Party has been pushed back. The event promoter is working on a four to six week delay, and the......