It's music festival season in Shanghai, with two big-name events (Midi and Strawberry) coming up this month. Also on the horizon is the second annual Pic Nic festival, taking place this weekend at Yuyintang Park. A variety of acts will be there, including Nao Hao, Friend or Foe, Ben Huang, Siesta, and Acid Pony Club. Picnic baskets are highly encouraged. more ›

Over a hundred acts from a variety of genres will play at the 6th JZ Music Festival Green Note this weekend, including jazz-hands Tower of Power, Roy Ayers, Jojo Mayer, local rastafari Lions of Puxi, Mongolian Steppe-rockers Hanggai, and DJ's Ben Huang, Siesta, and V-Nutz, one of our personal favorites. more ›

Did the government issue an edict to let a hundred music festivals blossom this year? In what looks to be a festival that will actually showcase acts we'd be giddy to see, The Black Rabbit Festival will feature the likes of Hip-Hop heavies Ludacris and Grandmaster Flash, mall-rockers 30 Seconds to Mars, Indie persons Titus Andronicus, Perfume Genius and Gold Panda, and the cream of the Chinese rock niche, including 2007-08 "It" kids Carsick Cars and punk pioneers PK14. OMG, and Hebe from the girl group S.H.E. will also be performing? YES! more ›

Shanghai's inaugural Fête de la Musique went down this past weekend, and what little we did manage to catch of the free music fest was sensational. Taking place at the cavernous 800 Show space on Changde Lu, a near capacity-crowd turned up for an evening of free music provided courtesy of the Institut Français. more ›

Last year's JUE Festival was an awesome one-two punch of art and music that hit us in the dead of winter. This year, SplitWorks has been kind enough to push it back a couple of months so that hopefully we won't freeze our little booties off trying to get to their shows. JUE 2010 will be from March 12 to 29. But who will be showing? more ›

2 days…3 stages…37 bands…20 DJs….What better than the hard facts to advertise an event as noteworthy as the upcoming JZ Shanghai Music Festival? From October 16th to the 18th, Pudong Century Park will play host to a constant stream of artists set to fill the city with music. Don’t be fooled by the festival’s name- one might be quick to assume that a jazz festival would be monopolized by the baritone sax and Louis Armstrong tribute performances, but each of the three stages actually specializes in a subset of music. more ›

Yes, we know we just went through one festival, but we can't help getting a little psyched for the next one already. more ›

Midi Festival commenced at Zhenjiang this year, a mere 11 hours away from Beijing by train. Musical highlights on May 1 included Shouren (Thin Man) and Cui Jian doing an extended set. Other things I will remember: the singer of Turdus Musicus tangled in his microphone cord, trying to get through into the audience past a panicked security line and members of Mike TV tripping over the phrase "niu bi" (eventually it was decipherable enough to understand). Beer and kebobs were available. All in all, the first day of the festival was a well-organized affair. Who knew Zhenjiang could rock? more ›

If you had plans to go traveling for the May Labor Holiday, you ought to think about canceling them now. Midi Festival, China's longest running music extravaganza could be hitting Shanghai. more ›

It is official...the golden week has finally hit Shanghai, and it is hitting us hard, with a multitude of music festivals. So for those of you who are taking the vacation serious and drinking so much you can't think straight, Shanghaiist is here to do the thinking for you. Feel free to print and paste the sample itinerary listed below to that one pair of underwear you plan on wearing for the entire week. more ›

For any one who missed it, Cold Fairyland and the Scoff both had concerts last night at the Shanghai Concert Hall and 4Live, respectively. Yesterday afternoon Shanghaiist had spent a solid 2 hours writing an exquisite piece of prose about these two shows... but alias, the evil internet goblin crashed our computer, causing us to lose forever that beautiful essay... well, at least you won't miss out on what is happening tonight. more ›

We have a friend who we swear is paid by the New York Times, because all he ever does is send us links to stories from that rag. The latest is entitled "Singing and Doing the Hustle in Austin" and covers the South by Southwest Music Festival, which is an indie music fan's wet dream (it ended on Sunday). The story mentions that more than 20 percent of the musical acts in the festival came from outside the US. Then it said this: more ›

Any readers out there check out the shows? Let us know how it was in the concert. more ›

Sometimes you need to clean yourself up, get serious, and move in with daddie for a few months before you head to Latin America for a new gig. The District bid's Jenna Bush adios. D.C.-based television shows have an elderly audience and DCist has some suggestions to fix that. They're also throwing Butterstick the panda bear a birthday bash. more ›

Maybe we'll try to hit the MIDI next year, although it doesn't seem like it will be the same. The movie's message is that the festival is getting more corporate -- selling out, as they say -- and that next year people selling homemade T-shirts, buttons and other souvenirs won't be welcome. more ›

If you've recently moved to Shanghai and you like live music, you don't know how good you've got it. Sure, the scene isn't great yet -- some might argue that it isn't even good -- but at least there is a scene. Two years ago, maybe even a year ago, we couldn't say that. But now there are live music offerings almost every night of week here, and things are only going to get better. We watched Norwegian indie-rockers The Mayflies (not to be confused with The Mayflies USA) play at Live Bar last night, and they were great -- a legitimate band we would have paid to see at one of our old haunts back in Atlanta or Athens, Georgia, where we were never wanting for quality live music. more ›

Last weekend was quite a stunner, what with Japanese punk, Korean horror-movie music, and a new addition to the C's revival (better than "200 people turning up to DKD wearing mp3 players and dancing in their own heads all night"); but we live in the city where 酒不醉人人自醉 ("people, rather than alcohol, enebriate") and with a population of 13 million, the party doesn't stop so easily. Read on for this week's contributions to our city's tradition of bacchanalia. more ›