Her piano riff inferno and head banged red hair illuminate it all. Max Harman's scorching onstage passion proves she's a front lady refusing to fizzle out or fade away. The same can be said for her band mates in The On Fires, an Australian hard rock troupe that blazed their way across China with smoldering shows in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and several other locales last year. more ›

Midweek Music Preview is our weekly rundown of everything happening on stages across the city. On the docket this week: Klaxons and Two Gallants schlep it out east, Illumin8tors get freaky, Rom and Boys Climbing Ropes/X is Y drop their new albums, plus Japanese psychobilly, Moscow post-punk, and Beijing hardcore! Read on for all the details, or check out our calendar for more. more ›

Pop punk fans around the city will be crushed to hear that Montreal big boys Simple Plan have cancelled their show tomorrow! They were supposed to come through town on their way over to Japan for the ginormous Summer Sonic Festival, but unfortunately lead singer Pierre Bouvier has been rocking so hard his vocal cords are swollen and need rest. Both today's Beijing concert and their show at the Mercedes Benz Arena Mixing Room have been canceled. Info on refunds isn't totally clear, but you can try calling the Mixing Room's ticketing line at 400 181 6688. The band says they hope to reschedule China dates, so keep your fingers crossed. Or if Simple Plan is dead to you now, maybe you can set your sights on the Sum 41 concert that was just announced for October 12! You'll get your dose of Canadian pop-punk one way or another here. more ›

Continuing in the dead, too-hot-to-move season of the Shanghai/China music scene, this week you can scrape by on another round of local garage/punk rock meet up Trash A Go-Go, Japanese punk rock at MAO, and French punk at LOgO. Read on for details, or check out our calendar for more! more ›

If you're thinking of staying home this weekend, hopefully these shots will convince you otherwise. Saturday night at Yuyintang featured rock acts that varied in style and sound, with hardcore punk, garage punk and outright screaming all making an appearance during the evening. more ›

Tucker is a DJ/musician well known for his use of a wide range of instruments, including an electone. more ›

Last week was so packed with great live music that this weekend looks pretty tame by comparison. Not that the city's music venues are resting on their laurels for long. Once punk legends Sham 69 have finished up their set, you'll be just a few short days away from visits by AV Okubo in support of the excellent Ratatat, Gay Fish favourites Carsick Cars (who'll be bringing The Gar back to town too), and Casino Demon as they release their new album. Not bad. But first thing's first - this weekend: more ›

With dodgy versions of Photoshop available from every fake market, DVD shop and noodle stall in the city, it takes more than a few flashy images to make your club flyer stand out from the crowd. more ›

City Weekend has an interesting look at some of the troubles that face Chinese bands trying to widen their appeal abroad. Recently, Wuhan punk band SMZB had an opportunity to tour the U.S. after being invited to participate at Washington D.C.'s Shamrock Festival. Unfortunately, they never made it there, thanks to visa problems: more ›

With the Oasis cancellation and rumors swirling around that 0093 - the underground practice space for most of Shanghai's bands - could possibly be closed down for the Expo, local music fans were in need of some good news. more ›

January in Shanghai tends to be a cold, slow month for live music. But it looks like 2009 is going to start of with a bang....and a pretty huge bang at that. On January 3rd cult heroes the Queers will be playing at Yuyintang in what will be the biggest punk concert in Shanghai in.....well, ever (we don't consider Avril Lavigne punk, sorry). Forming in the early 80s, the Queers came out with their first lp in 1990 on Lookout! Records which has been followed by a slew of other on Asian Man, Lookout! and Hopeless. Just having a band like this play in Shanghai is exciting, the fact that DOA, Godfathers of Canadian punk, will also be playing here is mind blowing. Also at Yuyintang they are performing on the 11th (their myspace hasn't been updated). DOA is a band that Nirvana, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Rancid and many more have mentioned as an early influence on their music. Along with Black Flag, Minor Threat and the Cro-Mags they are credited with starting the Hardcore movement in North America in the late 70s. What more of a reason would you need than that? more ›

November has been a good month for live music and this Saturday the Subs are back in town to finish off the month in style with a show at the Zhi Jiang Dream Factory. Deemed the best live band in China by many magazine scribes, their moshes are a good way to escape the cold winter chill that will no doubt engulf the open roofed Hongkou Stadium during the Kylie Minogue concert. Joining the Subs are one of the most talked about new Beijing bands, the Molds, and depending on who you talk with sound similar to the Cramps or Jesus and Mary Chain...either way Shanghaiist is getting excited. If you can't wait till Saturday for some live action, head to Yuyintang on Friday where the Molds will be playing with Rogue Transmission and Loudspeaker. more ›

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 Shy Tall Mighty, an old school punk band, is playing this weekend. Originally we saw postings for them out at Live Bar but more recently fliers have been appearing having the concert placed at Yuyintang, which is where we will be. more ›

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. more ›

Beijing based punk rockers The Subs officially opened Windows Tembo's new stage last night. The venue was packed and the show, well ... it's already got us reaching for the superlatives. Luckily, supporting act Mortal Fools drummer Tim Anderson was on hand to sum up the night with a calmer observation: "Every time the Subs play Shanghai they raise the bar for the whole scene and everyone gets lifted up." more ›

On the left there is Matrix, who along with Futurebound rocked the hell out of Club Bonbon with some crazy drum and bass on Friday. More pictures, including a review of the "Punk from Xi'an" show at the Live Bar, after the jump. more ›

What's up this weekend? Plenty of things, but Shanghaiist plans to attend these two events for sure. Friday night, Phreaktion and DJ Siesta bring you Matrix & Futurebound at Club Bonbon. MC Stride does the vocals. From their site: more ›

Time Magazine recently published a list (click here) of, what they consider, to be the top 5 Asian bands to watch in Asia for 2008. Representing China is PK-14, a band that Time is describing as postfolk. Shanghaiist isn't exactly sure what the hell postfolk is, or if it is an accurate description of the music...but we don't really care, no matter how you describe PK-14's music..it still rocks. The band is currently in Sweden recording their new album which is scheduled for release on Bing Ma Si later this spring. more ›

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 at 3 shows in Europe and they look to continue their climb with a few major European festival invites for 2008. more ›

For a second straight week Shanghaiist has missed our Friday deadline, oops. The good news is that Saturday is when all the really good stuff happens. more ›

Yet another weekend has arrived, and seems a lot of people have been talking about the opening of the Shelter. They are holding a 'soft opening' tonight and hosting Dex, from the Underground Resistance, tomorrow. For those of you who are in the mood for more of a visual than some dude spinning on the decks (or laptop), there are plenty of live shows to choose from. Just down the street from the Shelter are... more ›

Punk might not be dead, but it seems that, due to permit issues, the Exploited tour is. What Shanghaiist can't figure out is why the Exploited, in all their anti-government glory, would even apply for permits (many of the bands who come for China tours do it on tourist visas). Any one who has already purchased tickets for the show will be able to take them back to 4Live for a full refund. more ›

Due to multiple requests (total of two, and one was me) here is more golden week festival news. The previously mention Hop Festival has gotten an official name...so....let it hence forth be referred to as the Yue Festival. Ticket prices are set at 140rmb for students, 280rmb advanced purchase and 360rmb at the gate. Rock-ing has also released their ticket prices and they range from 280-880 depending on how special you want to feel. For those who are worried about getting to Zhujiajiao and back to see the 1234 Beach Rock Festival, your sleepless nights are over! Promoters have promised to keep the complimentary shuttle buses running to Shanghai Stadium late into the night. Shanghai isn't the only Chinese city to catch festival fever. Modern Sky in Beijing will also be hosting a 3 day festival at Haidian Park that first week in October. Rumored headliners are the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Mogwai. We will keep our ear to the underground and keep you updated on the freshest festival news (aren't we clever? we can string words that rhyme into sentences!). more ›

Beijing's Olympic countdown extravaganza suggests China is likely to put on a spectacular show next August, but the run-up also illustrated that the next 382 days are unlikely to be trouble free for the hosts. more ›

is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. more ›

You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. more ›

Howdy folks, and welcome back to this week's indie music preview, brought to you by Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский (that's Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky) and the letter Ф (English equivalent: f). more ›

OK, we think we've finally recovered from Friday night. The Shanghaiist launch party at British Bulldog Pub was hot, in almost every definition of the word. We packed the place, forcing the bar to open its rarely used third level. Opening band Xingfu 13 rocked the house in a shortened set (they were delayed by a lack of a stool for their drummer, and couldn't stay longer because they were using a cable needed by the other bands back at Tang Hui -- how indie rock is that?). And the Shanghai Cowboys killed, and confused the handful of regular pub patrons in attendance. Based on some very unscientific drunken polling, everyone had a good time at the party (except for maybe the uncharacteristically frazzled event organizer -- but you'd be frazzled too if you had to deal with ... ah, we're not going to name names). The raffle -- though somewhat unorganized because bar management forced the Shanghaiist crew upstairs at the last minute -- made several prize winners very happy, some eerily so. more ›

A final party plug before Shanghaiist lugs a shitload of T-shirts and raffle prizes over to the British Bulldog Pub. We had a couple last-minute additions to the raffle prize list (below), so be sure to check it out one more time. (Raffle tickets are 10 kuai, by the way, and five for 40 kuai. Entrance, of course, is free.) There are two threads about the party currently running on local message boards. One controversially suggests that "cute guys don't read blogs." Maybe that's true. But we at Shanghaiist read somewhere -- probably a blog -- that cute guys and hot girls tend to like live music and alcoholic beverages. And on those two criteria, we have you covered. As our friend Jake would say, this party is going to be "fresh." more ›

Not sure if you heard or not, but we're having a party on Friday. And while people seem genuinely excited about the great live music, the cool prizes (see below) and the chance to meet Shamus, we all know that what will really pack 'em in the British Bulldog Pub are the Shanghaiist.com T-shirts! (Play along, folks.) Yep, Friday will be your first opportunity to purchase these custom-made, 100-percent-cotton wonders that have local fashionistas foaming at their pouty little mouths. You know why, right? They are ringer Ts! Shanghaiist T-shirts, which come in normal Western sizes, will sell for 60 RMB on Friday. That's less than a beer in some bars in Shanghai. Some lucky party-goers will win a shirt in our lucky draw. Here are some of the other prizes up for grabs: more ›