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......

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......

Rumours have been swirling for weeks, and now it’s official: Grammy-winning producer/rapper Kanye West will be passing through Shanghai for a gig at Hongkou Stadium next month. Although we don’t usually take anything seriously until we read about it on Kanye’s blog, we made an exception here after speaking to Steve Sybesma, CEO of China West (who are organizing the show along with Live Nation Asia). Steve confirmed for us that Mr. Yeezy is scheduled......

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......

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,......

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......

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......

The last time we attended anything Broadway related, we went to Live Mic Musical's debut production of their series of musical cabaret productions. If you missed the first production, you can judge the talent and performance level for yourself with the YouTube clip we've conveniently embedded. Or better yet, you can just come to the next show, which takes place this Saturday night. This time, the show takes place at the well-known bar and......

High Voltage, Yu Yin Tang Shanghai 21/03/08 Phew. The morning after the night before and Shanghaiist's ears are still a-ringing — and our head still a-throbbing — from High Voltage's gig at Yu Yin Tang (as promised, we also hit Brown Nylon Suit at C's afterwards, which probably didn't help) so we're hoping you'll forgive us if this isn't the most in-depth or analytical gig review. As you've probably already read on these pages,......

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......

Well, it's all over the news. Hunan TV is going to do a Chinese version of the hit US TV show Ugly Betty. According to a report from the BBC, the lead character—the Chinese Betty—has already been chosen. A Chinese article that we read, dated March 7, says that Hunan TV wants to hold nation-wide auditions to find the ugliest girl possible. So we're not sure what the case is, but in any case, whoever......

We know he's meant to be quite a bit more brilliant in concert than we saw the other night, but it seems as though a few things conspired to make Harry Connick's Shanghai show this past Sunday less great than it really should have been. For one, the role that the rest of the band played was way too small — it seems that we heard more from Bjork's brass section the week before! And......

Our friends over at Split Works tipped us off to their Yue Festival website, on which you can vote for the artists you'd most like to see at the second annual event this fall. Lots of big names on the list — how many of them are realistic, and how big of a role voter opinion will play in the signing process, remain to be seen. But we have been told that all but perhaps......

Looking for something to do tonight? Enjoy explosions in the sonic soundscape (we're not sure what that means, either)? If you get a chance we recommend heading down to 4Live where the Ex-Models, from New York, will be playing along with Snapline (Beijing) and Shanghai's very own Muscle Snog. Both Snapline and Muscle Snog have been getting a lot of attention this year, so here is your chance to see why. Thursday - December 20th......

We apologize in advance for another post about another YouTube video, but our editor is still in Hong Kong on an unanticipated visa run and we are busy trying to figure out what to pack for a trip that includes both Florida (83°F/28°C) and Pennsylvania (36°F/2°C). So, why don't you watch the embedded video highlight reel from October's Yue Festival, more than 2.5 months in the making. Looks like everyone is having a pretty good......

Since Net Nanny lifted her ban on YouTube, we have been catching up on the some of the vids that we missed during the year-long ban...okay, it wasn't that long. Looking for any excuse to waste time and avoid Christmas shopping, we watched every episode available of the first season of Project Runway Canada (the other PRC in our lives). It's the Canadian version of the very popular (especially among the LGBT crowd) American show,......

See the Chicago Improv All-Stars!...

Baidu rolled a new feature as of yesterday—a person of the month, which you can see in their logo. They say that they pick the person based on searches done in their engine, so it's a bit like Google Trends meets Time Person of the Year on a monthly basis. This month it's Xu Sanduo (许三多), a character from a popular TV series called Soldier Sortie(士兵突击), which has become one of the more popular shows......

Their 2 albums (to date) are sub-par. Their songs are not very original, with unintelligible lyrics. Yet, they are one of the few, must see, melt your face good, bands in China. They are the Subs. The Subs are a breed of bands that isn't meant to be listened to with your tiny, perfectly aerodynamic ipod. No, that would be stupid. To truly experience their music you need to catch their live performance in a......

We're not sure Bai Ling's latest lady parts on display counts as news, given the fact that her private parts are more well-publicized than she is. But, combine the Bai-sexual actress' escapades with Zhang Ziyi's body double's web-search for love; add the biggest dick in China; and throw in a PRC plug for "sexy famous models... touching each other," and we'll take the bait. Bai Shows Her Bits If Bai Ling grosses you out and/or......