Results tagged “yuefestival”

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 one band mentioned on the list are possibilities, although some are much more expensive than others (yes, we're looking at you Mr. West).

Well, 2007 is pretty much over. This Shanghaiist has never really been a big New Year's person, maybe because we always end up the odd one out at midnight or the one that has to break up the drunken fights that erupt. But, in the spirit of the season we have decided to do that traditional (way over done) recap of the past year. 2007 was a big year for music in Shanghai and below are our picks for 2007...and of course this list is biased, memories are subjective to each person and the most memorable shows for me usually tend to be because of personal involvement at some level.

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).

Who is Yacht ?

Oops..we have been sitting on this a few days, all the beers and amazing shows made Shanghaiist a little loopy and unable to sit down and type. The entry below comes via Emily Moy who had a chance to sit down with Talib Kweli and Ozomatli at the Yue Festival press conference last Thursday........

A couple days ago we asked for your photos and videos from the Yue Festival last week in Shanghai, and yesterday Archie from Spli-t Works, the event's promoter, sent us a link to the video embedded in this post. Looks like Ozomatli got up close and personal with the Shanghai crowd. Shanghaiist reader T also has a set of photos from the Yue Festival on Flickr. More pics here. Another Shanghaiist reader, who we assume...

The second day of the JZ Festival went well, with another bout of perfect weather and slightly cooler temperatures. The afternoon crowd was about the same as the first day, nearly filling up the relatively small amount of space in between the buildings at the New Factories where the concerts are being held. The musical pattern set on day one seemed to hold through the second day as well, which was: begin the day with some solid, swinging straight-ahead jazz; from there move into an eclectic mix of Scandinavian groups for the rest of the afternoon; then start the evening set with a local blockbuster group and finish it with some popular Chinese pop-rock.

We're in Beijing now, in the midst of a dual mother and mother-in-law China visit (the first for both) ... which explains why we were unable to attend the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' gig at the Modern Sky Festival here in the nation's capital yesterday. A YouTube user named zasieia was there, however, and he/she posted a video of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing "Honeybear" (or at least part of it). The video is embedded in...

The first day of the JZ Festival saw excellent weather, an interesting new venue for a music festival, and a wide range of music styles. It's already made lots of improvements on last year's festival at Fuxing park (except for the being held in a nice park with trees part) like slightly more food and drink selection and a great mass of artists selling cool stuff made themselves, like bags, jewelry, and kitschy animal-shaped gifts. Also the weather being nice is already a massive improvement over last years threatening storm clouds. Opening the festival at 3pm was Lawrence Ku's septet, playing his own compositions and arrangements from the group's recent release "Process". The group has a well-developed modern jazz sound that unfortunately doesn't get featured locally very often, even though all the players are locally based. After Lawrence's band finished on the main stage, Susanna and her magic orchestra played on the second stage. She has a dreamy, floating sort of sound to her music, and her orchestra was a one-man synthesizer orchestra but quite effective all the same. She was the first group of three that were brought into the festival through NOTCH, the festival of Scandinavian music that has merged with the JZ festival this year. She and the group that followed her, Supersilent, both hail from Norway. Supersilent played on the main stage, and made a pretty amazing show that started out with industrial-sounding sample-based free improvisation. Then they moved into some dark realms of free experimental music that was like a continuous segue. Very creative and different from everything else at the festival. The fourth band, the Skull Defects, were also making some quite interesting music with some electronic sampling and improvisation. However, they were a bit more rock-based, using more continuous rhythmic elements and interesting instruments like a big plastic water jug with a mic stuffed in the hole to get a nice deep drum sound.

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.

September is quickly sliding into history, which means for all us music fans that the orgy of music festivals Shanghai will experience in the first weeks of October is almost upon us. And of course Shanghaiist is here to bring you the latest in festival news.....

Before we get started on what is happening this weekend in music, gotta admit we accidentally put the wrong Yue Festival link in our last post. So here it is, for all you who want to keep abreast of festival news....www.yuefestival.com. We have also received word that the 1234 Beach Rock festival is being pushed back to October 21st. And now to what is happening this weekend in live music.

Shanghaiist finally made it back from the Beijing Pop Festival and had a great time. We give respect to the organizers bringing some great international bands to China, but do recognize that this festival has a lot of logistical and organizational flaws to work out before it can claim to be of global standards. Being great at weaseling our way into places we don't exactly belong, Shanghaiist was able to get on stage during the Marky Ramone set which was all the more exciting by the presence of Joe and Dave of the Queers on guitar and bass. The Queers are excited about a China tour that might happen next year.

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!).