After a month of procrastinating, the Radar finally gets round to some all important review. After previewing October holiday’s various festivals for months, we are guilty here at Radar HQ of all that we preach against in the normal course of our adventures in the Chinese music underground –
that too many (read all) publications are obsessed with preview and that very rarely is an event retrospectively examined for quality. Without review, no-one will ever be able to critically evaluate and we will fail in our attempts to build heroes here in China, for that it what music is all about, heroes that inspire and indulge.
So, the time has come for the Radar to examine the heroics of some of the stalwarts of China’s burgeoning music scene. As covered in an earlier article (here), October holiday week 2008 was probably the biggest in the short history of Chinese contemporary music. There were no fewer than 6 larg(ish) festivals happening around the time of the October holiday, as well as the most ambitious tour by an international artist yet. For ourselves, the Radar decided to head to Beijing, as the predominance of action was happening here.
Leaving Shanghai on the Tuesday of October fest, we arrived at Modern Sky festival around 4pm of it’s first day. We were greeted by the longest queue that we had seen since the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Security was still the order of the day, as all the festival goers were funnelled through 2 (yes, each for just 1 person) entry gates followed by 2 airport style metal detectors. One of our number tried to walk to the end of the queue, but gave up after 10 minutes. Rumour had it that the queue was taking over 4 hours. To be honest, it is anyone’s guess what draconian measures were imposed on the organisers, but to keep expectant music fans waiting for 4 hours to get into the festival is a hard one to excuse.
Inside, we were immediately taken by the absence of grass of any description. As reported earlier in this blog, the army has been on manoeuvres on the grass at Haidian Park over the Olympics, and they had failed to move out on time. Most unfortunately, the Park authorities had demanded that the grass be left in original condition so they could work out the damage. Whether or not this was what prompted Midi’s rescheduling or whether Modern Sky had the grass for their festival, we do not know. The unfortunate conclusion of the whole thing was that the Modern Sky festival felt strangely lifeless and dull. The second stage (sponsored most graphically by Motorola) and the electronic stage were both housed in two large exhibition halls, making it seem strangely like this year’s Summersonic in Tokyo. The Main Stage was huge and imposing on a large slab of concrete, surrounded by a semi-circle of concessions from media, small record labels, internet startups and one lonely beer outlet, selling warm bottles of Tsing Tao distilled into cardboard cups. By our estimates, around 5,000 people would be able to see the main stage at once, and for the headliners on the two nights we were there, the area was pretty full.
So, the skinny. Of the bands we saw, most were (as always) let down by some pretty low grade production. With a ticket prices of US$10 per day, an estimated daily attendance across the three days of around 8-10,000, and all bands from greater China, you would hope that more would go in to the production. It is hard to generate a vibe or appreciation of what’s in front of you when the sound is muddy and the lighting unsynchronised and spastic. Queen Sea Big Shark are the biggest disappointment on this front. They have the fan base and the corporate support to really make a go of upping the standards for Chinese indie music. Sure enough, their headline slot on the first night had the crowds out in spades, but their performance was disjointed and it seemed like they hadn’t been near the same rehearsal room for months. They sounded sloppy and for us at least, it was rock by numbers. The crowd seemed largely to agree.
Artistically, the main stage looked great, with a huge spider web effect framing it – there had been significant care and attention lavished on the decoration, and this was certainly the strongest point of the festival. One final observation for day 1 was thank God we had followed traditional festival wisdom and spent some time on the toilet before going. We viewed a total of 12 individual port-a-loos on the entire site. Assuming a low end of 8,000 people, that’s a ratio of over 700-1, not pretty if you need to go bad.
When we got hungry, it was time to leave. The food concessions were around 6 in number and the variety very limited. A brief flirtation with two of the kebab sellers suggested that we would be better served by one of Beijing’s fantastic restaurants. We are by no means festival food snobs, but it was pretty low-grade fare.
Day two was an early start back at Haidian Park. We were hoping to catch a couple of acts before we headed off to the “competition”
We saw some hair metal by the name of Suffocated, which was well received by a small core of fans, and we saw a couple of fairly underwhelming bands that seemed somewhat intimidated by the enormous stage/ room of the second stage. 
It is really great to see small Chinese bands stepping up to the plate, but for things to move forward, it really is important that they are mixed in with bands that understand how to work a stage this size.
And so, onto the much rescheduled, much relocated, occasionally cancelled Midi festival.
MORE TO FOLLOW IN PART 2
For all photos, please go here