UPDATE 9/20/2012: Surprising no one, the Dreamer Festival dates in Shanghai have been “postponed” to April of 2013 due to the promoter not receiving the correct permits (yet promoting the festival and selling tickets…) and the current political climate. Instead, the festival will be held next year. Here is the latest announcement (Chinese only).
UPDATE 9/17/2012: As of Friday afternoon, the Wuhan Dreamer Festival has been cancelled as well due to the fact that none of the foreign artists are able to perform. Link to the Douban note with the official notification from the organisers, here.
Well, color us shocked (and dripping in sarcasm, FYI). From their official microblog (Sina Weibo) yesterday afternoon comes the news that the Dreamer Festival in Tianjin has been canceled, less than a month out from it’s original October holiday date.
To recap, Sounds Great! promoters (声演坊) and Pocket Music announced earlier this year that they were putting on three simultaneous music festivals in Shanghai, Wuhan and Beijing during the October holiday period, 2012. Over 20 foreign headliners were announced, including World’s End Girlfriend, Jay-Jay Johansen, Pelle Carlberg, Agnes Kain and more. We were always dubious that ANYONE could pull off three multi-day festivals simultaneously, and Sounds Great/Pocket have not had a good track record in the past of following through on announced events.
According to the organisers, the Shanghai and Wuhan festivals will go on as scheduled, and the cancellation of the Tianjin event was attributed to the upcoming transition in nearby Beijing. If you’re keeping count at home, this means that there are official no outdoor festivals north of the Yangtze this October. So, uh, enjoy the beautiful weather we’ll inevitably have in the northern capital?