Our Beijing pals are still on break, however we thought we’d report back on some of the activity that’s been going on down Yangtze way.
Friday saw the last instalment of the Vans Classic & City series. It’s a global initiative the brand has localized, with events taking place in Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai. They’re all free and feature collaborations between artists, bands, designers etcetc. Basically more brandy brandy gigs in the vein of Adidas Unite All Originals.
Most of the audience got to the QSW Centre pretty early – it has to be said, the presence of lots of families took away some of the edge. Turns out most were there for the shoes with doodles (from Dick Ng, Jam Hippy aka 小六, and Supersonic) and free tote bags (or at least that’s what we thought after noticing a bunch of people had left during Duck Fight Goose). The brands might have over-cooked it with Duck Fight Goose, who just played Viceland in Arkham. As for the rest, the crowd was pretty thin through Born Ruffians, Ebony Bones and Sampology (who played a killer set). MC’s Kafe Hu from Chengdu and J Fever from Beijing also rocked it.
Apart from this we also had our fill of obscure mind-bending electronica down at The Shelter. Siesta (Phreaktion) and Drunk Monk (Sub-Culture) played together for the first time in 3 years, leaving us buzzing after a tumultuous 2013.
