First published on 5 Mar 2012. Updated on 5 Mar 2012.
Both Midi Festival and Modern Sky's Strawberry Festival are coming to Shanghai this April, with the two Beijing-based organisers set to host rival events within a few days of each other.
Midi Festival is set to return to Century Park for the weekend of April 21-22, just over a week before Modern Sky open their debut festival in the city on April 29.
Modern Sky's Strawberry Shanghai will run for three days at the
Expo Park site that hosted last year's
JZ Festival. The Beijing record label infamously took over Midi's slot in Zhenjiang last year amid accusations that they had 'stolen' the festival from the capital's music school. This latest, Shanghai-based clash, is unlikely to do much for the two companies' relations.
Modern Sky, whose Strawberry Suzhou was abruptly harmonised last year, have assembled a pretty familiar line-up for their first Shanghai festival. Blonde Redhead (video below), Laura Jansen, Jeans Team and Pitchtuner head up a fairly uninspiring bill of international bands that largely draws on foreign acts that have played in Shanghai and Beijing in the past few years. Rumours that
Boys Noize is set to be among the returnees have been denied, though two DJs from the German producer's label will headline the electronic stage alongside DJ Spooky.
Video of Blonde Redhead playing 2010's Beijing Modern Sky Festival.They'll be joined on the bill by a number of Shanghai bands, though most of these have been given early performance times, with Beijing bands favoured for the later slots on the schedule. Modern Sky mainstays such as New Pants are likely to be among the acts coming down from the capital.
Midi Festival meanwhile, are yet to announce their line-up, though rumours that
Marky Ramone's Blitzkreig - the band formed by the ex-Ramones drummer with post-Danzig Misfits vocalist Michale Graves - will be in town at that time are bolstered by
Ramone's website, and Midi seems like it would be a perfect fit for them. The festival has yet to officially confirm their appearance however.
For full line-up details and previews of both festivals, keep an eye on
www.timeoutshanghai.com and look out for April's
Time Out Shanghai magazine.
Jake Newby