Metallica in Beijing? Not this year

Rumors that can make your veins expand are rarely true. Like the “Metallica will be in Beijing this year for Midi” rumor that was reported yesterday on China Music Radar and repeated on Beijing Daze. Here at the Beijinger we were as excited as anyone else to read these posts, but unfortunately it seems the rumor is not true.

We contacted Zhang Fan, Dean of Beijing Midi School, to ask him if Metallica were really coming, and he had this to say, "We have made contact with them, but their schedule is full this time."

So no Metallica for Midi. Incidentally, the festival will be down south in Zhenjiang this October, so the band wouldn’t have been in the capital even if they had headlined the event.

On the bright side, Midi say they are keeping in touch with the band, so it’s possible die-hard Metal fans will be able to mosh to Lars Ulrich’s drum in Beijing next year.

There are another 20 or so foreign bands, however, that are likely to experience the Chinese rock crowd in southern China. We will have the confirmed lineup in a few days, once the hosts obtain the all-important “international artist permits” from the government. We’ve heard that there will be a few "quite popular bands" in the mix.

Stay tuned.