Talking Tunes: Fireflies and Finntrolls Incoming, and Maybe a Snoop Lion for Good Measure

Paul Ryding | Aug 15, 2013 5:00 pm | Add a comment | 1391 reads

The next week is the one we've been looking forward to for a while, with no fewer than five "Editor's Picks" coming up in the next seven days. And whether you prefer your noise experimental, rockin' and a rollin', electronically pop, punky, or straight up discotastic, there's something for you on the horizon.

Benben, of Skip Skip fame, celebrates her 28th birthday with a show at School on Saturday night (Aug 17)

As the picture up there states, today marks the anniversary of the Fab Four giving birth to the notion of "stadium rock" when they played at Shea Stadium in New York. Celebrate the fact at V.A Bar on Saturday night (Aug 17) with a Beatles Night, featuring the Beatles Anthology documentary followed by a performance from the city's other Beatles tribute outfit, The Beatloves.

Beijing Daze came across a Weibo post that seemed to suggest Calvin Broadus, Jr. (Snoop Lion, or the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg) might be Beijing bound. Allegedly, it's a December date at the MasterCard Center, but with nothing on his official itinerary just yet, we should probably take the news with a grain of salt. Given Snoop's sizable rap sheet, this one would be a big contender for least likely Beijing show ever. Then again, they let Johnny Rotten in.

It's okay to start getting excited about the Pet Shop Boys show next Thursday (Aug 22), but that will be the subject of next week's Talking Tunes. It's written itself. Still, you can begin to get excited.

Next week is set to be a doozy, actually, with Finntroll, Japandroids and Pitbull (if you like that kind of thing) all coming to town.

And what about this past week; Smart Beijing's review of the Michael Jackson: Immortal Cirque du Soleil thing was emotional, and a few hardy metal heads made the trip over to Shanghai to see Metallica and reported that the show "kicked ass." James Hetfield seemed surprised at the reception they got there, too.

A couple more upcoming highlights:

  • Australian folk songstress Sophie Koh is at Jianghu Bar tonight (Aug 15)
  • Tibetan folk group Neemah take on Yugong Yishan on Saturday night (Aug 17) as part of their first China tour
  • US pop punks All Time Low will rock Yugong Yishan on Wednesday night (Aug 21)
  • Adam Young drops dreamy notes as part of his electronica music project, Owl City, at Beijing MasterCard Center, also on Wednesday (Aug 21)

Fireflies (by Owl City) or Finntrolls? Tough choice. Two very different creatures. Two very, very different sounds. Just watch both.

Don't forget, there are details of plenty more gigs in our events section.

Photo: www.mybeatlescollection.com