Lorde to Headline Zhangbei Festival, Fête de la Musique, Beijing Dead Alive Two More Times

Kipp Whittaker | Jun 19, 2014 4:45 pm | Add a comment | 1796 reads

Lorde will headline this year's Zhangbei Inmusic Festival, with other international acts Biffy Clyro and Tiny Finger. That's a pretty heavy lineup for this notoriously chaotic musical event in the middle of nowhere.

Zhangbei sits four hours north of Beijing in Hebei Province. The fest was originally founded through a partnership with the local government, and has occasionally brought out interesting acts like Killing Joke and Spiritualized, along with a large slew of local legends. This event is mainly geared towards locals though – little bilingual promotion coupled with the lengthy commute to the grounds tends to turn everyone else off. 

Even though Sun Media Group who are spearheading the event seem to have good taste, there has been a lengthy list of logistical problems in the past, including equipment failures, long delays, and poor attendance. But from what I've been reading it is still a great time and worth checking out, and OMG Lorde is so hot right now. 

The festival is scheduled for July 18-20. Advance one day tickets will set you back RMB 150 and three days go for RMB 400. On-the-day prices are RMB 180 for one day or RMB 500 for all three. I would probably hold out on buying anything just yet, because it's better to risk a more inflated ticket price than a ticket you would have no desire to endorse due to artist cancellations. It's notoriously hard to rely on the flakey attitudes of foreign musicians (and their Chinese masters).

Fête de la Musique, the one-day musicfestgasm, has just announced it's full line-up and stage times (also below) for its short-lived life this Saturday, June 21. Incorporating 30 venues and over 45 bands, this year is set to have something for everyone.

Now in it's third year in the capital, Beijing Music Day is an off-shoot of the original event which started in France in 1982 as a celebration of music and community and general feel-good vibes, aptly landing on the first day of summer.

The organizers, made up by volunteers, state that they wish to promote free access to music for everyone so as to instigate cultural exchange and discovery of new music throughout China (the event is now in its fifth year in Shanghai). 

2 Kolegas so far looks to be ground zero for the event, with eight bands playing outside throughout the day. Pray for good weather on Saturday, folks!

To see our coverage of a number of the bands set to play, click here. 

Finally, check out one of the last gigs from the Beijing Dead, tomorrow night (June 20) at 4corners, before they shrivel up like mushrooms, back into the grave. They have built a dedicated following of heads through their ability to "steal your face," with their proficiently extended jam sessions. Wish them a warm farewell this or next weekend (Jianghu, June 28), because who knows when or how they will be reanimated again in the future. 

More music events worth your time and money:

Photos: wp.com, Courtesy of Fête de la Musique, ufoship.com, beijingdaze.com