Get an Earful at Omni and School This Weekend With an Anniversary Double-Bill
As we approach the end of 2019, the time is ripe to take a step back and contextualize Beijing's ever-changing music landscape. While Gulou continues to be the epicenter for the scene, it’s days seem numbered, with more and more venues – particularly those with larger capacities – attracting wider Chinese audiences to further-flung parts of the city. Moreover, the traditionally gig-heavy weekend, while still ground zero for the city's gigs, is slowly having to make way for weekdays as international bands put their money on Beijing's weekday warriors to fill seats and smaller local promoters try to drum up fervor among kids wanting to kickstart their weekend early.
No two endeavors have highlighted this shift more than Omni Space, the Temple of Heaven-adjacent venue that has slowly risen to become a stalwart for Beijing's mid-sized gigs, and One Year, the scrappy promotion team that has turned School Bar’s midweek schedule into a hotbed of activity. This weekend, each celebrates their anniversaries (three and two, respectively) with an assortment of music to really dig your teeth into.
Omni Space - "If you build it, they will come"
"We didn’t think about Omni Space’s success too much, there’s really no end to it. We just wanted to establish a place with high standards - in sound environment, sound quality, a good stage that could handle more than ten artists at the same time and accommodate as many kinds of music as possible," says Zuoye, founder of Omni Space. If he sounds modest, that's probably for good reason: while Omni had many things going for it – a top-notch sound system and a decent floor space that could easily accommodate 600-800 devoted fans – it’s location initially seemed like a dud. Sat to the west of the Temple of Heaven, Omni Space is hardly central Beijing territory and it was a big gamble to see whether fans would make the additional trek given it seemed hard enough to get people to gigs outside of the Gulou bubble.
But as a wise Kevin Costner once said, "If you build it, they will come," and come they did. Go any given day of the week and don’t be surprised to see a queue of eager fans snaking the corner outside of the venue. It may have taken three years, but Omni Space has slowly become a drawcard for both domestic heavy-hitters, established international acts, and up-and-coming bands through its monthly XIAN series.
"We can only hope to bring more and more interesting music to the Chinese market in the future," says Zuoye. With three years under his belt and a new generation of fans showing up in droves, we’d say Omni Space is in good hands.
What to expect this weekend
For their anniversary this Friday, Dec 6, Omni Space has whipped up a hell of a crowd-pleasing lineup. Leading the charge is a one-of-a-kind collaborative performance between indie post-rockers Glow Curve and the experimental free jazz ensemble Dreaming Julie. Joining them will be US indie-pop veterans Crocodiles, debuting their delirious blend of bittersweet noise rock and fuzzed-out garage rock in Beijing. Also on hand will be orchestral pop producer Li Xingyu and Whale Circus, the former's rotating and ever-expanding musical ensemble whose bread and butter is lush, cinematic soundtracks. It’s all rounded out by one of the summer’s biggest surprise: female indie-pop duo Sisi and Fan, who received a fair bit of press (and a horde of new fans) for their stint of this hit rock competition show The Big Band.
School Bar - Weekdays are the new weekend
Meanwhile, over at School Bar, Yang Yao AKA the "Little Weekend King" (小周末之王) under his promotional moniker One Year has, over two years and 26 shows, earned a name for himself via a run of riotous mid-week punk parties. Creative themes, some top-notch acts, and an opportunity to dip into School Bar without the excess of the weekend crowd, One Year has in many ways redefined the weekday schedule for the Wudaoying venue.
"I became interested in what audiences really like, hanging out on the weekends to find those bands that people would come see play on weekdays. It was clear pretty quickly that there are a lot of people who prefer seeing good music on weekdays," explains Yao. That sense of curiosity soon turned into an enthusiastic want to provide audiences with a different musical experience. Two fruitful years later and Yao admits that "There's no secret [to putting on a good show] except working hard, focusing on every detail beforehand and doing your best… and of course, a well-designed poster." He'll put all that hard-earned knowledge into a two-night bash this Friday and Saturday, Dec 6-7, featuring some of his favorite acts.
What to expect this weekend
Night one kicks off with the rustic blues-ridden rockers Ghetto Blaster, the band that compelled Yao to start One Year in the first place: "My favorite band, Ghetto Blaster, is made up of my best friends. They weren’t able to get enough gigs at the time, so I figured I could arrange the shows myself to provide enough chances for the band."
Filling out Friday evening's lineup are tattooed ska outfit Underdog, rugged post-punk trio The White Papers, doo-wop veterans Candy Monster, and football fanatics-turned-punks Labour Glory. Saturday gets even more loose with a punk-heavy lineup that includes visiting Kunming punks Plastic, rambunctious Xinxiangers Pumpkins, local scrappers Hang Nail, kawaii core band Xiao Wang, and Wasted Laika.
Long live the Little Weekend King!
Crib all the details about Omni Space's third anniversary here or One Year's anniversary here.
Omni and One Year are not the only ones having a ball this weekend.
New Noise is also celebrating 10 years of touring some of the biggest rock bands on the planet.
Images: courtesy of the organizers