Talking Tunes: Are Aerosmith to Play Shanghai in August?

I'm getting a wee bit tired of complaining how lucky other parts of China are compared to us when it comes to the caliber of acts they get rocking up to perform. You must be getting tired of reading it. So I'm going to stop it. After today. First they got Slash, Metallica are set to follow, and now they seem to be getting Aerosmith.

Our southern brothers in Shanghai look set to play host to a heap of fine foreign acts at the upcoming Shanghai Sonic festival which is slated to be held over the weekend of August 17 and 18. A satellite of the long-running and continually popular Summer Sonic festival held annually in Japan, Shanghai Sonic also looks set to feature performances from Jake Bugg, M.I.A., Suede, Limp Bizkit, John Legend, Carly-Rae Jepson and Alt-J.

As is becoming a common pass time of mine, it's a game of Cluedo inspecting tour itineraries to see if there are holes where artists could feasibly plan a China jaunt. Nothing is 100% confirmed just yet, though organisers seem confident it will go ahead. We'll let you know the moment we have solid news.

Gettickets.cn is listing an upcoming Suede show, but so far hasn't confirmed any date. My guess is that it will be around mid-August.

It's been a big week of musical rumors here in Beijing. Metallica finally looks set to happen -- in Shanghai, there were suggestions that Pet Shop Boys may wash up on our shores in August (only lent more weight by their planned appearance at Summer Sonic) and now we're hearing Miami dance hip-hop heavyweight Pitbull may also be headed our way.

Beijing musician Zac Courtney is preparing to leave the city and is looking to go out with a bang with a "Fabulous All Stars Party" scheduled for June 8 at Blue Stream. He plans to play with his seven different bands over the course of the evening.

To the upcoming highlights:

• Pangbianr and Metrowaves combine forces to create Sinotoronics - a record label with a focus on experimental, noise, improv and electro. Their launch party is tomorrow (May 31) at The Other Place.
• The 2013 Beijing CD Blues Festival draws to a close this weekend.
• New Orleans garage punks M.O.T.O take on Temple tomorrow night (May 31), too.
• Over at XP, Mr. Graceless play a summer show on Friday (May 31).
• Trip-hop punk outfit WHAI rock Temple on Saturday night (June 1).

Head over to our events section for more ideas of where to get to this weekend.

Aerosmith will play us out -- just as they played us in -- with "Crazy". Look out for a young Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler.