May day music festivals to rock China
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Beijing: Midi Modern Music & Strawberry Festival
This May Day Holiday will see music reign in Beijing as the capital plays host to dueling outdoor music festivals. In one corner, the heavy-hitting Midi Music Festival returns to Haidian Park, while Modern Sky Records plants their Strawberry Festival in Tongzhou Canal Park outside Beijing. Although there is overlap in the Chinese acts (Carsick Cars, Xiao He, Tang Dynasty, Xie Tianxiao and AK-47), both are guaranteed to draw tens of thousands of festivalgoers.
Organized by the Beijing Midi School of Music, the Midi festival has been 10 years in the running, albeit with a few bumps along the way (last minute cancellations, changes of venue, international acts with visa troubles). The festival's 10th anniversary is so far proceeding full steam ahead: With four stages over four days, Midi will feature rock, folk, hip-hop and DJs. Notable Chinese acts include punk giants Brain Failure, scream quartet Subs and Inner Mongolians Hanggai.
Despite Midi's 20 overseas acts, the bill falls short of previous years, bringing in lesser knowns such as punk quartet Mike TV (UK), Asaf Avidan & the Mojos (Israel) and hardcore outfit Nine Eleven (FR).
In the other corner, Strawberry Music Festival will fill six stages with over 120 acts. The festival has strong billing, such as Kill Rockstar's indie eclectics Xiu Xiu (US), Liquid Architecture (FR) and Does It Offend You, Yeah? (UK). The Chinese scene will also be well represented in Strawberry's domestic lineup; Cao Fang, New Pants, Queen Sea Big Shark, Pet Conspiracy and Re- Tros are all set to bring Beijing down.
Also, if you're in central China next month, look out for the Strawberry Festival in Xi'an, set for May 15-16. The biggest outdoor fest Xi'an has ever hosted, headlining acts will include chanteuse Karen Mok as well as many bands from the Beijing lineup.
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