Beijing gets ready to rock
Chaoyang Park in Beijing attracts thousands of families and couples every day, with its gardens, amusement-park attractions, boating lake and fountains.
It's not an exaggeration to say this huge park in the eastern part of the capital has a little something for everyone. That will be especially true this weekend, when it hosts the Beijing Pop Festival, with 25,000 people expected to gather for a two-day music marathon featuring local and international acts, including Supergrass and Placebo.
Joining the Brit-rockers will be 12 other acts, including former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, Karin Park from Sweden and Don Juan Dracula from Norway, plus Chinese rockers Muma, the Face and XTX.
It's rare to see the words 'music festival' and 'China' appear in the same sentence. But after 10,000 people turned out for last year's debut Beijing Pop Festival, dancing to the sounds of former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown and a range of local acts, the organisers realised that they were onto a good thing.
'Historically, there have been no rock music festivals in China,' says founder Jason Magnus. 'This is an opportunity to do something culturally unique.'
Muma - whose real name is Xie Qiang - was the first performer to take the stage at last year's festival and the experience had a great impact on him. 'The sun was hot, but it felt good to have people shouting my name and enjoying my music in a relaxing environment,' he says. 'The festival also provides a good platform for fans to understand our music and for musicians to exchange ideas.'
But introducing a new concept is never easy, particularly on the mainland. Magnus and his team have encountered many difficulties in organising the festival, mainly due to government red tape. 'We had to explain to them the concept of a music festival, as they were only used to concerts where the audience sits down,' he says. 'Sometimes we just couldn't disagree with them because we wanted to make this happen. For example, they required that we have 1,000 security staff for 10,000 people last year.'
It's perhaps not surprising that more red tape was involved this year, because the festival now features three areas: a main stage for the bands, a dance tent for electronic music and a snowboarding exhibition showcasing American and Japanese extreme sportsmen.
Festival-goers happily fork out #125 (HK$1,800) for Glastonbury and 18,000 yen (HK$1,200) for the Fuji Festival, so there was a collective dropping of jaws when organisers announced that tickets for the Beijing Pop Festival would be only 150 yuan for one day and 260 yuan for both. Magnus says the prices have been kept low to ensure the festival is affordable for music fans and to maintain his team's good reputation.
Given that Hong Kong's own music festivals have encountered their share of problems, why is Beijing apparently more attractive to musicians from around the world?
'The appeal of Beijing is its fan base,' says Magnus. 'They're all really passionate. Beijing is the cultural capital of China and rock music to them is such a big genre. In Hong Kong, the fans don't usually have that same passion. All they know about bands and rock music comes from Q magazine.'
Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey says the most interesting element of the Beijing festival is that it's a challenge for his band. 'It's interesting to get to know about other countries, especially when they're nothing like the places we are used to,' he says.
Beijing Pop Festival, Sat, Sun, 12pm-10pm, Chaoyang Park, Beijing, 150 yuan (one day), and 260 yuan (two days). Inquiries: www.beijingpopfestival.com