Strawberry Music Festival : Xi'an
By admin on 2015-01-09

Following the logistically glitchy yet overall successful Strawberry Music Festival in Beijing over the May holiday, organizers at Modern Sky Records are for the first time bringing their festival brand to Xi'an for a scaled-down version this weekend at Tang Paradise Park, southeast of the city center.

Promising 36 acts on three stages over two days, the festival is the largest to ever hit Xi'an as organizers prepare for around 20,000 concertgoers to attend in total.

Different from the Beijing version, whose eclectic and underground lineup was its greatest asset and set it apart from other concurrent festivals, the festival is shedding a large portion of its indie appeal for Xi'an and opting for commercially safer A-list mando-cantopop. Festival headliners include Khalil Fong, Jam Hsiao and Hong Kong diva Karen Mok, who hit Beijing last Friday with a sold out performance at Wukesong Stadium.

According to Modern Sky, the festival's mainstream flavor is not only a conscious effort to target a larger general audience, but also owes much to the taste of its mega corporate sponsor, Nokia.

"A lot of the big names we invited have also done ads with Nokia," explained Ding Taisheng, media relations for Modern Sky, "and through these pop artists we're making this a more all-inclusive event."

For those who just rolled their eyes at the mention of cantopop and corporate sponsorship, to Modern Sky's credit they are trying to strike a balance by bringing back some of the Beijing lineup such as disco rock fashionistas Queen Sea Big Shark, post-folk masters Xiao He and Zhou Yunpeng and metal gods Tang Dynasty, all a plus for Xi'an's hardcore rock fans who have a reputation for knowing how to rock out proper.

"Xi'an crowds are known to be crazy!" laughed Mao Chuan of indie band and Strawberry veterans Perdel, while heading to play at the Xi'an festival tomorrow. "Lots of times they're already stage diving and singing our songs before we even get on stage."

Unlike most Chinese cities, Xi'an has had a thriving rock music scene for decades, which makes it all the more strange that there is a complete lack of local talent (excluding Xi'an native turned pop-rock star Zhang Chu).

"This kind of festival just doesn't have the same target, they are actually trying to turn a profit," said Zhang Lei, Xi'an rock scene fixture and organizer of the city's annual Zhang Guan Li Dai local music fest. Last year, thousands turned out for a lineup of some of Xi'an's and China's biggest rock groups, but according to Zhang, promoters China Pai barely broke even. "It's just a matter of underground versus popular music and non-mainstream is still struggling to be viable in China."

Over the past few weeks China has already seen a record number of large-scale summer music festivals, including Midi in Beijing, Zebra in Chengdu and Yixian Camping Music Festival in Hebei, as well as a handful of smaller one-off fests, each vying for a slice of the growing music market.

However, in the scramble, proper preparation often goes either overlooked or unnoticed. Strawberry drew heavy criticism from ticket holders when bottled water shortages, hour-long lines at the ticket window and sound system difficulties occurred within hours of start of the event, something that Helen Feng, lead singer of Pet Conspiracy who played Strawberry, chalks up to inexperience.

"Nobody in China nobody wants to walk or crawl first, they just want to jump to the next step, so they end up jumping from small clubs to these giant festivals with multi stages," Feng explained.

Feng was outspoken in criticizing festival management when she was left to find her own ride to the hospital after injuring herself leaping from the stage during her Strawberry performance May 2.

"They [ festivals] are getting better every year, but there is always bumps in the road, which is not just government but also just bad organization," she added.

In contrast, the Xi'an Strawberry, unlike its six-stage Beijing counterpart, is humbler in size, making it more manageable. Add on the pond-filled Tang Paradise Park with its central location and convenient transportation compared to the 10-kilometer hike to Tongzhou Canal Park and this festival has the potential for good times.

"I think we need more festivals outside Beijing anyway," added Wang Ge, music editor for The Beijinger. "You can't always have rock festivals in a city with horrible air quality and always be nervous about outdoor congregations."