A rock & metal festival in China
May is the festival season in China! Particularly the long weekend of May 1st there are several music festivals going on in China. And since a couple of years ago, one of them happens to take place in Suzhou! It is called Taihu Midi and has two versions: rock & metal and electronic music. I had never been to the Suzhou edition (I did go to the one in Beijing many, many years ago) and since we were not traveling anywhere during the long weekend we decided to go. Yay! Last time I went to a festival was 3 years ago, when we went to Strawberry in Shanghai.
The audience in the afternoon.
This year’s Taihu Midi was from April 30th to May 2nd. We only went on Saturday, April 30th, with a couple of friends who came from Shanghai. The festival takes place in a park next to Lake Tai and it is actually quite far from Suzhou. Considering the traffic jams and the road constructions in the middle of the way, it took us something like 1.5 hours to get there. The park is very nice but as it is in the middle of nowhere, no one was visiting it. The local government offered it to the company organizing the Midi festival so they would bring it back to life. And they did, even if it’s just a few days a year! The people from the surrounding villages had positioned themselves all around the place with carts selling fruit, pancakes, fried noodles, drinks, and even 39 RMB trousers. In case yours got dirty or broken!
The park was very big and had several European style houses scattered around. Some of them were the Midi offices and a few restaurants; there was a mini funfair with rides too, but I’m not sure if you could try them for free! That seemed to be a permanent part of the park. For the festival, they had also installed a rock wall to climb, trampolines, and even a hot-air balloon and a swimming pool!
Weird European style houses.
The swimming pool! A pity we didn’t bring a swimming costume, a towel, or a change of clothes…
The day we went it was the one with the less famous bands so it was not very crowded, which was good. It also helped that the stages were spread apart, and there was even a small lake in the middle! There were three stages: the biggest one, for rock bands, the medium one, for more extreme metal bands, and a small stage for kids bands! I would have never thought there were so many children’s rock bands in China! But it is true that, at least in Suzhou, there are many music academies who teach kids how to play drums or electric guitar.
The big stage. There was a band from Catalonia playing, they were called Els Catarres. Never heard of them before…
The medium stage.
The kids stage! They knew how to rock!
We saw several bands, walked around, ate some fried chicken and ice cream. The two biggest bands of the day were the latest to play, of course. They were Twisted Machine (扭曲的机器 or 扭机) and Miserable Faith (痛苦的信仰 or 痛仰). You can look them up online if you want to listen to their songs! Their shows were very entertaining, more because of the audience than because of them! People were jumping and dancing all the time, but I wasn’t pushed too much. There was even a wall of death! (I didn’t participate, I’m a sissy, haha). Many people were holding flags and at night there were so many I couldn’t actually see the stage. That was a big annoying.
Flag madness!
But what I had never seen were those flares in the left side of the previous picture. At first I was scared that a flag or someone’s clothes would get on fire, but C. told me these things don’t burn. People would light them up and everybody around them would start dancing. It smelled like Chinese New Year.
It looked a bit apocalyptic.
It was a very nice day! I’m glad I went, I felt like I was back in my college years, hehe. But this time, if I went to a festival for several days, there’s no way I would stay in a tent. I’m too old for that.
The park had a nice small lake in the middle.
Have you ever been to a music festival?
Metal Festival in China…that’s so cool! I’ve been to quite a few music festivals here in South Africa :)
Nice! I guess festivals are very similar everywhere ;D
That looks awesome! I wanna go next year :D
Nothing in Shenzhen? There are also several festivals in Beijing and Shanghai during the May 1 holidays! Check the line ups next year!
This looks like a great event with a great turnout. Good to see and hear that there wasn’t much shoving all round – it really does look tamer than some Western music festivals that I’ve watched on YouTube where people were packed like sardines at festivals.
I’ve been to concerts like Florence and the Machine and Lindsey Stirling, general admission. But never a music festival. From these events, I think part of the whole point of it is to enjoy the atmosphere whether or not you can see the stage :D
Yes, it’s definitely also the atmosphere! But seeing the band wouldn’t hurt, haha. In Spain no one brings flags to festivals! Well some people do but plant them next to their tent, they don’t bring it to the concerts…
Really wonder how it would be to participate / visit there. Last festival I visited was sonisphere 2010 in Finland…so I got several years now without any such event :)
There were kids in this festival! Next time you can bring Nathan! :P
I don’t do camping either ;)
I woke up feeling like shit in a tent even when I was 19 haha. Not again!
Never been camping per se in a tent, caravan yes. I lived in a caravan when I was growing up while my Dad built our house. Don’t like caravans so much now, so I’m sure a tent will be a no too!
No tents for me either Marta!!!
Nope. Not even those fancy ones with separate “rooms” and a front porch! There was one like that in the festival.
Wow that’s so cool, I’m jealous!! I’ve always wanted to go to a music festival in China! My friend just went to the Strawberry one in Shanghai.
What were your favorite bands? Was it really hardcore metal?
Looks like a really nice day!
Oh, yes, the Strawberry was also last weekend!
In Midi I wanted to see (again) Ego Fall, they’re Mongolian metal, but that day I couldn’t go. The day I went there wasn’t any band I’m super fan of, but it’s ok because I basically like everything haha.
Yes, there were some very extreme bands! But mostly in the medium stage, I stayed almost all the time in the big one.
It looks like a fun music festival! I went to the annual summer music festival in California when I was in high school, but now I don’t like to be out of doors all weekend for a music festival. I prefer a live concert for one or two bands!
If I go for several days, I have to stay in a hotel at night for sure! Or I would be dead on the second day :D
Oh, I am with you on the tent. As Andy says, “We’re hotel people.”
Totally!
What fun! Has the feel of a festival anywhere in the world. I used to be heavily involved with the Winnipeg Folk Festival in Canada and even was part of organising a Fusion Music fest in Goa a few years ago. Since then, haven’t made it to a full one out of the city type festival… so enjoying vicariously through your experience!!! :-)