Preview: December

Alright everyone – here’s something new – a little preview of what’s in store the month of December – yes, the month the world ends. The Calendar is up and loaded – chalk full of great shows – thanks to beijinggigguide, city weekend, timeout, the beijinger, and most of all douban and google translate – a match made in heaven.

Most interesting is the reopening of School Bar, which is said to have under renovations (I suppose the setup was a bit awkward aka cramped before) and they are really going all out in terms of shows of big names – including Xiao He, Hedgehog, Chui Wan, Tookoo, Glow Curve and a slew of dirty punks. Shanghai is still invading the city, with crazed punk rock duo Pairs, cracked out freak rockers Round Eye, and Shanghainese legends Top Floor Circus coming to town this weekend and alien rockers Friend or Foe stopping by in a couple weeks. So album releases from indie comeback kids Casino Demon, Tookoo and The Reason, as well as Da Bang, Liu Yusi, Li Xintong and Sparrow. The MIDI Awards are being held this month, taking place in the new M Space at the Mastercard Arena in Wukesong – they have quite the lineup playing including Nova Heart, Brain Failure, and Perdel – if you can bear awards ceremony banter view it as a mini festival. And of course there’s the Christmas and New Years shows – with Dos Kolegas and School Bar really taking the cake thus far with strong lineups – the rest of the venues I’m sure will follow suit for keep an eye out for updates. Oh and did I mention the man, the legend, the myth himself Cui Jian will be taking over the Mastercard Arena – yup.

That’s the gist for the month – of course, for more details go to the calendar, check up on the weekend updates, and remember, concerts and times are subject to change, so double check – I’ll do my best to update weekly – especially for those pesky venues like Blue Stream Bar – they know how to keep me on my toes.