Over the three days, more than a hundred Chinese and international bands and artists delivered spectacular shows. On China's largest performance venue spanning 250,000 square meters, tens of thousands of live audiences reveled in the passion and freedom brought by rock music—even the muddy grounds after rain became their playground, with fans covered in mud visible everywhere, recreating classic scenes from the history of global rock music.
Escape Plan Lit Up the Night Sky, Suede Delivered a Legendary Extended Performance
On the final day of the festival, bands and artists from across China and beyond brought diverse musical styles, sparking brilliant cultural collisions between the past and present, East and West. These included the oddly named Taiwanese band Na Wo Dong Ni De Yi Si Le, Subs fronted by China’s most rock-oriented female vocalist Kang Mao, the richly Xinjiang-flavored Loulan Box, the world music ensemble Da Wang Gang, and the primal band Noukilla from Mauritius, Africa.
Escape Plan, who perform on the Tang-MINI stage, have seen a surge in popularity in recent years and have risen to become one of China’s most well-known rock bands. Their melodious songs have become favorites on TV programs, earning them a large fan base. Even before Escape Plan took the stage, tens of thousands of fans had gathered, spontaneously singing along to their classic hits. As one of the standout acts among the new generation of rock bands, Escape Plan’s live performances brimmed with contemporary energy, passion, and vitality. Under their powerful stage charisma, many of their songs turned into full audience sing-alongs, with “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky” lighting up the screens of mobile phones throughout the crowd—shimmering stars swaying to the music, creating an utterly romantic atmosphere.
The British classic band Suede, invited by MINI and Midi, closed the festival, marking the most unforgettable moment of the 2014 Shanghai Midi Festival. Suede performed the complete tracklist from their iconic album Dog Man Star on-site—a record that left indelible memories for countless people in their youth and is widely regarded as one of the most representative works of 1990s Britpop, as well as the band’s magnum opus. Fans stood in the mud, spending an unforgettable night with Suede. Deeply moved by the Shanghai audience, Suede returned for an encore, performing classics like “So Young” and “Beautiful Ones.” The over seventy-minute performance rivaled a full-scale concert, treating the audience to an extraordinary auditory feast. Suede’s set at the Beijing Midi Festival will include even more fan-favorite classics, promising even more surprises for Beijing audiences.
2014 Shanghai Midi Festival Draws to a Perfect Close, Reducing Horn Honking to Sing for a Green China Where Rock Lives On
With three days of spectacular performances now over, the 2014 Shanghai Midi Festival adds another shining chapter to the map of youth culture in southern China. In its first collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, the festival, under the annual theme “Reduce Horn Honking,” spread positive energy through music, singing for green (sing for green), advocating environmental awareness, and building a cleaner, greener future.
In addition, the “Broadcast Bunker” co-created by the Shanghai Midi Festival and the mobile QQ Browser 5.1 Video Play King infused the festival with rich online interactive elements; Tudou’s live streaming broke the record for festival viewership; and the Phoenix News app’s exclusive digital guide facilitated easy access to event information for fans. Numerous new approaches to festivals in the internet era pioneered new models of online-offline interaction.
After the performances, tens of thousands of audience members boarded Midi shuttle buses to leave the venue, carrying with them the wonderful memories of the three-day event to Sanjia Port at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Here, Chinese rock music flows ceaselessly like the mighty Yangtze as it surges into the sea. The journey of the Midi Festival continues—the 2014 Beijing Midi Festival is just around the corner. (Photography by Yan Min / Li Lewei)
Petal Collected