Promoters: Wake-Up!

Two months ago I went to see ALCEST here in Shanghai. Chances are pretty big you’ve never heard of them and that is exactly the reason why it should surprise you as much as it did me that they came all the way from France to do a China tour. And with success.

When I read on a Shanghainese event website a band Alcest was soon doing a show at Mao Livehouse I first said to myself “if it only was the Alcest I know” thinking some other (local?) band had taken the same name to spread their broken dreams all over an audience. But it was actually the band I’ve known for years and the one of which I am the proud owner of an original copy from their first limited MCD ‘Le Secret’ (brag, brag …). Knowing they actually were seriously coming over and even doing a lot other gigs in Chinese cities (with almost no expats living) as well, I was afraid this could be a serious financial disaster for them. And a pathetic public performance, none the less.

I thought they almost would have no local audience here. And most of the expats that are living here are not really the kind of types to go to an experimental rock / black metal concert. Funny thing is; I was only right for the latter. The venue was not ‘packed’ (since it’s a big fucking hall), but I guess there were at least +250 people. That’s more than 200 of what I was expecting. And so, this was one of the first times here I went out and where locals were present in significantly higher numbers than expats (think I saw less than 15 white people). I even saw a Chinese guy with a Burzum t-shirt (only the BM-wankers know what I mean here)!

I was blown away by the experience. And although the audience may not have been such big “fans”, just like the ‘posers’ got beaten up during the old days in the ‘true underground scene’ in Europe; they were enthusiastic as hell. It made me realize that music wise (and beyond) there are massive opportunities here (didn’t we know that already?). Seriously, if a European band of which 95% (or more) of their own country doesn’t know, can do a successful tour here – everybody can. Especially a black metal band coming to a city driven by finance, economics and censored internet. The conclusion is actually really easy: There are so many people here. So many. For every niche (music) scene, there will always be enough to make an event successful and a financial winner. Alternative has a different meaning over here.

Where are the other (foreign) artists, bands and djs? The past two years we saw very few. The ones we saw (Armin Van Buuren, Above and Beyond, Steve Aoki, Boys Noize, Mogwai, Mono …) were always sold out if I can recall. And I can assure you, expats are dying over here to have the music from back home. The nightlife and clubs here are definitely not to complain about, but we miss really good music, good names, things we actually listen to on our iPod during the day; and not the same crap coming from the speakers night after night in the clubs.

Promoters, grab your chances, now that the club owners have long established themselves here.