Music scene rocks back to life

Rock band Great White Plant performs at DDC in Beijing on Dec 31. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Crowds return to live house venues as country casts off COVID-19 shadow

After China lifted its COVID-19 restrictions, live house venues are now back in full swing, hosting bands and large audiences.

"We staged year-end shows annually, but not for the past three years due to the pandemic. When I watched the performances at DDC on Dec 28, when our program began, I spoke to lots of people and we all had a great time," said Dusk Dawn Club owner Zhang Jincan.

On Dec 28, a weeklong program to mark the end of 2022 and the forthcoming new year attracted 18 indie bands and seven disc jockeys to a small live-music venue near Ritan Park in Beijing. Hosted by DDC, the event featured a diverse range of music styles, including rock, punk, electronic and jazz.

Some 800 music lovers flocked to the venue each day from noon to midnight, with Zhang telling them, "The feeling is back."

"For many of us, such experiences had become a distant memory, as live house venues had been closed for about three years. ...Although shows were held occasionally, we had to be prepared to shut our doors at any time," Zhang said.

Zhang, who also owns DDC's venue at Aranya, a popular coastal resort in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, said: "We now have live shows from Tuesday to Sunday every week. Our venues are fully booked.

"We are staging far more performances than before the pandemic. With many shows postponed for the past three years, audience figures at live house venues have rebounded along with consumption in other fields, such as travel, dining and shopping."

A die-hard indie music lover, Zhang, 38, who has a bachelor's in physics and a master's in computer science from the University of Science and Technology of China, moved to Beijing from his hometown in Anxi county, Fujian province, in 2010, and also worked at a bar in the capital for three years.

In July 2014, he opened DDC in Shanlao Hutong, a narrow alleyway in Beijing's Dongcheng district. Attracting hundreds of indie bands from home and abroad, DDC quickly became a popular venue for indie music lovers.

The following year, Zhang launched the record label DDL (Dusk Dawn Label), expanding his reach to fields such as talent management. In addition to bringing international indie bands to Beijing, he organized overseas tours for such bands from China. In 2018, the DDC venue in Aranya — a 500-square-meter space located in soccer field garage — was launched.

However, after the pandemic emerged, Zhang was ordered to close his venue in Beijing in May 2020.

"Bands and the owners of live house venues faced a similar situation during the pandemic. We were not sure when live music would return," he said. "Although I closed the venue, I knew it would reopen at some stage because people need music, and bands need a place to perform."

Heavy metal band Ego Fall M releases its latest album at DDC last month. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Staff recruited

In June, the new DDC venue launched in Beijing, with the first floor covering 400 sq m and accommodating a maximum of 400 fans. The second floor occupies 200 sq m and can house 200 people.

"When we closed our first venue in 2020, all the staff members left and found other jobs to make a living. When we were preparing to open the new venue, we recruited fresh staff and designed a new stage. Everything was new," Zhang said.

"Live music venues have been hit hard, as have indie bands. It is much more challenging for emerging musicians to develop their talent without live performances."

Live music is back, bigger than ever. Indie rock bands such as Miserable Faith, Dada and Joyside, who had to postpone tours repeatedly due to the pandemic, have rearranged them for stadiums and live house venues. Folk singer-songwriters, rappers and pop stars, including Chen Hongyu and Chen Chusheng, are also making delayed appearances at live house venues nationwide.

Li Lin, general manager of Show Start, an event organizer dedicated to performances at live house venues and also a ticket-selling platform, said, "I'm still assessing the situation, because what has happened in the past three months is not representative of the entire live music scene in China.

"All the live house venues I know are fully booked. All the bands I know are trying to perform as much as possible. Audiences are trying to have as much more fun as possible, because they have had to wait for such a long time," Li said.

He added that there are some seven live house venues in Beijing, which have staged shows almost every day for the past three months.

"As far as I know, many live house venues survived the pandemic because they continued to stage live shows, although the number of such performances dropped drastically and the venues only opened to a limited capacity," Li said.

"Theaters, music halls and nightclubs were among the first venues to close, and there is every indication that they are last in line for a return to normal."

Li said about 20,000 performances were staged at live house venues in China in 2019, the year before the pandemic emerged. The number is expected to reach 30,000 this year. He added that in 2019, live house ticket revenue reached nearly 400 million yuan ($58 million), a year-on-year rise of about 50 percent.

China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that from Feb 16, applications for commercial appearances involving performers from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan could resume. Applications for commercial performances involving people from overseas resumed on March 20.

Li said: "This is great news for the performing arts scene. Since international artists and bands usually prepare overseas tours at least a year in advance, I believe that live house venues will stage more shows featuring international artists and bands next year."

Compared with large stadiums, where big-name rock stars and bands perform to large numbers of fans, small live house venues offer music lovers an intimate and immersive experience. Li said the latter venues are great places to get to know new bands, and their ticket prices are much cheaper than those at large venues.

In early January, Li watched his first live music show of the year at Beijing's Yue Music Space, a live house venue near Yonghegong, or Lama Temple, where he met his longtime friend Shen Lihui, founder and owner of Modern Sky, one of the largest indie record companies in China.

"It's good to meet people again and see our audiences returning," Li said.

We Jazz performs at DDC last month. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Forum staged

In April last year, the owners of more than 80 live house venues across China attended a three-day forum at On The Way, a popular live music venue in Hefei, capital of Anhui province. The event was one of the first of its kind in the country to highlight such venues, examine the way they operate, and the problems they face.

Zhu Ning, the forum's initiator and co-organizer, said, "China has about 100 live house venues, not only in the bigger cities, but also in third- and fourth-tier locations."

In Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, Little Bar, which was founded in 1997, is one of the oldest live house venues in the country.

Zhao Lei, a singer-songwriter and guitarist known for his ballads, used to appear at Little Bar as a resident performer. Now, Zhao has many fans around China and features in concerts at large stadiums.

A number of live house venues emerged after 2000, including Star Live in downtown Beijing, which opened in 2006, and Mao, which launched in the capital in 2007. Mao later expanded to nine cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, Hangzhou, the Zhejiang provincial capital, and Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province.

Established Chinese rock musicians and bands such as Cui Jian and Xie Tianxiao, as well as international artists and bands, including Sonic Youth from the United States and British singer-songwriter James Blunt, frequently gave shows at these venues, with the vibrant music scene growing fast as a result.

Zhu said: "These live house venues make music lovers feel totally at home. The atmosphere is relaxing and the audiences are there for the music. More important, these venues act as incubators for emerging bands, which are crucial for development of the country's indie music scene. Many well-known rock bands started out by performing at live house venues."

The first part of Zhu's career saw him performing as a drummer with the rock band SMZB from Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. In 2005, he opened VOX, a live house venue in Wuhan. Vox, which has just marked its 18th anniversary with a series of live performances, is the oldest and one of the best-known such venues in the city. Wuhan's location in the heart of China also makes it a "must-stop" destination for many rock bands planning nationwide tours.

"China's live music scene has evolved significantly in the past decade. Live house venues offer a mix of different types of artists, helping the diverse music scene in China to grow," Zhu said.

"However, not all these venues survived. This was due to many reasons, including a lack of live shows and unsuitable marketing strategies. Things became worse after the pandemic struck in early 2020, forcing many live house venues to close."

One of the best-known such venues in China is School, tucked away in a narrow hutong in downtown Beijing.

In 2019, the popular reality show The Big Band premiered on the streaming platform iQiyi, propelling many Chinese indie rock bands to stardom. In 2020, the second season of the show aired, receiving warm feedback from audiences and enabling more indie bands to make headlines.

Since then, School, the home and birthplace of numerous bands that have appeared on the show, has become a must-visit venue for music lovers from around China.

Liu Fei, a former concert organizer who founded the venue in 2010, said that in the absence of live shows during the pandemic, School was supported financially by being transformed into a bar. Liu even considered resorting to food deliveries when he was under significant financial strain.

He said he is grateful for the support from fans, who have bought many souvenirs at the venue.

On Dec 19, School announced on its social media account that live shows would soon resume at the venue. Liu stated in the announcement: "Rock 'n' roll is coming back!"

Speaking later, he said: "I am a big soccer fan. On Dec 19, my idol, Lionel Messi, kissed the World Cup trophy after Argentina defeated France in the FIFA World Cup final in Qatar. School also announced its imminent return. It was the best day of my life to date."

Rocker Chen Sijiang sings at VOX in Wuhan, Hubei province, last month. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Local band Gentle D-Boy performs at VOX in Wuhan last month. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Rock star Cui Jian (left) performs at DDC in 2019. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Mariana Klymukh, a musician from Ukraine, plays the bandura, a traditional instrument, at DDC on Jan 1. [Photo provided to China Daily]