* subject to change at any time

Performance permits for all 125 visiting musicians have been approved, revealed Midi Festival director, Zhang Fan, with the permits in hand to prove it. This year will mark Midi's ninth year in a row, maintaining its position as the longest-running music festival in China, and this year's festival will be one of the largest ever. Zhang confirms 100 domestic bands and 30 international bands for this year, plus a multitude of DJs and individual artists filling the side stages – a big jump from last year's roster of 70 Chinese bands and 20 international bands. Swedish rockers Mando Diao, coming off of headlining the HitFM side stage at last year's Beijing Pop Festival, will be the international headliners.

There will be six stages it total: the main stage, a Greenpeace rock stage, a stage split between Pilot Records and Painkiller Mag, the Yen DJ stage, a hip-hop stage (courtesy of Dragon Tongue and Hip-hop Park) and a stage devoted entirely to folk music (sponsored by 13th Month Records). Organizers are also counting a seventh stage for the off site Mini Midi, which has appropriately been moved to 2 Kolegas (which has dutifully hosted Yan Jun's Waterland Kwanyin for nearly three years) – with their own full three days of events, I'd say it qualifies as a separate festival.

As usual, the festival will be held in Haidian Park, from May 1-4. Coincidentally, this also marks the beginning of the 100 day countdown to the Olympics, which Zhang and the Midi crew have now appropriated as this year's Midi theme. So expect plenty of national pride mixed with punkiness.

Tickets will be sold at the gate for RMB 50/day. A limited amount of four-day passes will also be available for RMB 150.

A full schedule and a lot of other useful info can be found at Rock in China's Midi Festival page.

Mini Midi

A direct alternative to their big brother, featuring performances and discussions (representatives from the UK festival Atlantic Waves and German electronic label Staubgold will host discussions beginning at 2pm on May 1 and 2, respectively, and the festival will end with a symposium on the 1990s noise movement in Taiwan at 7.30pm on the 3rd; Taiwanese artists include Zero and Wang Fujui (aka Wang Furui - check out his blog here). Visit the official site for more info and a complete schedule.

Plenty of Midi performers will be holding individual gigs at venues around town as well – official after party spots include Yugong Yishan, MAO Livehouse, The Star Live, New Get Lucky, 13 Club, D-22, the Stone Boat, White Rabbit, and the new Boat Bar. See listings in the May issue of that's Beijing.

Links and Sources
Official Midi Site
Official Mini Midi Festival
Rock in China: Midi Festival
Rock in China: Mini Midi
Sina: Midi Festival (Chinese-language site)
Sub Jam: Mini Midi
that's Beijing: Zhang Fan Looks Back at Midi Highlights (a brief history of Midi)
that's Beijing: Cover Feature: Growing Pains