Midi Update and other music news

According to an announcement posted on the official Midi website, despite the Midi festival being postponed until October, a "Back To Utopia" Midi School Party, will be taking place on the grounds of the Midi School from May 1-3. The party will run daily from 2-11pm and entrance is free. Although the school's BBS proclaims: all the foreign bands and most of the major Chinese bands that had originally planned to play at the festival will be performing, given that the event is being organized at the last minute and that they're attempting to squeeze a four day festival spanning six stages on to one or two stages over three days, organization is a little chaotic and the line up is still a work in progress. Many bands, both foreign and local, are still unsure about whether they'll be performing at the event. For the latest info, keep your eyes on the schedule over at the Midi School website.

Also, although entrance to the party is free, in order to control the crowds, tickets are required. You can line up for them on the day or pre-register online here (you'll need to leave your full name and the last eight numbers of your ID – though how this applies to laowai passport numbers is not made clear, so maybe best to get a Chinese friend to help you with the booking process), each individual is only allowed to book two tickets. At this stage (Monday afternoon) they're saying that 2,000 of the 3,000 tickets to the main hall have already been booked. There are also restrictions on what you can take into the school, and bags will be searched, among other things, for bottled drinks and drugs. Entrance to the school will be through the west gate and you can exit via the south gate.

Also, as the Midi School is quite far away, and there are reports that they're making it hard for people to camp at the school, those taking public transport should either be prepared to leave early or find some alternative accommodation. To get there, you can take the 360 bus from Xizhimen, the 630 from Wudaokou or the 714 from Fuchengmen and get off at the Ruiwangfen stop. For more detailed directions, you can register on the Midi School site and take a look at this map on their BBS.

Midi School of Modern Music
Ruiwang Fen, Haidian District(6259 0101/0007/0008)

According to Ed Peto, organizer of Red T's Gloaming series of concerts, Swedish headliners Mando Diao will not be attending the festival. Mando Diao's decision not to come also means that the first of this year's Gloaming series, set to take place at the Stone Boat on May 3, has also been cancelled. Still, those looking forward to summer evenings at the boat, can catch folksy Australian duo Hussy Hicks on May 1, or the second edition of Gloaming, which is set to take place on May 16 with Hedgehog presenting a rare acoustic set lakeside.

In other Midi-related news, Modern Sky have announced that they'll do all they can to assist Midi with organizing the festival in October. Last October Modern Sky organized their own very midi-esque festival at Haidian Park and it seems that with this announcement they're indicating their willingness to work with Midi on a possible National Day festival.

Finally, this coming Wednesday marks the 100 day countdown to the Beijing Olympics. To mark the occasion there'll be two huge music-related events taking place in Beijing. The first is mega-superstar Jay Chou's (Zhou Jielun) show at the Workers' Stadium (ticket info here). The second is a special event to announce the winners of the Olympic Song contest at the Workers' Cultural Palace next to the Forbidden City.

Links and Sources
Midi Festival: Announcement "Back To Utopia" Midi School Party!
Midi School BBS: Program of the "Back To Utopia" Midi School Party
Midi School BBS: All Foreign Bands and Most Chinese Bands to Play
Countdown to Beijing: Music Festival Harmonized
Guardian: China cancels top music festival as red tape for foreigners grows
The Beijinger Forum: Midi festival cancelled
Wikipedia: Beijing Midi School of Music
that's Beijing: Zhang Fan Looks Back at Midi Highlights (a brief history of Midi)
Sina: Directions to Midi School in Chinese