Beijing Music Festival Breakdown Part One: How Did Strawberry Size Up?

So where did you spend the opening weekend of the Beijing music festival season? We sent four intrepid revelers out to the four corners of the city to check out the opening exchanges and report back on their findings. (Yes, there were five events last weekend, but try as we might, we couldn’t manage to wrangle tickets for MAXX Festival.) We attempted to score the various festivals school report style, on everything from ticket prices and sound quality to beer availability and toilet standards. The festivals were evaluated in nine different categories and were awarded a final grade after consideration.

These were the experiences of just several friends of The Beijinger, so be nice. If you had an altogether different experience, do let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page. We're always delighted to hear from you.

Strawberry Music Festival

Tongzhou Canal Park
April 29 – May 1

Lineup - C

Arguably the strongest of the four. Even in the absence of any big-name international acts, Modern Sky brought together a good mix including some of the biggest domestic acts about.

Aussie punks The On Fires impressed on Tuesday afternoon, as did Laura Jansen later that evening. And all of the Chinese acts that I saw did the home crowd proud.

Ticket price - B

RMB 100 per day, RMB 240 for three days.

A reasonable fee for a day out seeing China’s best. A few higher-profile international acts in the mix would have made it even more value for money, but alas…

Crowd atmosphere - C

The mixed crowd were in good spirits throughout – certainly on days one and three that I attended, the only thing to dampen anybody’s day was the lack of beer available. Although some people seemingly managed to sneak in contraband – unless, of course, they always do head stands and roll around on the floor in orange jumpsuits at three in the afternoon.

Sound quality - C

By and large, the sound quality was good. Certainly on the main Strawberry Stage – notwithstanding a complete power failure on Tuesday night. There was some loss of sound on the smaller stages, but that’s to be expected. The sound system dealt admirably with the party rock of the standout The On Fires.

Alcohol availability - E

Strictly no alcohol – even to VIPs, which we weren’t. I say strictly, not really strictly. A team of young lads in black jumpsuits were responsible for going around confiscating smuggled beer initially. They settled for just asking people to cover their illicit Yanjing with a jacket – or a reveler’s discarded trousers in one instance.

Rumors abounded that alcohol would eventually become available, and we began to see more and more around as each day wore on, but it was seemingly never available to purchase legally at any time on the site. It seems people just got smarter on how to smuggle it into the grounds.

Queuing time - A

Far better this year than it was last year. I approached the same gate at whence I queued for two hours last year with a grimace, and sailed right on through her this time. Almost no queuing; delightful.

Refreshments - D

Water, watery orange juice, green tea, searingly pink sausages on a stick and rubber “potato chips”. There wasn’t much of an improvement on refreshments from previous outings.

Bathrooms - A

No queue and in pretty fair condition. No complaints. I even found some toilet roll in mine. I’d eaten too many puce-coloured sausages on Day One.

Site security - B

Never too intrusive, save for the first hour when young guards attempted to confiscate beer from semi-drunk foreigners. A bit like trying to take a bone from a hungry dog; not going to happen. They resorted to just asking revelers to cover their wares, and everyone was happier.

Final grade - C

I wasn’t sure whether to grade the success of the festival in spite of itself or not. I realized that would make the whole investigation (yes, it’s an investigation) flawed and went straight down the line.

A ‘C’ might seem harsh given that it was a generally positive report. But the lack of alcohol and refreshments on offer were a massive drawback. And it would be hard to give any higher than a ‘C’ with such modest (though admittedly entertaining) foreign acts on the bill.