Features
Festival’s Lorde And Savior?
Lorde has been announced as headliner for the Inmusic/Zhangbei Festival several hours north of Beijing in July, but the artist has not confirmed the date and the announcement came from local politicians rather than the festival organizer.
Photo: AP Photo / The Canadian Press, Chris Young
MuchMusic Video Awards, Toronto, ON, Canada
The festival, which has been an annual event for more than 10 years, has a checkered history primarily thanks to its remote location, which makes it difficult for both foreign bands and music fans to get there.
China Music Radar says the event came about through a “partnership between the local government of Zhangbei … and the festival’s brainchild Li Hongjie (a notable music critic who acted as the former editor in chief at Rolling Stone China, which was pretty short-lived).”
Last year, however, the festival was taken over by Sun Media Group, which “seems to be pulling all the stops” this year.
Still, the blog has its doubts, adding “if she is actually confirmed, it will be interesting to see if she actually turns up and whether she lures fans to Zhangbei.”
Among the international acts that have appeared at the festival previously are Spiritualized, CocoRosie and Tricky, who has actually played there twice.