FT Island Boosts Zebra Fest

Korean rock band FT Island was a late addition to the Shanghai edition of China’s Zebra Music Festival at Jinshan Beach July 25-27, selling out the final day as headliners.

But at the last minute, public authorities decided to make FT Island the penultimate act rather than the last one in order to alleviate some security concerns, according to a statement from the band’s management company. Almost all the other acts at the festival were Chinese.

In other Asian festival news, Fuji Rock Festival took place the same weekend in the mountains of Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

This year’s edition was blessed with unusually sunny weather for almost the entire weekend, so punters were more concerned with sunstroke than getting wet. Organizers reported a cumulative total of 102,000 attendees, including 10,000 for the pre-festival party.

The Ansan Valley Rock Festival in South Korea, which was scheduled for the same weekend, was canceled several months ago because of the Sewol ferry disaster, which claimed the lives of many students from the area where the festival is held.