Three days before Beijing’s Modern Sky Festival was set to kick off, organizers announced that all 14 foreign bands were being cut from the event’s lineup.
Swedish band rock band The (International) Noise Conspiracy clued fans in with a MySpace blog post yesterday titled “Big trouble in little China!”
“All our planned shows in China got cancelled by the Chinese authorities. We will get back soon with more updates and info about the situation. The local bands will still play the clubs and the festival, so please go out and support them.”
Indie rock U.K. band British Sea Power wrote a similar post on their web site, explaining, “The band are sorry to announce that due to circumstances beyond their control they will no longer be appearing at the Modern Sky festival in Beijing.”
The reason behind cutting the foreign bands? Seems like it’s just China being China. A statement on the fest’s Web site pointed to “unforeseen circumstances,” according to NME.com. The announcement came on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Maybe Chinese authorities decided that a bunch of international rock ’n’ roll bands didn’t really fit with celebrating decades of communist rule.
Or maybe China still hasn’t gotten over Bjork yelling “Tibet!” during a Shanghai concert a year ago. I guess China hasn’t grasped the concept of forgive and forget.
The Modern Sky Festival was also set to feature Buzzcocks, The Futureheads,Shonen Knife, Radio 4, Regurgitator, Heartsrevolution, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Bigger Bang, Snake & Jet's Amazing Bullit Band, Housse De Racket, Sissy Wish, Casino Demon, Arms and Legs and P.K.14.
The fest is still scheduled to take place Oct. 4-7 at Chaoyang Park in Beijing with a lineup composed solely of Chinese acts.
As for now, Skid Row is scheduled to play Beijing today at The Star Live and Beyoncé is set to perform in Beijing Oct. 23 at the Wukesong Arena. We’ll have to wait and see if “unforeseen circumstances” come into play once again.
Other foreign acts lined up for the Chinese capital include Children Of Bodom (Oct. 22), Subway To Sally (Oct. 23-24), Tommy Emmanuel (Oct. 23) and Owl City (Nov. 21).
Click here for British Sea Power’s Web site.
Click here for (International) Noise Conspiracy’s MySpace page.
Click here for the NME.com story.