MIDI Music Fest

So I missed out on the Big Day Out this year, and Meredith, and Hippie Plains or whatever it was called, but I still managed to get just a taste of that music festival fix, at the 8th Annual MIDI festival. Overall I was pretty impressed, though that may have had more to do with the cheap beer and cheap (but, uh, rather facilitating) yang rou chuan'r (sheep on a stick).

The festival started out in the local music school, and has grown every year, with more international (though basically unknown) acts every time. So in 10 years time when all the hipsters are like 'screw Glastonbury and Coachella, I'm going to MIDI man' I'll be able to smirk in a self satisfied manner and say 'Oh yeah, I was there before it got all commercial' Such is the stuff of dreams.

Anyway, after drinking too much Tsingtao in the queue (but still managing to smuggle a few in) and the compulsory throwing of the goats, we got down to business:



And if you ignore the prevalence of Chinese flags, you can see that standing in a large group of people and screaming your head off while a group of people systematically destroy your hearing, is a universal delight.



One thing I thought was cool were the festival tshirts. They were basically just white (prominent LEE logo notwithstanding) and paints and stencils and whatnot were provided to make your own memento. It was a little dispiriting how many kids went for the large LEE stencil (or made their own 'nike' or 'adidas' branded masterpieces) but this guy had the right idea:



And because everyone loves a sunset, and a shoulder ride:





Afterwards we ate here:



Which, if you are a fan of GIGANTIC pizza (and who isn't?) is the place to go in Beijing.

They also have the cheapest Guinness in town (40RMB). Nuff said.