On my latest trip up to Qingdao to observe and document a rare tribe of cannibalistic pygmies living in the Laoshan Mountain range, I got sidetracked and wound up with lots of beer at the 2010 Golden Beach Festival in Huangdao. It is was for the best.

I’ve been to my fair share of rock shows in China, but never to an all day festival on the beach. So I was psyched to have the opportunity on the last weekend of the summer to mosh around Shandong style. Almost all my bitch ass friends pussied out because of they were scared of rain. Uhh It’s a rock music festival fools, you’re gonna get sweaty, dirty, sandy, and your gonna fucking love it. The rain would make a good time better, and no rain would make it an even better time on top of that, so my logic was invincible. Since Mother Nature and I go way back, she hooked us up with clear skies.

Sadly, perhaps even pathetically, due to random chaotic factors beyond our control (aka: women); we were unable to get to the venue until dusk. The area of the beach fenced off for the concert was huge, and was even engineered to keep the ocean side open to allow unwise but irresistible drunken night swims.

There was all manner of places to buy things, and our company managed to make a solid acquisition of two kegs of beer. This of course being China, and not the psychotic dictatorship run by the nazi inspired AGCO in Ontario, we were free to consume our cold and frothy beverages wherever we pleased. Oh and those kegs together cost the same as ONE two-four in the store back home.

What about the music? Well it was rock n roll. What more needs to be said? Honestly I’m happy whenever I get to hear any original music that involves guitars, drums and a voice, instead of Lady Gaga played five times in a row. Rock here is everything it should be, super enthusiastic crowds and high energy performances, without all the mindless commercialism and egoism that’s tainted the Western scenes. One of my favorites of the night was SUBS (杀不死), their lead singer Kang Mao can really wail.

The only downside (at least for the ladies) was that the washroom facilities were located 10 minutes outside of the venue. For some “developing country” reason, there was no running water there. For us shameless guys (and gals) the ocean proved far more accommodating. I’d even go as far to say the whole concert was a raging hard on of accommodation but check the photos and you be the judge.

Buddy was just pissed that he had to go home to watch historical dramas with the wife instead of rocking out at the show.

Don’t look like no rain clouds to me.

For lots of people, the 50 kuai price of admission was too steep. (It was actually a bargain considering a shows in Shanghai regularly charge this much and this was on a beach with 10 times the # of bands)

SB is Chinese slang. Fill in the blanks and figure out what it means: St_pid C_nt.

This guy was my hero.

MADNESS!!!

Filed under: qingdao