C’est au coeur de la province du Hebei à Zhangbei plus précisément que les rockeur à la pointe du rock auraient du se trouver le 7 au 9 août 2009. Cette ville, classée comme la ville la plus pauvre de Chine a décidé d’organiser un gros festival de Rock pour donner une meilleure image de son état économique. En plein air, plus de 100 000 spectateurs sont venus assister à 80 concerts.
80 groupes venus de Taïwan, de Grande Bretagne, de Suède ont foulé la scène de Zhangbei et il s’agit bien du festival de rock le plus grand de Chine !!

Pour ceux qui ont raté l’événement je tiens à vous rassurer (non seulement moi aussi j’ai raté ça mais ceci est anecdotique) : l’événement sera reconduit les années prochaines et pendant les 10 années à venir. La programmation sera tenue par le magazine musical Yinye Shikong, le tout supervisé par le Parti Communiste (je suis content que Sarko ne s’occupe pas de la programmation des festivals français parce qu’entre Carla, Miss Dominique et Mirreille Mathieu y a de quoi se pendre vite fait).

Le rock a souvent eu un rôle social, notamment dans les pays du Tiers Monde. Revendications politiques ou sociales ou simples troubadours son rôle a été très important en Amérique latine (et l’est toujours dans certains pays) ou des groupes de rock ou de rock progressifs proposent des projets vraiment intéressants.

Voici la liste des groupes présents à ce festival hors norme (repris à partir du site http://www.ticketone.com.cn/Product10159.html) :

Tricky (Britain)
Tricky (born Adrian Thaws 27 January 1968) is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop culture. His debut album Maxinquaye was nominated for the Mercury Prize and voted Album of the Year by NME Magazine.
The Soundtrack of our lives(TSOOL)( Sweden)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, alternatively known as T.S.O.O.L. or Soundtrack, is a Swedish rock band that formed in 1995 from the ashes of punk band Union Carbide Productions.
The band found critical success in the United States with their 2002 (2001 in Sweden) release: Behind the Music. It was nominated for the Best Alternative Album award at the 2003 Grammy Awards.
Snake & Jet’s Amazing Buillt (Denmark)
Little Dragon (Sweden)
Xu Wei
Zuoxiao Zuzhou
X.T.X
Miserable Faith
Brian Failure
MuMa&Third Party
New Pants
LiuDongHong&ShaZi
Twisted Machine, Beijing Metal
Sound Fragment
Supermarket
Joyside, Beijing punk rock band
SUBS, Beijing Punk New Rock band
Omnipotent Youth Society
Queen Sea Big Shark, Beijing Garage/Dance rock band
Re-TROS
Beijing-based post-punk band, influenced by Gang of Four and other late seventies/early eighties British punk bands.
Ordnance, (Jun Jie Suo), 1999 Metal, Power, Thrash, Post Thrash
ZhangWeiWei+GuoLong
Wan Xiaoli, Beijing Folk Rock, originally from Hedan
SuYang
WangWen Band
ZhouYunShan & Ruin
Matiao
Mountain Men (Shan Ren), well-known folk band
Hao Yun, folk/accoustic rock, Beijing slank styled, from Beijing
Hong Qi , songwriter and folk singer
Smart Kin - Missing Way
TITTLE-TATTLE
TooKoo, China’s first Emo Rock band based in Beijing
GALA
On June 28th 2008, they performed at the Yu Yin Tang in Shanghai including a popular song Young For U that’s all over the net at that time. They performed two sets with a break and then an encore, whereas half of the set was covers, including Suicide Is Painless
Sulumi
Essential member of electronic music project Panda Twin.
One of the key musician of Chinese new electronic music generation, and also he been the first wave giving up classical Rock then to be a musician of electronic music; Involved with the initiating and producing of quite a few primary inland electronic music compilations, composes for movies and dramas. His music style includes IDM, LAPTOP, etc.
Dead J
Dead J is a sound artists who is also known under the names Dead K and Disc J, who started in 2001 for the first time with experimental electronic music.
Shao Yanpeng (aka DEAD J) was born in 1981 in China. He is a key figure of the new generation of Chinese electronic music, main work under the alias of Dead J, and also he is one member of the 2 persons band Panda Twin. Shao Yanpeng has released works of various styles which can be found in many electronic music compilations. His debut album Mental Imagery was released in 2005 by Modern Sky Records, followed by Mental Magic in August, 2006. He has also composed for many theater projects.
Iloop
iLoop starts his first computer sounds in 2002 jumping between the musical genres of industrial rock and digital hardcore.
Together with a friend iLoop sets up the “no me” music work room in 2003. Within this project he mainly concentrates about technical aspects of music. In 2004 iLoop contributes one song to the bedzoo compilation weva. From this time on iLoop starts to perform live with his breakcore. iLoop joins the Shan Shui Records performance on November 1st 2004 and also contributes the EP don’t break my core to participate in the shanshui-zip project.
Casino Demon
Veering from raw, raunchy noises to well-crafted songs, form tightly controlled, rapidly paced shows to drunken, lunatic ravings, Casino Demon during 2006 moved from the outskirts of the Beijing music scene to becoming one of the central bands, equally at home with crazed punks or with astonishing guitarists. The have been called emo, Britpop, metal, punk, and many other things, and leader Wang Zi is very obviously a sophisticated musician with a wide range of talents and influences, but at heart the band is an all-out rock and roll band that grabs everything it likes and smashes it together into their songs. Their shows even vary depending on who they are playing with, but when they really crank it up they sound only like themselves.
Songwriting and guitar playing are the two most abundant kinds of talent in the Beijing scene – for sheer songwriting and guitar playing Beijing can compete with any city in the world – and Casino Demon is strong at both. Guitarist/vocalist Wang Zi has put together a very strong backing group to showcase these talents.
Pet Conspiracy (Chongwu Tongmou), Beijing, Electro / Disco House / Punk
ZIYO
Bigger Bang
The Bigger Bang, dàbàng), electro / indie / rock / pop from Beijing (originally from Xinhai / Guangzhou, with mostly English lyrics and partly in South Chinese Guangdong-Hua slang)
PB33, Beijing pop punk band. Formed on May 8th 2005. The name PB33 stands for Party Boy 33.
SKO, Beijing Melodic Punk band
Ourself Beside Me, Beijing all-girl Rock band
The Reason, Beijing-based emo rock band
24Hours
Steely Heart , Beijing punk band
Candy Monster
Hot&Cold
THE GHOST SPARDAC
Lucky Monkey, Beijing Fusion Punk band
Saving Molly
The Dynamic
DJ R3
Alt Senior