Nanjing Forrest Music Festival 2018

 

 

Another year, another Forrest music festival in Nanjing. This is the third Forest festival to take place in Nanjing, and I was invited by my friend and graffiti artist Azerox to go to the festival for the Nanjing government.

 

 

As usual, getting a hotel in China is not easy, the first hotel refused to take foreign guests, so after spending some time looking for a new hotel, we went to take a look at the festival grounds and meet the organizers of the show.

 

Luckily the weather in Autumn in Nanjing is very good, so the festival should be nice and comfortable to work in and the crowds should be large because it is the national holiday here in China. I am hoping for some good shows and some good shots from the festival day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The festival volunteers are hard at working, erecting the blowup dolls……. I guess. Not sure what to call those huge things.

 

 

No idea why there is a tepee here but I am sure I will find out tomorrow.

 

 

 

Day 1

Day 1 started early for me with the graffiti shoot starting at 9 AM so the graffiti artists could get something up on the wall before the crowds came in for the music.

 

 

 

One thing that graffiti artists need is paint, lots and lots of paint. Selecting colors is as important to them as white balance is to a photographer. Lots of time and planning goes into one of their walls.

 

 

 

 

Most of the painting took place before the festival started. The artists had to stop painting as soon as the light started to fade, but luckily they had two days to finish the wall.

 

 

One of the organizers watching the painting happening.

 

 

End of day one painting, the two graffiti artists, Azerox and Sean posing for some pictures with the event organizers. After all the painting, it was time to start the music side of the festival.

 

 

 

 

 

Like most festivals, things start slow and pick up later in the evening, when the bigger bands come onto the stage to perform.

 

 

The men who are supposed to keep us safe but spend most of their time harassing festival-goers. I do not like security at festivals in China. I have had several problems with them in the past.

 

 

 

The first band to get the show started was Dreamon.

 

 

Its never easy being the first band to start a festival but these guys did a good job. There were enough fans to make some noise and get behind the band.

 

 

 

This is the most ghetto stage curtain that I have seen but it worked well and there was no problem with the wind.

 

 

Lao乾媽 ​is a Chinese pop singer who has some crazy female fans.

 

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Most of Lao乾媽 ​​​​ fans were extremely unhappy if you blocked their view from taking photos or their view and the lady in the picture above took swings with her selfie stick if you came near her view of her idol. Chinese girls can be crazy if you get in their way.

 

 

Even the young girls came to watch their favorite idol.

 

 

Next up 巨猴咆哮-朱小磊. A hip-hop performer. Like most hip-hop performers in China, I cannot understand a single word of their Chinese so I have no idea what he was singing about but he seemed to popular with the crowd. I have to admit that I do not follow the Chinese hip-hop scene so most of the performers from the hip-hop scene are new to me.

 

 

陈鸿宇 was another Chinese pop/folk singer who has legions of female fans who come to scream their love for him.

 

 

 

 

First time I have been a fan of Hello Kitty. Next up is a band I shot many years ago, so I was looking forward to seeing how they had improved over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

Penicillin as a band has improved a hell of a lot since I shot them last time. Musically, they were always talented but they were very raw on stage, the band that I shoot this time at Forest Music Festival was solid, mature and professional. They sounded great and it was fantastic to this band grow into such a professional sounding outfit.

 

 

The weather was beautiful during the first day and people will rolling in for the last few big bands for the evening. Lots of hip-hop and folk music was on the lineup for this evening. First up was Jony-J.

 

 

 

 

The show was loud but once again, understand Chinese when it is rapped is difficult. About 90% of his songs flew over my head and I had no idea what he was singing. He fans were really into him and popped like crazy after each song. There is no doubt that he is a huge star in the Chinese hip-hop scene. Next up was another rapper, this time 臧鸿飞.

 

 

 

 

Next up was 罗琦luoqi, one of the main reasons I came to the festival to shoot. I was asked by the band to come and provide them with images, so it was important that I shot the whole set.

 

 

Following 罗琦luoqi, it was 李志 turn to perform. I know that this was going to be a tough marathon to shoot as it would be a 2.5-hour-long set and I could not leave the pit once the show started.

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the set, I was exhausted. Shooting three songs, no flash is tough but shoot a 2.5-hour set is even tougher. I had a good first day at Forest Music Festival and I shot a lot of good bands. A day would be another early day for me as the graffiti artists would be starting at 9 AM again.

Day 2

 

 

 

 

 

Getting back to the festival grounds at 9 AM is a slog, shooting all entire day yesterday and editing through the night meant that I was extremely tired. The graffiti artists were quick to pick up the speed of their work as this was the last day of the festival and they managed to finish their wall around 2 PM. The wall attracted a lot of attention and many girls came to take selfies by the wall.

 

 

 

The first band up for me was Mongolian band 大玩咖吴陌川.

 

 

Followed by the 宇宙人.

 

 

 

Next up was my main reason for coming to the festival and that was to shoot Octtopuss Band. I tend to work with lots of foreign bands in China and I generally enjoy it. We don’t have communication problems and I can generally get more access to foreign bands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After shooting the Octopuss band’s set, I was freer to shoot things that interested me, as my main job was finished so I wondered between the two stages and shot bands that interested me.

 

 

 

Chinese rapper GAI’s performance was filled with energy and fire but I had no idea what his lyrics meant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hush is a folk-pop band who has a legend of female fans again. Following Hush at the same stage, was Ogenix. A metal band which seemed to be very out of place at a festival that had been mostly pop, hip-hop and folk music until now.

 

 

 

 

The Ogenix set was extremely difficult to shoot, very low light. I think my settings were around iso 6400 and very slow shutter speeds. The show was ok, but without a big metal fan-base at the festival, it just felt out a little out of place. I would like to shoot the band at a big rock/metal festival again.

 

 

 

 

郭顶 was the last band that I shot at the festival. He is a pop-folk singer and his show was pretty good but I was too tired to enjoy it. I was looking forward to getting back to my hotel and starting the long process of editing the photos for my clients. Forrest festival was a good experience, but it was also an exhausting one. Getting to the festival grounds at 9 AM each day meant that I got very little sleep so it was exhausting towards the end. I am looking forward to shooting the show next year and hopefully, the lineup with having more exciting bands for me to shoot.

 

Shaun.