Changjiang International Music Festival Day 1

Day one at Changjiang International music festival turned out to be a very good day with lots of excellent music and a crazy amount of people coming to the festival in the evening.

 

 

 

There were a lot of small side stages with different activities to keep everyone happy. Some stages had DJs playing, while others had small theatrical performances, such as “The Monkey King,” to entertain the young ones.

 

 

 

Like all festivals, the show started off with some smaller bands. First up was 11乐队 followed by  大包子

 

 

 

 

大包子 seemed to be very popular with the younger crowds with their J-hip hop. The festival so so hot but the fans were coming out already and the festival was starting to get full.

 

 

Some people came out early so they had a good seat to the “The Backstreet Boys” show later in the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

牛奶咖啡组合 is a popular Chinese folk/pop band that had many fans at the festival. Chinese pop is not my favorite style of music but I can see that their fans loved them.

 

 

 

核聚变G乐队 came up next and woke the crowd up from the slow pop lull that had developed from the previous artists. The mosh pit started up, flags began to wave in the background, and the festival felt like it had finally begun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was 刘思涵Koala and more Chinese pop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was one of the big draws for the event. 孙燕姿 was booked for the event and she is an huge star in Asia

 

 

 

As popular as 孙燕姿 is, her performance left people unhappy at the festival. She was 10 minutes late in starting her set, she only performed 3 songs and then left the stage without saying evening goodbye to the crowd. Many of her fans were extremely unhappy with her and many have since vented their anger at her on the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the fans of 孙燕姿 at the festival.

Next up was the main act, “The Backstreet Boys” and OMG was the festival packed with people to see them.

 

 

 

 

For more photos of The Backstreet Boys, click here

Next up was one of the old men of Chinese rock, 许巍. I did not shoot his whole set as I had to get back home to edit “The Backstreet Boys” but I enjoyed the songs that shot.

 

 

 

 

 

For more photos of The Backstreet Boys, click here

Next up was one of the old men of Chinese rock, 许巍. I did not shoot his whole set as I had to get back home to edit “The Backstreet Boys” but I enjoyed the songs that shot.

 

 

 

 

Overall, day 1 was a fun and hugely successful day for the festival organizers. The Backstreet Boys are still extremely popular here in China, and a mountain of people turned out to see them. If you like Chinese pop music, there was also a lot to like about the day. Day 2 promises to be a little more rock-heavy, so it will be interesting to see how the crowd responds to that.

Shaun.