Friday: Bird Bar 9th birthday party
The Bird Bar in Dali is celebrating its ninth birthday today with an afternoon barbecue and a party with live music all night. Entry is free.

Friday Dali Rock Festival
The first Dali Rock Festival will begin tonight at 7:30 at the Wumiao Temple on Bo'ai Lu when Kunming Social Club takes the stage. The Tribal Moons will perform at 10:45, followed by Show Me at midnight, Filmore 69 at 1:30 and DJ Lumberjack Jon at 2:00. Entry is free.

Friday: DJ DD & DJ Ice at Uprock
Uprock will host another night of DJs with DD and Ice providing the tunes. Music starts at 10, entry is free.

Saturday: Jeff Boldt at Chicago Coffee
Singer/songwriter Jeff Boldt will play a 7:30 concert at Chicago Coffee on Saturday. Entry is free, donations will be collected to be given to the Library Project.

Saturday: Easter buffet and concert at TCG Nordica
TCG Nordica will hold its annual Easter buffet and concert on Saturday, buffet starts at 6 pm, concert begins at 8. Entry is 50 yuan per person – RSVP at 4114691 or 4114692.

Saturday: Dali Rock Festival, round two
The second night of the Dali Rock Festival starts up at 7 pm with Long Lei on the didgeridoo, followed by Eddie at 7:30, The Tribal Moons at 8:15, No Answer at 10:15, Cash Boys at 11, Filmore 69 at 11:45 and DJ Siku at 1. Entry is free.

This year's Dali Folk Festival (三月街民族节), already in its 19th year, will be joined for the first time by a rock festival featuring top rock bands from Kunming and Dali.

The rock festival, organized by the Hump Group, will take place at the main square of the Wu Miao Temple Complex on Bo Ai Road in Dali Old Town on April 10 and 11.

Bands scheduled to perform at the festival include Tribal Moons, Show Me, No Answer (aka 打死我也不说), Cash Boy and several Dali bands to be announced later. After the performances, DJs Lumberjack Jon, Siku and Da Ma Ke will provide additional music. Music begins at 9:00 both evenings.

Ticketing for the free festival will be done in a rather unorthodox manner: a 20 yuan deposit that is paid before the show and returned after the show. For more information about tickets call Annie at 15825276313.

Free transportation to Dali and back and accommodation for the two days has been provided for the first 100 people to get their tickets. A further twenty tickets have been marked out for free transportation without the accommodation.

The Dali Folk Festival itself will run from April 10 to April 16. Ethnic musicians, dancers and performers from all over the region will be involved in over 100 performances. The festival coincides with Dali's Third Moon Market (三月街), with scores of shops selling food, handicrafts, traditional Chinese medicines and more. A small clutch of booths also have their own little side shows.

Thanks to Arun Veembur for sending a press release about this event. If you have an event you think GoKunming readers would like to know about, please send us info via our contact form

Friday: Local rock showcase at On The Go
Tonight the new Kundu bar On The Go will host a night of local rock featuring Broken String (断弦), Kou Xuan (口玄), Kua Fu and No Answer (打死我也不说). The free show starts at 9:30. On The Go is located on the second floor of the building across from Top One's main entrance.

Saturday: Children's piano concert at TCG Nordica
TCG Nordica will be holding a children's piano concert Saturday night in conjunction with Beautiful Heart piano training center. The 8 pm show is 5 yuan for children, 15 yuan for adults.

Saturday: Halloween pub crawl
For the second year in a row, a Halloween pub crawl of the Yunda/Wenlin Jie area has been organized, once again starting 8 pm at the Sunshine Bar, about 50 meters south of Yunnan University's north gate. Drink discounts will be available for all costumed revelers at the Sunshine Bar as well as Must Colombian Café (9:00), Salvador's Coffee House (10:00), The Box (11:00) and Chapter One (midnight and onward). The pub crawl is open to anyone with an interest in drinking while in costume.

Friday: Legopulver at Halfway House
Norwegian jazz/rock band Legopulver will play its first of two Kunming gigs this weekend at Halfway House tonight at 9:00. The band consists of guitar, bass and drums. Entry is free.

Friday: Sam's Birthday Masquerade at Speakeasy Bar
Sam Debell of Speakeasy Bar will be celebrating his birthday tonight with a masquerade party and cheap 10 kuai glasses of Jagermeister. Music will be provided by DJs Martin, Jon and Christian.

Saturday: Union Music Festival in Tuanjie Village
A music festival highlighting local rock and hiphop is scheduled to take place from 1 to 11 pm on Saturday, featuring some of Kunming's biggest local acts including Noise Addiction, Tribal Moons, No Answer (打死我也不说), Dark Cosmos (黑宇), Triatic (恶性循环) and Broken String (断弦).

Our info about this event is limited, but we do know the organizers intend on holding it at the Tuanjie Village Bai Leisure Garden (团结乡白族休闲园) a bit more than 20 km northwest of Kunming. To get to Tuanjie Village, take the road to the Bamboo Temple until getting to the Tuanjie Village (团结乡), where a right turn takes you straight there - look for the three Bai-style white pagodas.

Saturday: Legopulver at TCG Nordica
Legopulver will play its second show in Kunming at the spacious gallery of TCG Nordica on Saturday night. Admission to the 8 pm show is 30 yuan for adults, 15 yuan for students and 10 yuan for children.

Saturday: Yunnan-Vietnam Female Artists Exchange at Yunart Gallery
Yunart Gallery will host an opening for its new exhibition "In the course of our contacts..." which highlights the works of female artists from Yunnan and Vietnam on Saturday night, beginning at 8:00. Entry to the opening is free.

Saturday: The Hump Bar's 8th Birthday Celebration
The Hump Bar is celebrating its 8th birthday on Saturday night with free buffet and beer from 7 to 9 pm. After mealtime the bar will be throwing an Afro-Latin dance party until morning.

Monday: P.K.14 at Speakeasy Bar
P.K.14 one of the better-known 'it' bands in the Beijing rock scene at the moment, will play Speakeasy Bar on Monday night for the Kunming stop on its national tour. Entry to the 10 pm show is 30 yuan.

Friday: Brain Failure at Speakeasy Bar
Beijing punk veterans Brain Failure (脑浊) bring their high-energy show back to Kunming tonight, almost a year to the day since their last show in the Spring City. One of China's most-traveled rock bands - they've toured all over China, the US and Japan - Brain Failure will be joined this time around by local bands Noise Addiction and the recently renamed Pretty in Punk (打死我也不说, formerly No Answer) for a 9:30 show at Speakeasy Bar. Admission is 30 yuan.

For a taste of Brain Failure's live show, check the above video of a 2006 performance, one of the last punk shows at the legendary CBGB in New York.

Friday: English movie and discussion at Chicago Coffee
Chicago Coffee will host its weekly English movie and discussion at 7pm tonight. Admission is free with any purchase – call 5389288 for movie details.

Arguably the Chinese band with the biggest buzz swirling around it at the moment, Subs will bring its raucous brand of garage punk to Kunming on May 21 when they return to the stage at Speakeasy Bar.

Based out of Beijing, guitarist Wu Hao, bassist Zhu Lei and drummer Zhang Shun and frequently screaming vocalist Kang Mao are renowned for tight, high-energy shows and their ability to get audiences involved. Subs' Kunming performance is one stop on a west China tour that is taking the band to Chengdu, Guiyang, Lanzhou and even Xining in Qinghai province.

After their April 5 performance in Shanghai (see above video for that evening's performance of the song 'The Man'), Shanghaiist couldn't help but gush about the band's live show:

"The Subs just keep getting better. But what makes their shows wild is 'it'. We don't know exactly what 'it' is but, whatever makes bands take the final step, detach themselves and gain some kind of aura or mystique — The Subs have 'it'. From the second singer Kang Mao hit the stage the packed venue exploded. She was on fine form, leading the crowd with her bottomless pit of energy, telling fans who were not getting in the pit to f*ck themslves (in Mandarin) and finally joining in the crowd surfing."


Subs will be joined by opening band Pretty in Punk, formerly known in English as No Answer and still known in Chinese as 打死我也不说 (loose translation: 'Beat me to death and I still won't talk'). The video below is from PiP's first show with new lead singer Bai Cai at last month's Kunming Outdoor Music Festival


Tickets to see Subs, Pretty in Punk and a second opening band to be announced are available at Speakeasy Bar for 30 yuan – the first band will take the stage at 9:30.

Update: We have been notified that Pretty in Punk will not be playing the show as originally scheduled - the opening band will be Noise Addiction.

Image: Shanghaiist

Related articles:

Music under the stars at Kunming Outdoor Music Festival

No Answer: Kunming's Riot Grrrls

The second installment of the Kunming Outdoor Music Festival took place over the weekend in Taiping Town outside of Kunming - this time featuring two days of music from bands based in Kunming and Dali. This edition of the festival attracted around 600 people and featured a greater variety of performers than the last - plus perfect weather for taking in music under the stars.

Many of the performers from the first edition of the festival last November made it back to perform on Friday and Saturday nights, including organizers Gouride (狗日的), Tribal Moons, Heiyu (黑宇), and No Answer (打死我也不说).

No Answer, whose Chinese name means 'beat me to death and I still won't talk', was arguably the most improved band since the last festival – owing primarily to the addition of vocalist Bai Cai, whose energetic stage presence was able to get the audience more involved than at the band's previous shows （see above image). Drummer Yang Yang also put in a solid performance, confirming her status as one of the more talented young drummers in the Kunming music scene.

Perhaps the biggest surprise at the festival was the opening night performance by the rock/reggae hybrid Made in Dali, who were the consensus favorite among people who attended the festival both evenings.

There was a sizeable military presence at the festival, with dozens of (officially) off-duty soldiers checking out the variety of musical offerings under a nearly full moon. On Saturday night during an 11 pm set by Co Op Sol (邪作社), formerly known as Rap Republic, two military personnel carriers drove into the festival, lights flashing and sirens blaring.

Some of the audience was slightly confused when a few dozen soldiers quickly assembled at the rear of the seating area. Things quickly returned to normal, however, after it became apparent that the soldiers seemed more interested in watching the show than interrupting...好玩嘎！

Photo: Aaron Bono

Related Article: Kunming Outdoor Music Festival returns this month

With the success of the first Kunming Outdoor Music Festival (昆明露天音乐节) last November, the event's organizers are bringing the all-day – and most of the night – music festival back to Taiping Town outside of Kunming on April 19. The all-local festival should be even more diverse than last time, with bands performing punk, blues, metal, hiphop, punk and bluegrass.

The lineup for this edition of the festival includes Heiyu (黑宇), Gouride (狗日的), Broken String (断弦), Endless Torture (无尽折磨), Noise Addiction, No Answer (打死我也不说), Brain Concussion (脑震荡), Co Op Sol (邪作社 – formerly known as Rap Republic), Kouxian (扣弦), Chicken Butt (鸡屁股), Tribal Moons (see above image), Chaling (叉灵), Fang Band (坊乐队), The Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project and Nicole.

The festival starts at noon and will go late into the night – festivalgoers are encouraged to bring tents to stay on the campground overnight. Food and drinks will also be on sale throughout the day and evening.

Tickets for the festival are 30 yuan at the gate, or 20 yuan if purchased in advance at The Hump Bar, Halfway House, Speakeasy Bar or Laowo Bar.

The festival will once again be held at the Wumozhai Jiuzhuang Eco-garden on Xiao Jie in Taiping Town (太平镇小街无墨斋酒庄生态元), near the city of Anning (安宁). According to event organizers, the number 17 bus at Xiao Ximen can be taken to Taiping Town, and there will also be a shuttle bus between Taiping Town and the Arts Theatre at Wuyi Lu and Dongfeng Xi Lu throughout the day for five yuan one way.

UPDATE: We have just received notice from the festival's organizers that the festival has been expanded to two days – with a short evening set on Friday, April 18th and 19th, with a few additional bands and DJs. Here's the schedule for the two days:

Friday, April 18th

8 pm: Gouride
9 pm: Jinzi
10 pm: Stiop
11 pm: Made in Dali
Midnight: Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project
1 am: Brain Concussion
Afterward: DJs Tantrum, Jezz and Menace

Saturday, April 19th

1 pm: Nicole
2 pm: Fang Band
3 pm: Anyeqi
4 pm: Brain Concussion
5 pm: Kouxian
6 pm: Gouride
7 pm: No Answer
8 pm: Tribal Moons
9 pm: Heiyu
10 pm: Broken String
11 pm: Co-op Sol
Midnight: Chaling
1 am: Endless Torture
2 am: Noise Addiction
Afterward: DJ Moon Unit/DJ Chengcheng

UPDATE 2: The festival site is rather difficult to find, here's a Chinese map:

Related articles:

No Answer - Kunming's riot grrls

Kunming Bands to play outdoor music festival