James’ first visit to China to play a festival in Beijing’s Ritan Park
Setlist
n/a
Support
n/a
Review
James – The Highpoint of Heineken Beat Music Festival – Beijing Evening News
For every person present in Ritan Park for the Heineken Beat Music Festival, the 90 minutes from 21:30 to 23:00 on May 13th, will be very hard to forget. The explosive atmosphere created by the UK’s James gave people a real idea of the power of popular rock and roll music. At last Beijing had the chance to experience this kind of passionate and exciting live music performance.
The difference between the wild cheers and waving arms and dancing feet at Ritan and the enthusiasm of the thousands of people last year at the worker’s stadium for Zhang Huimei’s concert was fundamental. First of all, on stage was a famous band from one of the original homes of rock and roll and secondly, the music resounding in the arena was far more likely to set the blood pumping in your veins.
When James was announced, the trees just outside the wall surrounding the altar of the sun were full of people. On May 13th there was an audience of more than ten thousand people in the park, both inside and outside the arena.
China Stands For James – Music 365
Despite the implications of their anthem Sit Down, James have made history in China by becoming the first western band to be granted a standing and dancing crowd.
Normally strict crowd controls were relaxed at the Heineken Beat Music Festival, held at Ritan Park in Beijing, where more than 10,000 people rocked to the Mancunian indie stalwarts’ set. The reaction to the concert has been dramatic enough to spawn two half-hour documentaries on the band, which were recently screened on Chinese TV.
In the Beijing Evening News, China’s most popular newspaper, a review of the concert positively fizzed with enthusiasm: “The explosive atmosphere created by the UK’s James gave people a real idea of the power of popular rock and roll music. At last Beijing had the chance to experience this kind of passionate and exciting live music performance.”
Share:
