Dreamer Festival

Disclaimer: This photo is not of us playing. Nor is it even the stage we played on. I just thought it looked good.

Yesterday was the first show of our China tour, as part of the lineup at the Dreamer Festival. The day revealed that even in strictly regimented China gigs never run to plan. Originally the festival was meant to happen in both Beijing and Shanghai, but despite having government approval (a lack of which was why it got postponed from last year), they couldn’t get the required number of security guards organised. Massive security seems a little overkill – given how calm and polite the crowd were yesterday, and the complete lack of alcohol, one guy with a megaphone could probably have kept them all under control.

Hiccup the second: turns out there was a soccer match happening in the stadium next to the festival ground and for some reason no bands were allowed to play during the game. That meant a two hour dead spot in the middle of the lineup, and some bands with very shortened sets. Luckily we got five minutes cropped off ours, but felt rather sorry for the guys who had traveled from Stockholm and then only got to play a 20 minute set.

Once we were actually on stage, things ran rather well. Only a few minor translation issues getting levels adjusted (and to be honest, that still ran smoother than many other gigs I’ve played), and then we were away. The audience was certainly very different to crowds back home – no talking, every one very attentive…makes for a nice changes. After the set we then had to do our time at the signing tent and getting photos taken with fans.

Moment of stardom over, we returned for dinner at one of the restaurants near our hotel (another fantastic meal), and then hung out with some of the other bands late into the night. Good times.

2 thoughts on “Dreamer Festival”

  1. Great to read of your adventures and escape for a few minutes from the hum drum. I too thought the photo of the Dreamer Festival was cool – cool blues and greens…
    Looking forward to the next update…

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