Kanye West to play Fengtai Stadium in September

First the bad news, after Julian Marley’s show last Saturday at Star Live a lot of people have been looking forward to the Sean Paul show that we listed in the August issue of the Beijinger as taking place at Star Live on Aug 23. Star Live have since informed us that the show has been cancelled. Fortunately, the post Olympic live music scene is starting to shape up and a lot of big-name international acts are going to be passing through town in the coming months.

Sep 4
George Benson & Al Jarreau
With 18 Grammy awards and over eight decades of performance between them, George Benson & Al Jarreau are touring together in support of their highly acclaimed album Givin’ It Up. RMB 380-1,280
. 8pm. Beijing Exhibition Theater
(6835 4455)

Update: (Sep 4, 10am): The Kanye West show has been postponed indefinitely - see this post for more details.

Sep 25 Kanye West
It seems that everyone from British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe through to China's most famous piano impresario and star of the Olympic opening ceremony Lang Lang is a fan of rapper/producer Kanye West. He’s coming to Beijing as part of his Glow in the Dark tour. Accompanying him will be an eight-man backing band, DJ Craze and special guest star Will Pan. If you can’t make the Beijing show, he’ll also be performing in Shanghai
. RMB 280-1680 (tentative). Time TBA. Fengtai Stadium (6381 1576)

Sep 26
Tanya Chua (蔡健雅)
Tanya Chua or Cai Jianya is an native English speaker from Singapore who has made it big in Asia with her mandarin language love songs. Never heard of her? Take a listen to an interesting interview with her on Australia's SBS radio or listen to some of her stuff over at her MySpace. RMB 180-880.
7.30pm. Beijing Exhibition Theater (6835 4455)

Sep 26-27
Air
This French duo is known for their dreamy and unique sound that is both futuristic and retro. They will performing two shows in Beijing as part of their Close Up tour. RMB 700/ 550 (presale).
Time TBD. Yugong Yishan (6404 2711)

Sep 28
Eason Chan
The new face of canto pop comes to Beijing as part of his Moving On Stage World Tour. RMB 200-1,280.
Time TBA. Workers’ Stadium (6501 6655 ext 5033)

Oct 6
Avril Lavigne
The Canadian singer has added six China dates on to the tail end of her The Best Damn Tour 2008. Emma/Ticketmaster are offering the chance to win free tickets through their website RMB 100-1,600.
Time TBA. Wukesong Indoor Stadium (no tel.)

Oct 19
Linkin Park and Mayday
For more details see this earlier post. RMB 100-1,600 (On sale on Aug 11 through Emma-Ticketmaster)
Time TBA. Beijing Workers' Stadium (6501 6655 ext 5033)

Finally, Cui Jian will be performing at New Get Lucky this coming Saturday night. This is Cui's first Beijing performance since he played as part of an earthquake relief concert at Star Live on May 22 and his big Workers’ Stadium show at the start of the year. The most-well known name in Chinese rock recently returned to Beijing after playing the Festival Músicas do Mundoin in Portugal (images available at his official site). You can take a look at an Al Jazeera interview with the musician above. Cui talks about what he thinks about of the Olympic and what it means to be a rock star.

Aug 23
Cui Jian
RMB 500 (includes one beer or other beverage).
9pm. New Get Lucky (8448 3335)

Speaking of rock stars and the Olympics, Xie Tianxiao (XTX) has a reputation for being one of the authentic bad boys of Chinese rock. Last time I saw him live he did a good job of smashing his guitar like a true rock’n’roll rebels should. Therefore I was surprised to read in last week's newspapers that the musician has released a special Olympic song. But when we took a listen it seems that XTX has taken a bit of a different approach with his track called Standing on Fourth Ring Road watching the Five Rings.

You can view the lyrics and listen to the song here. You can try viewing the video here but we had some problems getting it to play. We’ve done a rough translation of the lyrics (written by Zhang Xiaobo 张小波) below:

站在四环望五环 -Standing on Fourth Ring Road watching the Five Rings

我给上帝打手机 询问天堂在哪里 一个女的告诉我 天堂不在服务区
I called God up on his mobile, asked him where the church isA woman told me that the church was not in a service area

我给情人打手机 我问狗狗在哪里 一个男的告诉我 这事与你没关系
I called my lover on her mobile, asked her where the dog isSome guy told me that this has got nothing to do with me


我给中央打手机 询问鸟巢在哪里 一个秘书告诉我 要问你去问司机
I called the central government on their mobile , asked where the Bird’s Nest isA secretary told me if you want to go ask the driver

站在四环望五环 开着奥迪奔奥运 站在四环望五环 开着奥迪奔奥运
Standing on Fourth Ring Road, driving an Audi to the OlympicsStanding on Fourth Ring Road, driving an Audi to the Olympics

Links and Sources
The Beijinger Forum: Sean Paul really at Star Live on the 23rd?
China West: Kanye West Flyer
Youtube: Chinese rocker backs Olympics -- 18 August 2008
Wikipedia: Eason Chan (image)