Beijing Music Festival Breakdown Part Three: Did Ditan Deliver?

We sent four intrepid revelers out to the four corners of the city to check out the opening exchanges and report back on their findings. (Yes, there were five events last weekend, but try as we might, we couldn’t manage to wrangle tickets for MAXX Festival.) We attempted to score the various festivals school report style, on everything from ticket prices and sound quality to beer availability and toilet standards. The festivals were evaluated in nine different categories and were awarded a final grade after consideration.

Here's part three, as we grade the Ditan Folk Festival.

Ditan Folk Festival

Ditan Park
April 30 – May 1

Lineup – C

Ditan offers the chance to witness bands that you might not get the opportunity to see elsewhere, and that’s its charm. While the lineup was bereft of any notable foreign acts, Shanren are well known (and well loved) by Beijingers and foreigners alike. There was just the right blend of new talent to go with some of the more experienced Ditan Folk Festival performers.

Britain’s Nancy J Brown disappointed, but Afrokoko Roots made up for it with a rousing performance, even getting some of the surly security workers up dancing.

Shanren gave a typically rabble-rousing show that really pleased the crowd.

Ticket price - C

RMB 80 per day, RMB 120 for both days.

In purely monetary terms, maybe RMB 80 to head into a park and watch one set of performers on one small stage - some of which were a little disappointing - doesn't represent the best value for money. Certainly when you compare that with RMB 100 for the multitude of options offered by the bigger two. Then again, RMB 80 isn't so much, is it?

Crowd atmosphere - C

Very relaxed and family-friendly, but then if you’re going to Ditan Folk Festival, you probably realise that’s what you’re in for. A healthy mix of foreigners, locals, families, children and frisbees.

Certainly not a charged atmosphere and you’ll never see a mosh pit at Ditan. Good, safe fun.

Sound quality - D

Not great is the predominant message. Some people complained extensively about the poor sound quality. Others suggested it wasn’t so bad at times. We thought it was actually okay. No better than you’d expect for the low-fi style of the gathering.

It certainly seemed to be better on Day Two than it was on Day One

Alcohol availability - D

Ditan Folk Festival is notorious for its relaxed vibe, and – for a while – that extended to their laid back attitude on booze. BYOB seemed to be the tenuous message on Day One, and that’s what the crowd largely did. The on-site stalls sold all the beer they had, and even then, revelers took a short stroll outside of the grounds to find other park stalls and bought from there.

However, it seems this shaky truce had fallen through by Tuesday as we found it decidedly more difficult to get alcohol into the site (shaken down by the gate security), and with no supplies at the on-site store it was a regular old dry fest on Day Two.

Queuing time - A

A small turnout (as is normal at DFF) ensured that there was next-to-no waiting time, for anything.

Refreshments - D

The on-site park stall sold limited refreshments. The usual staples of sausages, chips (crisps for UK readers), water, green tea and iced lollies you’d expect from a park stall.

Bathrooms - B

Ditan is a sizable park, so there was no reason to wait for a particular toilet. Toilets were plentiful, so long as we were prepared to walk to the next cluster.

Site security - B

Considerably more relaxed on Day One than Day Two. The limited crowd was never going to need too much policing. But confiscated bottles as we entered the gate (on Day Two) set the tone for what was to come.

Final grade – D

Ditan is very different from the other festivals which occur during Beijing music festival season. Most notably in size; it’s one small stage in a big park. It’s much more low-key and small-scale than its bigger brothers.

In terms of organisation, inconsistency was the buzz word. Some things were good on Day One, but worse on Day Two and vice versa.

You could always say we shouldn’t expect any better from a low-key Chinese folk festival, but as nottherebeijing rightly suggests, perhaps it’s time to "stop using ‘China’ as a justification for a gig not being up-to-scratch."