Need an Excuse to Visit Shanghai? Concrete and Grass Fest May Just Be Your Ticket

Whereas festival season here in the capital has pretty much wound down for yet another year, one of China's biggest festivals is still yet to come. Sadly for us northern barbarians (NB for short – in your face Shanghai!), Split Work's annual Concrete and Grass Festival takes place in, uh, oh, look at that ... Shanghai. Sorry, guys, I take it back.

Looking at the two-day line-up on Sep 15-16 we can say that it's certainly a mixed bag of sounds stuffed with something old, something new, something we've never heard of, and something that definitely looks like Daddy Yankee. Wait, it is Daddy Yankee! Yes, the undisputed King of Reggaeton and birther of the world's most-watched YouTube video ever for his song "Despacito" is headlining this year's fest alongside other international acts like UK shoegaze heavyweights Slowdive (also in Beijing on Sep 14), the unmatched builder of spasmodic aural plains Oneohtrix Point Never, and Japanese counterculture icon Jun Togawa.

On the domestic front, there's heart-throb and ex-Shuimu Nianhua singer Li Jian, Chengdu's much-praised indie rock band Stolen, the band that paid homage to a noughties American emo rock band but then made it all their own Chinese Football (from Wuhan), as well as a couple of Beijing servings in the form of Gooooose and Future Orients, should you start to miss home.

So as to get an insider's perspective on what's new for this fourth installment of the festival, we picked the brains of Split Works gig promoter (and fellow Beijinger) Krish Raghav:

Which acts are you particularly excited about this year?

• Taiwan's Lao Wang (an incredible alt-folk band, think The Decemberists meets Cui Jian), who'll be making their China debut. 
• Japanese long-haired guitar band Kikagaku Moyo, who play sacred, free-form psychedelic rock complete with sitar shredding. 
• Rico Nasty's hardcore trap.   
• You'll also find me bawling (good) tears on the grass during "Sugar for the Pill" by Slowdive. 

Have there been any big shifts in terms of how the festival will run this time around?
Happily, no! Still the same mellow vibes and inclusive spirit. Maybe more toilets. Also more Yoga. The two are not connected.   

What would you say to those Beijingers who may be too scared to wade into the scary and cosmopolitan world of our southern (frien)enemy city?
Pudong is a scary place but our festival is a lighthouse in the dark. 

Finally, do you have any surprises up your sleeves?
Don't miss the between-set playlists, which we painstakingly curate. Lots of inside jokes there for the music faithful, and a special surprise at 9pm when the headliner is done.

And there you have it. Good music, good company, and bonding over toilets – is there not a better way to make friends in China?

Tickets for Concrete and Grass are RMB 460 per day or RMB 780 for the weekend. Trains from Beijing's South Station take 4.5 to 6 hours and cost around RMB 550 one way. Click here for more details on this year's festival.

Images courtesy of Split Works, Billboard