In November 2023, Guangzhou Strawberry Music Festival, Guo Ding’s scene (provided by Guo Ding’s manager Zijing/picture)
In mid-December 2023, after listening to a wonderfully composed music festival, my tour of watching performances came to an end . I decided to give my wallet a break. In the summer, I once fantasized, "How happy I would be if I could hear Guo Ding, Jolin Tsai, the 1975, fkj, she her her hers, Cen Ning'er... live music this year." Throughout the year, I listed the names I actually listened to most of it. Such a simple list of
is not to show off. After all, this was unimaginable a year ago. In 2022, the music festival that I remember most was the Xiami Music Festival in Aranya. At that time, I went to interview the musician Guo Ding. The night before the scheduled performance, the Aranya Park was temporarily blocked due to the discovery of a close contact of a confirmed COVID-19 patient. The show fell into disrepair. It wasn't until a year later that I heard Guo Ding live at the Guangzhou Strawberry Music Festival, and it was better than expected.
2023 is the year when the performance market will fully recover. Some musicians felt this surge at the beginning of the year, such as Zhou Yunpeng. In March, when I went to interview Zhou Yunpeng, he was preparing for a nationwide tour. Each "official announcement" only announced a few cities. He explained that this was because it was difficult to book venues and there were too many uncontrollable factors. In July, at the Bubble Island Music Festival in Tianjin, the New Pants Band confessed under the cheers of fans, "It's not that we don't want to hold a concert, it's just that the venue is too difficult to book."
Data recently released by the China Performance Industry Association shows , the cumulative number of viewers in the performance market in the first three quarters of 2023 reached 111 million, exceeding the level for the whole of 2019. When these numbers fall into reality, they are the common complaints on social platforms about "difficulty in buying tickets". Especially if the musician or group you want to see is very popular, the process is tantamount to a fight. The winner eagerly posted his ticket purchase record before even entering the venue.
Every time I buy a ticket, I feel like I'm facing an enemy. Set the alarm clock in advance, fill in personal information, and wait until the time on the ticket purchase website starts counting down. I feel nervous from the 10th second. Experience tells me that it is unrealistic to try to get a bargain. If you love it enough, just choose the expensive ticket, or wait for scalpers to increase the price. Compared to the former, the latter is more passive.
Listen to a podcast about the music scene. The hosts discuss the factors to weigh when buying music festival tickets-the ticket price; the number of musicians you want to listen to; and the venue environment. These are also my reasons for buying tickets. After a long gap, I will buy tickets whenever I meet a musician I want to listen to (unless the price is too outrageous).
When the finale of Phoenix Legend came on stage, four or five security guards stood in front of me to maintain order, all of them recording videos on their mobile phones (Wang Jiawei/Photo)
At the music festival in mid-December, I was originally interested in other music I was there, but I didn’t expect that I would have the most fun dancing during the finale of the Phoenix Legend. Being crowded with people that night, I asked many people around me "who are you here for?" and everyone said it was the Phoenix Legend. Just after 9 o'clock, a familiar melody sounded and the place became heated. The song of Phoenix Legend is like this: Even if you are not familiar with the name of each song, when the melody sounds, you will definitely have a look of "sudden realization". They are worthy of the title of "national singers". The weather was less than 10 degrees, and as soon as the sonorous and powerful melody sounded, everyone jumped up. Later, I squeezed out of the crowd and saw five or six security guards who were maintaining order and recording videos on their mobile phones in the back. They stood neatly in a row, like a wall. Further back, dozens of people put their arms around each other's shoulders, forming a "train" that meandered in the center of the open field. "I didn't expect that Phoenix Legend's audience is young people." I heard the person next to me say.
I also experienced a similar lively scene when the New Pants Band performed a few months ago. No matter what song they sang, once the restless melody started, people would dance impatiently. Me too. Utilityally speaking, this is more effective than any stress-relieving activity. The music scene is our contemporary painkiller. The grievances, dissatisfactions, disappointments, resentments, and struggles in daily life are all dissipated in the dance. We shed our “socialized” shells and finally reveal ourselves.At this moment we are only happy. At this moment all we care about is happiness.
Having said that, this is also the wonderful thing about music festivals. At first I come here for a certain musician, but I always get unexpected surprises, just like drawing a blind box. I'm addicted to surprises like this. When you hear the same song again, you won’t skip it in a hurry. Everything is transformed into the fragments you saw at the scene - the musician’s expression, movements, words, the weather that day, and even the smell in the air - everything They are all one-time and cannot be copied.
livehouse is different (the platter will be discussed separately). When I decided to buy a ticket, I already had a certain musician in mind. They may be a singer you have listened to thousands of times with headphones, or an idol who had an important influence on your youth, just to meet them once.
Japanese band she her her hers. The combination of live music and light and shadow is like a dream (Wang Xiaoxiang/Photo)
Everyone comes to the music scene for different purposes and experiences. Several experiences of going to music festivals made me realize that many musicians whose works I am not familiar with but have a wide audience first became popular on short video platforms and then became well-known. Even if these musicians outshine the ones I like, I have to admit that no one can resist this trend.
Every time the performance ends, I feel extremely disappointed. It was like being forcefully dragged back to reality with a slap on the head. The music scene is like a movie. The movie ends, the lights are turned on, and the audience gets up. As for the scene, the encore was over, no one shouted anymore, and everyone tacitly understood that it was time to return to reality and face the trivialities and discords of life again. But it doesn’t matter, we still have another chance to dream.
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