Betting on Brett

The Modern Sky Music Festival keeps to its tradition of putting on foreign acts, including British pop icon Brett Anderson. Chen Nan reports

In his trademark style, Brett Anderson, British pop icon and ex-frontman of Suede, strode on to the stage in Beijing's Chaoyang Park in a black leather jacket and a pair of skinny blue jeans. Swaying and kneeling, he soon had 10,000 fans going wild, screaming the lyrics as they pumped their fists in the air.

That was in 2007, when the capital was just discovering the riotous delights of outdoor music festivals.

Now, four years later, with music festivals being held almost every weekend across the nation, the 44-year-old singer-songwriter returns to the city as the closing artist of the upcoming Modern Sky Music Festival, which will be held to coincide with the National Day Holiday.

Founded in 1989 and disbanded in 2003, Suede released two No 1 albums on the UK charts. With its legacy still influencing Brit-pop, Anderson released his solo album, Brett Anderson, in 2007.

This time, even as Suede fans hope to see a reunion of the band, Anderson promises to perform some of their renowned hits for the first time in, and especially for, Beijing.

"I listened to Suede when I was in university and was captivated," says Shen Lihui, founder of Modern Sky Records, the first independent record label in China, founded in 1997.

Shen says his company organized Anderson's first Beijing concert back in 2003, thanks to a friend of his, DJ Zhang Youdai, who got to know this singer-songwriter during his visit to London.

"Back then, Chinese fans didn't have much of an opportunity to watch a top-level international artist's live performance. Anderson's concert sold out and received great feedback," Shen recalls.

"It's only natural that he should be back now that we have such an energetic music scene here.

"Although Chinese music fans have already seen some Western A-list stars such as Beyonce and Linkin Park in the past few years, they are still hungry for good music and big stars."

To cater to this "hunger", Shen has also invited other foreign acts to the festival, such as American rock trio Blonde Redhead, electro-rock duo from London Big Pink, rising American rock band Free Energy, and Camera Obscura, an indie pop band from Glasgow, Scotland.

"We always inject an international presence into our music festival, which means every year fans can expect more from us," he says.

When the artsy New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs played at the first Modern Sky Music Festival in 2007, the crowd of 20,000-30,000 kept their peace between the songs but erupted once the music kicked in.

Shen says, "nearly all the festivals had similar performers playing."

"It could have been boring then. But the schedule works now as these performers have a stable fan base. You can see that we also have rockers Xie Tianxiao and Taiwan indie singer Zhang Xuan on our stage."

His record company has hundreds of established or new bands which are a huge source for Modern Sky Music Festival, which will see more than 80 acts on four stages - the Modern Stage, the Sky Stage, the Badhead Stage and the Electronic Stage.

The company's other festival, the Strawberry Music Festival, is held annually during the May Day Holiday.

New Pants, Hang on the Box, and Queen Sea Big Shark, three rock bands popular among young fans, will bring their latest albums to the Modern Sky Festival. Indie musicians from Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as Joanna Wong and Go Chic, will share the stage.

"I've also been able to fulfill my goal of giving young Beijing indie singers a platform," says Shen, who signs dozens of young bands and singers every year to make sure the festival has a fresh infusion of talent. He says he does not fear competition from other festivals as he is always confident of offering something different.

From Oct 2- 4, the Modern Sky Festival will be held at Beijing's Haidian Park. The ticket for a single day is 120 yuan ($18) and for 3 days is 300 yuan.

(China Daily 09/30/2010 page18)