With over thirty renowned DJs, and over 50,000 electro-heads in attendance over two days, this year’s Budweiser STORM Festival in Shanghai will be remembered as one of China's biggest parties.
Running October 3-4, the event featured a heap of heavy hitting EDM (electronic dance music) artists – including Above & Beyond, Skrillex, Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto and the slightly out of place (but wildly entertaining) Flo Rida.
Despite heavy rains (and a considerable amount of mud) on the festival’s second day, crowds arrived in full force all weekend to witness the eclectic mash-up of international and Chinese artists.
Tiesto (pictured below), who returned to China for his first festival performance in the country, is hot off the heels of a successful collaboration with Chinese pop star Jane Zhang (pictured below) and knows better than most the power of east-meets-west musical partnerships.
“It’s very exciting to work with Jane because she can sing in both English and Mandarin,” said Tiesto.
'Change your world’ – the result of the collaboration – is Budweiser STORM’s theme song, if you haven’t heard it yet - click here to do so (VPN required).
“I’m excited to play my first big show here, China’s different than the last time I was here and I am a different person now,” said Tiesto. "It is exciting to be back and see the changes."
Like all good EDM festivals, STORM featured an abundant selection of food vendors and an eclectic group of attendees, some donning flashy, robot-like costumes and others going shirtless to show off their ‘dope abs’ and generic tribal tattoos.
“The diverse crowd here really goes to show how popular electronic music has become,” said Chris Wu, a university student from Shenzhen. “The difference in ages and styles here shows that this kind of music is popular in China now – just like in America and Europe.”
Don Diablo, the popular Dutch DJ and producer that hit the stage Saturday, echoed this sentiment, stating the crowds in China resemble EDM festival hordes anywhere else in the world.
“I don’t really notice a big difference between European, American and Chinese crowds,” said Diablo.
When That’s previously spoke to festival founder Eric Zho, he stated that in STORM Festival’s inaugural year the event saw predominantly foreigners in attendance. Based on the crowds this year, it's clear this is no longer the case.
The throngs of people that stormed their way to the festival grounds this year were as diverse as a United Nations General Assembly meeting – with Chinese attendees mingling amongst foreigners of all ages, colors and creeds.
In the words of Don Diablo – “Chinese audiences have been sheltered from much of the music from the outside world.” After attending STORM it becomes obvious this has changed and it’s more than likely the festival has played a role in China's EDM revolution - after all, the festival is China's largest.
In short, the event not only offered concert guests great music, tasty finger food and endless Budweiser, it also provided a first-hand glimpse into the PRC's blossoming EDM culture. If you missed Shanghai's Budweiser STORM Festival (or you were there and need to do it again ASAP), don't fret - round two crashes into Shenzhen next month.
ll Click here to view more photos from Budweiser STORM Festival.
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