2017 Beijing Summer Music Festival Guide

By Dominique Wong, May 8, 2017

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Although not yet summer in Beijing, temperatures are rising and the city’s buzzing with activity, some bad, but mostly good – like music festivals. That’s right: Despite the cancellation of Beijing’s Strawberry Festival, there are plenty of other music festivals happening all around – and just outside – the city. Check out our picks below.


May 13: Painkiller Fest 2017

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Festival season starts with the [head] bangin' Painkiller Fest 2017. Organized by China's first heavy metal music magazine Painkiller, headliners include“melodic death metal band” Insomnium (pictured), Australian band Orpheus Omega and Brazilian metal heads Krisiun + Nervochaos. The festival will be at Yugong Yishan, and tickets are RMB280 (door) or RMB230 (advance).

See event listing.


May 18-21: Wetware Douban Music Festival

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Music networking site Douban's Wetware Festival is being held indoors at two local venues, Tango and School Bar. The four-day lineup features a host of acclaimed international and local acts, including American rockers Low, synth-pop act Cold Cave, Beijing wunderkind Howie Lee (pictured) and footwork artist RP Boo. Ticket cost varies (RMB239-389). Look out for our upcoming feature profiling the best artists coming through. Click here to buy tickets.

See event listing.


May 19-21: Peace & Love Festival

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Featuring 20 acts altogether, 69 cafe's Peace & Love Festival brings all the good vibes. With artists including Shannon, Ani, Nick Parsons, Kamau and Dooder, expect three evenings of indie-folk and a lot of love. Tickets are RMB66 (door) or RMB55 (advance), with each ticket including a free beverage. 

See event listing.


May 20-21: Great Wall Run Festival

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Boom's Great Wall Run Festival is picturesque music festival combining electronic music, sick views and physical activity (note the run in the title). Electronic geniuses Oliver Heldens, Fritz Kalkbrenner and Ben Klock (pictured) headline, while local acts include Pancake Lee, Ou Yang and Huang WeiWei. Early bird tickets are sold out but GA tickets are still on sale for RMB500 upwards. The festival will be located at Beijing W Town.

See event event listing.


May 28-30: YinYang Festival

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YinYang isn't your average music festival. Apart from live music performances, the festival also includes visual art projections and yoga. Eschewing mainstream dance music, the fourth edition of YinYang instead features local acts as well as Worakls and four French DJs from Boiler Room. What's more, the festival takes place on a historic section of Huayaguan Great Wall, Tianjin (the border of Beijing). Camping and hotel packages are available. Click here to buy tickets.

See event listing.


May 28: Intro Electronic Music Festival

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Intro 2017 Electronic Music Festival Beijing will be held in Grand Epoch City. The annual event, now in its eighth year, is China's longest running EDM festival. This year's techno lineup includes Zadig (France), UVB (France), Virginia (Germany), Nikita (Russia), Wengweng (China) Mickey Zhang (China), Yangbing (China) and Shao (China). Meanwhile, bass artists include DJ Paypal (US), MikeQ (US), Asian Eyez (China) and Shackup (China). A must-see for EDM lovers.

See event listing.


Jun 3-4: Legal Vitamins

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Dubbed as Beijing’s “first noise, shoegaze and psychedelic festival,” Modernsky’s Legal Vitamins is a trippy, two-day bash featuring some of the country's best bands. Day one features The Molds, TOW, Gate to Otherwise (pictured) and Last Goodbye, while day two sees The Dice, Future Orients, Backspace and Default perform. Tickets cost RMB100 (for two people or two-day pass), RMB80 (door), RMB60 (advance).

See event listing.

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