Strawberry Fields Forever

Over the three-day May Day weekend, the Tongzhou Canal Park in Beijing was host to a fresh experiment which brought together indie artists and their fans from around China and overseas.
Tongzhou is the Indie music center of Beijing, and the thousand-acre Canal Park is an oasis full of trees and waterways, and a huge field of grass void of Strawberries, until now.
Performances were held at three different stages (Love, Dance [electronic], and the main one, aptly called Strawberry Stage) and arranged so conveniently that in a fifteen minute span you could easily have a dance, fall in love, and then frolic in the strawberry fields while enjoying a lush variety of live music.
One highlight was the performance of Zhou Yun Peng, the vastly talented, Chinese folk musician. Armed with dark sunglasses and his acoustic guitar, he made the crowd sway with his heart-tugging melodies and strong, emotional vocals. His was a stellar performance, remarkable for the skill, passion, energy and also for the fact that he was blind from the age of nine.
On the other side of the musical spectrum was the 5-piece band GuaiLi. Described as “left-punk” by their lead singer Wen Jun, they opened their set in a cacophony of noise, screeching guitars and cascading drums which resonated through the valley and nearly drowned out Wen Jun’s shrieking vocals.
Brain Failure (Nao Zhuo) a Chinese heavy metal band was also very popular with the crowd; belting out strong rhythms laced with Spanish guitar lines as drunken waiguoren (foreigners) were sucked into the depths of the Chinese mosh pit.
More great local performances were made by Re-TROS (Rebuilding the Right of Statues), Cao Fan, Kelly Cha, Joanna Wang, Hedgehog and others.
A few American bands also were present to rock the Chinese fields, including Arms and Legs, Panther, Xiu Xiu (who were unable to perform due to illness) and Deerhoof, who closed off the festival and ended the magical three days with a memorable and superb performance, rocking the Strawberry Stage with one of the finest acts of the weekend, sending us all back home with the hope that this fresh Chinese reality can last in the fields forever.