Weekly Update: Mao Live Closing… Soon

By Josh, 2015年 12月 16日

Just a quickie this week… holidays coming, in-laws inbound, etc. First, a bit of news: longstanding Gulou rock haven Mao Livehouse looks to finally, officially be on its last fumes. Rumors about Mao closing, or Mao changing ownership, or Mao moving to Wudaokou, or Mao becoming a Filipino cover band bar, or whatever, have been circulating for well over a year now. The venue sent out a cryptic Wechat message in early October, saying that they were about to remove their iconic rusted-iron front gate. Yesterday, Mao founder Li Chi finally confirmed on Weibo the suspicions we’ve harbored for months, citing “astronomical” rent negotiations as the reason for Mao’s likely imminent closure.

No more details than that, and no date given. Li Chi cited Mako’s “sudden death” in August as his motivation to give Mao’s diehards time to prepare their final farewells. (Note: Mako has since re-opened… as a Gongti club with gilt walls. Cool?)

In the mean time, Mao’s Douban has events listed up through New Year’s Day, and if you were looking for an excuse to bid adieu to the old standby, Jan 1 might be the night to do so: Cold Neo continues its roll as the best underground Beijing rock booker, bar none, with a hefty bill including Hedgehog, The Molds, The Psyders from Shanghai, local up-and-comers The Twenties, and Yang Fan playing in a duo with Hedgehog drummer Shi Lu. Yang Fan’s What Happened After 1,001 Nights? was my favorite China record of 2015… but more on that in the inevitable 2015 Recap post. Lost a lot of venues in 2015. Damn.

Here are two shows happening this weekend you might also want to check out:

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fRUITYSHOP has really become the de facto post-XP home for Beijing’s itinerant free improv scene. They’re fielding erstwhile Zoomin’ Night regulars for a gig every other week, it seems. This Friday, December 18 it’s Wang Ziheng, Zhu Wenbo, and Xiao Song all wailing indiscriminately on reed instruments, and then a guy called 大奥万事屋 incongruously attaching a set of techno/trance/house on the end. Hey, why not? 30rmb, starts 8:30pm. More

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For something even more “……the fuck?”, head to School Bar on Sunday for A Very Special Christmas With Cat AIDS. How does that one Wham! song go? “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart / and the very next day, you gave me…” I forget. Here’s what the grimy warlocks at Nasty Wizard have to say:

There will be no optimism, no sparkly jackets, and no smiling, just black t-shirts, tears disguised as sweat, and loud,loud sounds. CAT AIDS will be joined by The Twenties and Lonely Leary, two bands who are taken a thousand times more seriously in the Beijing scene, as well some super magical guests. Could it be Cui Jian? Tang Dynasty? P.K.14?

Probably not! Cat AIDS will sound like this on Sunday but with 1,000% more Filthy Bill:

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So that’s a bunch of free improv on Friday @ fRUITYSHOP and godless noise theatrics on Sunday @ School. Headed out of country next week but should still have a gig or two to throw to you, Beijing-locked readers. Also maybe some year-end stuff. Been a rough one! Stay tuned.

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