[Radar]: Shanhai

 

Area: North Jing’an district. A couple blocks north past the New Factories. Also in the area is Chanel One Mall and the Moganshan art street, district, area, thing.

Shanhai is in what looks like a new urban development area, a la New Factories or The Loft -- looks like they’re re-purposing yet another area of Shanghai for creative offices, arts, F&B, and retail. Apart from the façade, it’s still pretty empty and under construction. Shanhai is on the first floor of that, walking in off Aomen Lu.

What is it: Shanhai is Shanghai's newest, medium-sized live music venue. Plain and simple. Capacity maxes out at about 450, although it's also small enough so that a show that only draws about 50 people won't feel like a total disaster. 300-350 people is probably the ideal for the space. They're hosting mainly Chinese rock, pop, and folk acts so far, but are also doing DJ/dance music/ club kid events.

It's been variously described as a mid-point venue between the smaller Yuyintang and the larger Mao Livehouse, and it’s pretty much exactly that, although layout, atmosphere, and set-up-wise, it has more in common with Mao Livehouse. You kind of get the impression that the two venues shared contractors or something. It's a similar aesthetic: big, concrete box of a main room with a stage (medium height and a larger area than YYT's stage) against a wall. The entire space of the venue is pretty much an audience area, with the bar along the back wall. The audience area is split into two levels, with more seating and standing room on the second level, also orientated towards the stage.

Outside of the club proper is a pretty large-sized terrace seating area, which is going to come in handy for big events. Also good for escaping whatever is going on inside for a bit.

Management / booking behind the club is Lezi, a former manager at Mao Livehouse, member of the bands Pink Berry and Sonnet, and also founder of local folk/pop label, Zhu Lu He Feng. The venue is also doubling as the home base for their operations -- he’s a very active guy -- and they also have a practice room / recording space on the second floor for their various endeavours.

The other people involved are local promoters S.T.D., who are also collaborating on booking duties for the venue -- they’re hosting in German DJ Boys Noize in at the end of this month, and you can expect similar S.T.D. events at the space in the future to compliment what Lezi is bringing in, which is Chinese folk, rock, pop, across the board. Whatever is out there available and whatever is touring through Shanghai.

Atmosphere: Very utilitarian. It's brand new and pretty sparse. It's a straight-up concrete box, walls painted black, big iron beams holding up the second floor. Stage, audience, bar, that’s it. It's pretty much the Platonic ideal of "Chinese live music venue". As mentioned above, it's got a lot in common with Mao Livehouse, and it almost feels like they took that, shrunk it down a bit, and planted it in north Jing'an. So yeah, it is what it is: live music bar. Pretty much a blank slate for bands (and, to be sure, DJs) to play to crowds and have a good ole time. It nice and intimate but still "professional".

Damage: Asahi is the only beer on tap and it's 40rmb for a pint. Standard domestic bottles are all 30rmb. Mixes are 30rmb. Cocktails are all 40rmb. Very straight-forward. Nothing flashy going on with the drinks menu.

Who's going: Well, gentle SmartShanghai readers, I’m going to guess that most of you won't be going until Boys Noize hits the place at the end of this month. Here's a tip with that. There were 1000 people who went to that show last year. The capacity for this new venue is under half that. Get advance tickets through the promoter, S.T.D., or you won't be getting in. They're looking to sell it out completely with advance tickets, holding nothing for the door.

Generally speaking, other than that, the main bookings are independent Chinese rock, pop, folk bands. Intended audience is younger Chinese kids, but, of course, it depends who’s playing for who's going.

First Impressions: As a live music venue it's quite great. Capacity-wise, it really fits right in there with what's needed in this city. During the busier periods for live music in Shanghai, smaller bands are left wanting for a venue, as the Yuyintang calendar gets booked solid months in advance, and Mao Livehouse is simply too big to host smaller-scale shows. So in terms of the set-up and size, they got it right -- you can do smaller shows in there with smaller crowds and it won't feel like a bust. So, yeah, it's something needed for smaller bands building their audiences.

Of course, questions loom for Shanhai and, I guess, live music in Shanghai in general... is there enough bands to keep all these live venues going? Is there enough of an audience in Shanghai that can keep these venues afloat?

Guess we’ll see... hope so.