Week 18: Follow-up exercise

In May, it was a warm and sunny day in Suzhou. I remember is listening to ‘May Love Be Carefree’ and ‘Sunshine Into Memories’ on the long way to Taihu Lake. Under the clear and sunny sky, thousands of people were singing and dancing on the lawn follow the music of stage. On stage was a band that has become very popular recently, No Party For Cao Dong. This is the 2013 Beijing Midi Festival.

Walking through the ticket gate, you will hear loud music coming at you. There were four stages set up for the Midi Festival, and each one was packed with people in front of them. I went near the stage where the Muma band was playing and looked at the lead vocalist Muma on main stage.He still wearing the familiar black hat, and as you can imagine, he must have been wearing exaggerated eyeliner. After all, this is the Muma’s fans are familiar with. The music of the Muma played as the drummer struck the first beat. I couldn’t wait to rush into the crowd. You find that slowly you get caught up in the mood of the people around you and jump follow the beat of the music. There was a commotion from the left and it turned out that some music fans had spontaneously started a ‘train driving’ (one person leads in front and others behind hold the front waist and form a queue like a train and run around). As the last notes of this music fell, lead vocalist Muma jumped off the stage as well, and the fans steadily caught him and threw him back on stage. It was an un-communicated interaction, a tacit understanding between the band and the fans.

Some distance away from the stage stood lots of tents, large and small, on the slope of the hill that was the Midi camp.The Midi Camp, the most unique part of the Midi Festival. Under the stars at the Midi Camp, fans gather around a small oil lamp with beer and snack. Sometimes, they are singing and dancing by following the music from the stage. Sometimes they are talking about their favorite genre of music or their favorite band. Sometimes band members will sneak into the camp and join their fans’ revelry.

Midi festival is a very special presence for this group of people, who consider it to be their home and the festival gives them a sense of belonging that no other festival can. It is a spiritual home and an ideal sanctuary for too many people. In fact, Midi festival is a festival for the fans too, where they enjoy rock music and play various games such as water guns, diving (Jump down from the stage and the fans will catch you), train driving, Pogo, Mosh, Circle-pit, etc.