D-22 Club in Beijing Closing

[gato]

It was a great little club.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577170323678131402.html

JANUARY 19, 2012, 10:04 A.M. ET

China's Little Punk Rock Club That Could

Bidding farewell to the club at the frantic heart of the country's nascent alternative music scene.

Perhaps the quirkiest act of D-22 was closing at its peak of popularity. That will only add to its legend. Initial reports blamed notorious rents, which double overnight in Beijing's hyper-heated property market, but Mr. Pettis maintains it was the plan all along. He wanted to highlight local talent at D-22. Now, he says, it is on to the next step, focusing on recording and promoting the Maybe Mars stable and other Chinese acts at home and overseas.

Local music fans await D-22's successor, a new club that "will focus more on experimental bands, on the avant-garde," as Mr. Pettis puts it. It should open within a few months, he confirms, with space for band rehearsal and recording. And it will be closer to the center of town, joining venues like Yugong Yishan and Mao Livehouse.

One knock on D-22 was its distance, a long cab ride to the outskirts of Beijing. But that made the shows all the more rewarding for the hard core. "The closing is still sad," reflects Mr. Niederhauser. "D-22 was an important launching pad for so many bands, but as they say, it's better to burn out than fade away."

[renzhe]

D-22 was awesome. It's sad to see it go. I still have a T-Shirt

But I'm sure that there's enough activity in BJ so that another one (or several) will spring up.

[Ludens]

a new club that "will focus more on experimental bands, on the avant-garde,"

This sounds very promising! I can't wait to move to Beijing to check it out!

[Brian US]

A shame, but it seemed they struggled all through the years. I only went a couple times during weekdays and always missed hearing the odd band that got off at 9:30. It was a long walk from Wudaokou and I'm curious how well a place like that would do on that bar street with Propaganda.

[icebear]

I definitely would have gone more if it had been located somewhat more conveniently - as it was it was a horrible trek for anyone living east of Tiananmen, especially on the way home. That's indeed the reason I made it to YGYS or Mao Livehouse so much more frequently.

Looking forward to a new iteration closer to central Beijing.

[gato]

Beijing is so spread out it's hard to find a place that pleases everyone. I do hope that there is another club like D-22 near the Zhongguancun/Wudaokou district to make it easily accessible to college students. Being in Chaoyang would be too far for the college kids. Alternative music needs a college fan base to be vibrant. It can't just be for expats.

[gato]

Another good interview with Michael Pettis. I remeber in another interview he said hIs model for D-22 was CBGB in New York. I would say that 924 GIlman St in Berkeley is another example.

http://pangbianr.com/michael-pettis-on-the-end-of-d22/

pbr: In recent years Beijing has seen proliferation of new live music venues, many of which are located more centrally in Beijing’s Gulou district. How has this affected D-22?

MP: We always saw our role as to find and support talented new musicians so it didn’t really matter to us, especially since the Gulou clubs tend to draw a pretty different crowd from ours – older and more expats, especially non-student expats, and mostly looking for more familiar sounds and well-known bands. Whenever our bands became big we would only let them do secret weekday shows at D22 and book the big weekend shows for them in other places around Gulou. Our favorite was always Yugong Yishan, which may be the biggest club in Beijing but is still the one most willing to take risks on new music.

pbr: What was the goal when D-22 initially opened? Do you think you accomplished this goal?

MP: Our first goal was a little immodest, but we thought that with the right kind of support Beijing had enough talented musicians to become one of the most exciting new music cities in the world, and we wanted to be part of that process. This happened much quicker than I thought it would, to tell the truth. Our second goal was to help shift the audience for new music in Beijing, and in China more generally. Several years ago expats and locals in the scene dominated the audience, but for me it was clear that if Chinese college students didn’t become the backbone of the scene it would never develop. That’s why we opened in Wudaokou and catered to Chinese students, even though they have less money and don’t drink as much as the expats.

[BeijingStyle]

I missed my chance to go there. Would have been nice to experience it once before it all went away.