LimeWire Music Blog

This week in wackadoo China news: The country is set to hold a music festival called Modern Sky Oct. 4-7, in Beijing’s Chaoyang Park. And while the bill had originally included a wide range of foreign indie acts, well, it looks like that’s just not going to happen. NME tells us that every last non-Chinese band, including the Buzzcocks, The Futureheads, Radio 4 and British Sea Power, have all been dropped from the schedule at the last minute. Sounds like Swedish shit-starters International Noise Conspiracy are also out (I can’t imagine their name was helping their case with the Chinese government, either), along with Japan’s reunited Shonen Knife. Organizers are blaming the last-minute axings on “unforeseen circumstances.”

But hey, there are still plenty of great Chinese bands I’ve never heard of on the bill! And if angry Chinese indie rockers are looking for someone to blame for the cancellations, well, they could do worse than directing their vitriol at Bjork, who had the chutzpah to point out the nation’s sordid history with Tibet when she performed there last year. That incident, NME reminds us, inspired the Chinese government to crack down on international performers appearing in the country.