Upcoming: 2014 Great Wall Forest Festival

Truth be told – I spent a lot of my first summer in Beijing shaking my ass from festival to festival, soaking in as much newfound music as possible, and at the same time, seeing the limitations of what a music festival could be – a demand for liquids that couldn’t be met, bathroom facilities (or lack thereof) that left grown men crying, transportation that disappeared into thin air, and all around organizational negligence. Good times. However, the Tanglewood Music Festival still remains the most scenic music festival I’ve been to– here’s a taste of what it looked like back in 2010. Green, green and more green. Hills, which turn into forests. And yes, of course, a fine view of the Great Wall. Looks like organizers are at it again to give Tanglewood its due – The 2014 Great Wall Forest Festival, run by umm, BMW (really?) will take place the next two upcoming Saturday and Sunday weekends, August 23^rd-24^th and August 30^th-31^st, with a variety of acts spread out across two stages, including orchestras, DJs, indie rock stars, folk pop singers, and more, including Steely Heart, WHAI,  conductor Yu Feng, Escape Plan, Hongli Wang, Reflector, and more. While it leans heavily to the pop end of things, got to congratulate the organizers for not giving us a carbon copy of every Modern Sky festival lineup each year. And any opportunity to see the China National Oprea House Orchestra followed by WHAI is worth it. Check out the full lineup below:

What: 2014 Great Wall Forest Festival

Where: Tanglewood Music Valley, Yanqing County, Beijing 

When: August 23-24, 30-31

Ticket: 100 RMB (students); 120 RMB (presale); 180 RMB (door)

Website: http://greatwallff.com/en/index.php

Getting There: Take the 919 bus from Deshengmen to the last stop (Jingzhang Lukou Bei); from there, take a cab to the festival site