Yugong Yishan Closes After 11 Years of Groundbreaking Gigs
After months of speculation, the owners of Yugong Yishan have made it official: they’ll no longer host concerts at their 11-year-old Zhangzizhong Lu livehouse.
“It’s been half a year since we had a show there, and I didn’t want people to talk, [so] I decided to let everyone know,” owner Lu Zhigang, better known as Gouzi, told the Beijinger about the statement he shared on WeChat earlier this week. Written entirely in Chinese, the post details how the Yugong Yishan team is looking for a new location to put on shows (though they plan to keep their offices going at Zhangzizhong Lu), before soliciting fellow insiders for leads and listing the conditions they need for their next venture.
Gouzi says it has become untenable to host raucous gigs in the historic, and increasingly restrictive, hutong area around Zhangzizhong Lu. Those hurdles led to numerous last-minute gig relocations or outright cancelations in recent months, followed by a period of no scheduled shows at all. “The authorities no longer want to give us a license to put on shows here, and if we don’t have that we’ll be visited by the police all the time, or shut down,” he adds.
Renowned Nanjing post rockers P.K. 14 at Yugong Yishan in 2011
Despite having to move on from one of Beijing's hottest music spots, Gouzi sees no point in wallowing. “We’ve been here for 11 years. For Beijing, that’s a long, long time,” he says with a chuckle. He also points out that Yugong Yishan had already relocated once, from its original Gongti digs to the hutongs in 2007.
Read: Founder Li Chi Reflects on the Closure of Mao Livehouse
In fact, the current shakeup might be a blessing for Gouzi, albeit a blow to the hutong music scene a la Mao Livehouse's shuttering in 2016. Gouzi says the Zhangzizhong Lu livehouse needed an upgrade anyway, and concludes: “This is a good time to find somewhere with a stage, lights, and sound system of higher quality.” Equally promising: Gouzi can keep his chops sharp in the dance music scene at Zhao Dai, the nightclub he co-opened in 2017.
The Buzzcocks performing at Yugong Yishan in 2010
And even though Gouzi and co. have remained upbeat, Yugong Yishan's finale in the hutongs marks an end of an era. Over the years, the Zhangzizhong Lu spot has played host to an eclectic array of stars – from The Buzzcocks to St. Vincent, Jay Electronica to Tortoise, and other foreign acts, not to mention a who's who of local bands looking to make it big. "We would put on 200 shows per year, so it's impossible to choose favorites," Gouzi says.
I’ve looked at a few potential places already. I’m optimistic because many of them look cool.
So far he hasn’t settled on a location for Yugong Yishan 3.0, only saying, “I’ve looked at a few potential places already. I’m optimistic because many of them look cool.”
If you just so happen to have 1,000sqm of prime Beijing real estate at your disposal, give him a shout.
Photos: Yugong Yishan (via WeChat), yugongyishan.com
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