Gallery: Modern Sky rocks on

Though the government cut Modern Sky's international acts, live music fans still came out in droves for one of China's biggest music festivals

By Tim Franco 12 October, 2009

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Since 2007, music label Modern Sky has given a new and public face to China’s underground music scene through its Modern Sky festival.

This year's Modern Sky festival was marred by the sudden cancellation of all foreign bands and the implementation of strict security due its timing around China’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

With international acts absent, local names like Bigger Bang (seen here) took over the festival’s center stage.

Queen Sea Big Shark and its lead singer Fu Han led the festival’s second day line-up.

Although security was tight, local students and rock fans still enjoyed the four-day festival to its fullest. Thankfully there are no laws against crowd surfing.

Even though the media made a lot of fuss about the cancellation of foreign acts, live music fans did not seem perturbed.

Hedgehog poses for a photo just before hitting the stage to perform one of the festival's most memorable shows.

Thanks to China's strong online rock networks, thousands of fans came out to see their favorite acts play.

Atom, Hedgehog’s tiny drummer, brings the festival crowd to its feet.

The Modern Sky festival is also an occasion for local designers to show off and sell their wares at the small markets around the main stage.

New Pants lead singer Peng Lei closes the festival's third day with a bang and again proves the group is one of Beijing’s most popular underground bands.

Even security didn’t miss the opportunity to capture its own festival memories.

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'Modern Sky' means two things to us: one of China’s foremost music labels and one of the most rocking live music events around.

Despite a last-minute government decision to cancel all of the booked foreign acts (despite festival organizers' protests that all the paperwork was properly completed), this year's Modern Sky Festival was no exception with thousands of fans from across the country rocking on at Beijing’s Chaoyang Park.

Editor's Note: Click above for our gallery of images from the 2009 Modern Sky Festival

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Gallery: Modern Sky rocks on

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