[Editor's note: This is the first post in a series that will follow one of the most exciting band's out of China, Pet Conspiracy. This multi-national quartet out of Beijing is in my opinion, the future of China's indie music scene and what will place it on the global map. But more about that later... on to Hangzhou]
Oct 23, 2010, early morning: We (Drummer Edo and Singer Mary) had missed our a.m. flight from Beijing to Hangzhou. Although we were all supposed to be taking the same flight to the Hangzhou music festival to work on the sound check, only Joe and Fiona made it to the airport and stood waiting for the other two guys with their hot coffee. Our producer and guitar-player Huzi was already in Hangzhou, fancifully dreaming in the beautiful city, when he received a call from Mary that quickly changed his mood from that of peace and tranquility to rage! He wanted to kill them – missing the flight was a serious matter. So serious in fact, that later, Huzi decided to let them take the soonest flight available, which happened to be first class.
When Edo and Mary arrived at the venue, it was raining cats and dogs and we saw many colorful umbrellas and raincoats as we were walking down to the electronic stage. Beautiful rain yes, but at the same time, it occurred to us that if rainwater was dripping from the rooftop onto the stage, the stage itself would be drenched and anyone on the stage would be in danger of electrocution! As the booker of this music festival, Huzi was responsible for dealing with the issues regarding safety – which he did without too much of a problem. Never, in all their performances throughout China and Europe, had The Pet Conspiracy encountered such an enormous amount of rain as they did on that day.
Although we'd already taken the stage at 7:00 pm and had already started to play, a guy named Zhang Zhen, who had only 5 minutes ago set up all our instruments on the electronic stage, suddenly changed his mind and invited us to go and play on the main stage instead. Obligingly, we took our equipment and ran over to where we found nearly 10,000 people waiting! And, the rain was actually beginning to stop. We figured the sound system was bound to be incredibly great, so without any sound check, we began to play.
As soon as we started, however, it was as if a bomb had exploded. The entire audience began to dance crazily. Perhaps there had been a nice quiet folk singer on the stage just before; perhaps The Pet Conspiracy was so completely different that we totally recharged the atmosphere and the crowd couldn't get enough. 
Watching the fans dancing in front of us as one huge chaotic wave, was messy but super nice! That was the third time we played Hangzhou West Lake music festival, being the only band ever to be invited back to play twice. If we are invited next year, we'll definitely be back! We love the fans there, walking around in the muddy ground and drinking hot coffee, enjoying the music, the park, the gorgeous hills and the beautiful surroundings of Hangzhou west lake. We think the Hangzhou West Lake Music festival is one of the most professional festivals in China.
In conclusion? We hope next time it will be raining even harder, that we'll get our audience even higher, and that Pet Conspiracy will be rocking heavier than ever!
[Editor's Apology: If you're wondering why the photos don't look like the Hangzhou music festival, stop scratching your head - they are not. They were actually taken at the Zippo party in Beijing by Ken Lee. We didn't have any pics from the festival and you caught me. Oh well, we do with what we have!]
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