Great Rolling Stones concert in Shanghai!

Last night the Rolling Stones had their first performance ever in Shanghai, and luckily we had managed to get tickets. We had an early dinner with Jim Feldkamp and his friend Cecilia, and during the dinner Marcel Ekkel and a friend of his (Samuel, marketing director Asia-Pacific for Goretex) also joined. Marcel and Samuel did not have tickets yet, but I was quite sure they would be able to get them for a reasonable price at the entrance: for most Chinese concerts half the tickets are given to sponsors, who give them to their clients and employees. These normally have no interest in going, and sell them for a small amount to ticket hawkers. In the past I got many tickets for concerts in Beijing and Shanghai in this way, but times seem to be changing. There were only a few tickets available, and sellers did not want to sell them below RMB 3000 (EUR 300). Even after the concert started they refused to sell for a lower price!

The concert itself did not start on time. At 8 PM (the official starting time) the crew was still finalizing the stage building process! Finally at 8:50 the speaker announced: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones …… “ (the crowd starts screaming) “will start their performance in 10-15 minutes” (the crowd starts booing). I went to get some drinks, but they were completely sold out before the concert even started. Bad management! The organizers were not commercial anyway, because all the available drinks were sold for just RMB 5 (EUR 0.50). At 3 to 4 times that price they would have also sold out. Also the Rolling Stones CD’s that were sold inside the stadium were cheap: for a mere RMB 60 you could buy an original CD. Which made me wonder if they are original or not. For a fake it would have been a rip-off (normally they are about RMB 5 without a plastic cover).

I estimate that 90% of the audience were foreigners, or girlfriends of foreigners. Mick Jagger already foresaw that: during a press conference he was asked what he thought of the fact that some of their songs were censored, to which he said something like “I’m pleased that the Ministry of Culture is protecting the morals of the expat bankers and their girlfriends that are going to be coming”. We met many people whom we know, I think that most of my foreign friends in the city were at the concert.

Just after 9 PM the lights went off and with a big bang Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Woods and Charlie Watts were on stage and started “Start me up”. Immediately the hour of waiting was forgotten and everybody was in a rock mood. I was amazed how fit these guys still were, when I saw them 7 years ago in Stuttgart they (especially Keith and Charlie) looked older than now. Mick Jagger had not changed a bit, still dancing and running around the stage for 2 hours. He was fantastic.

The songs they played were for the most all-time favourites, and most of them were sang by Mick Jagger. But for Wild Horses he got Cui Jian on stage (China first rock star). They tried to sing together, but I felt they had not rehearsed before. This was confirmed this morning by a friend of Cui Jian, who told me that Mick had only given Cui Jian a call a few days before the concert and asked him what song he would like to play. Interesting, Cui Jian gave a short speech after his song was over in which he said in Chinese that the Rolling Stones plan to give another concert in Beijing later this year. Most of the foreigners probably did not understand this, because not many reacted to this. And Mick had of course no clue what Cui Jian was saying. I did not read anything in the media about this yet, so also the foreign correspondents seem to have missed it.

The concert was great: the Rolling Stones are a fantastic band to see live, they really make a show out of it, and the songs they played were a nice combination of rock and ballads. The audience seemed to love it.

Around 11 PM the concert was over, but not before two extra songs were played (You can’t always get what you want, and I can’t get no Satisfaction). The audience tried to clap for 10 minutes in order to get them back, but it was really over. An absolutely great performance.

Cecilia managed to park her car next to the entrance, so we were one of the first people on the road. We had heard rumours of an after-party in Xintiandi, so we went there straight away. We were one of the first and nobody asked who we were. In the 3rd floor cigar launch we had a beer and some cocktails. Then the owner came in and looked as us asking “do I know you?” . We said we came directly from the concert, and then he wasn’t sure whether we might be friends of the Stones, so we could stay. One guy who was already there was the brother of Charlie Watts (at least that’s what the owner said, not sure whether this was a joke or not – but he looked very much like him). We stayed here until about 1:30 AM, having a great time. The Stones had not arrived yet, but we decided to move on to our next event of the night: DJ Tiesto, the world’s number one DJ.

Update: Just received an email about several fake tickets being sold by ticket hawkers. A friend told me that also at a Pavarotti concert fake tickets were sold. They seem to target concerts where many foreigners go, so be aware of this. Of course the hawkers are shooting themselves in the foot, because once trust becomes an issue not many people will buy on the street anymore.

Busy weekend

My weekend seems to be a very busy one once again. Last night I had dinner with Thijs Bosma, and then we went to The Blarney Stone for a drink with the Dutch Club. I had not been to these drinks in two years or so, and did not know many people. I only stayed until 11:30 PM, because then my wife arrived back in Shanghai.

This morning I got up early to do some work, and then went over to the Jianguo hotel to buy some hard rolls for breakfast (one of the few places where hard rolls are available). While preparing breakfast I downloaded some songs from the latest Rolling Stones album.

This afternoon Marcel Ekkel will arrive from Hong Kong, and I plan to meet him. It seems we might work together on some ideas Spill Group has for online gaming in Hong Kong. Then we will have dinner at Arch with Jim Feldkamp and his girlfriend, before heading to the Rolling Stones concert. I look forward to the performance: the concert hall is quite smalll (8500 people), so a different atmosphere from the usual big stadium concerts.

After the concert we plan to go to another concert. DJ Tiesto is in town and plays at Babyface tonight. Completely different from the Stones, but nice to relax and dance the night away.

But it will be a short night, because at 9:30 AM we have to be at the Shanghai Concert Hall where the Shanghai Jazz Orchestra will give a concert (recorded live for CCTV). I have worked with Rolf Becker (the band leader) and some other people over the past weeks to promote this big band, and I think we will soon see some significant progress. A concert tour all over China is planned, and we are even looking at Jazz festivals worldwide. Tomorrow’s concert is completely sold out (even though it’s on a Sunday morning) and that’s good sign.

After the concert we plan to have a brunch with some friends, and then I plan to meet with Marcel Ekkel again. Late afternoon Qi and I might go to the press event for the launch of the new Volkwagen Sagitar (produced in Changchun by the VW-FAW joint-venture) in Anting district.

A relaxing weekend? Not so sure, but at least it’s lots of fun.

Toodou.com on CNN

CNN is in town this week, and doing several programs about Shanghai. Most a bit stereotypical, but I guess that’s what the average CNN viewer is looking for. They also approached Toodou for an item about podcasting. This morning I watched the item (luckily my illegal sattelite dish was working today), and I was not too impressed.

The item itself started off OK, but very soon it turned to censorhip in China. Gary gave a good comment by saying that for every page that is blocked there are probably 9 million with similar content that are not blocked. And he is right, the government knows it cannot block everything. But it is not really an issue for the average Chinese netizen: most don’t even want to go to the (mainly foreign) sites that are blocked.

Why does the media always focus on censorhip when they hear China and internet? In most of the interviews that I do the word comes up in the conversation. It is really not a big issue here (for me personally it is sometimes, but not for the average Chinese), and everybody knows there are so many ways around blocked sites that it is more like a joke to me.

Toodou is about entertainment, giving people a platform to show their videos. The site is supposed to be a place to relax, find new interesting videos and share these with friends. By focusing once again on censorship CNN is giving the world a very distorted view of reality in China.

Note: I got some questions about my illegal sattelite dish. Why do I not have a legal one? Simply because my building has no permit for legal (government controlled) dishes, and therefore I cannot buy a legal one. Almost every apartment here has one.

Jiaotong University

Today after lunch Hongtao showed me around the Jiaotong University campus, he used to study here until a few weeks ago. Our new office is in the incubator center right next to the campus, the main gate is just around the corner. Jiaotong University has a very nice campus, with lots of green areas and some old buildings. After going through the gate (nobody checks anything here) you walk straight ahead for about 200 meters and then get to a big lawn (kind of like a park) surrounded by old buildings.

The first thing that struck me that people were sitting and lying on the grass. Normally in China that is not allowed in parks, and guards already start screaming the moment you just consider stepping onto the grass.The weather was beautiful (although a bit colder today, around 15-16 degrees), and the atmosphere was relaxed. Around the campus banners where announcing that the university will turn 110 years this Saturday. A celebration for this will take place on the Universities biggest campus in Minhang.



Hongtao showed me his lab, his former dormitory and of course the library. I was especially interested in the English section, but that was a bit disappointing. The most recent books seemed to be from the early 1980’s. Not unlogical, because students using this library can get all the books they need in Chinese, and English books are 5-10 times as expensive. The library reminded me a bit of the library of the university in Grenoble where I studied many years ago: a bit dusty, wooden desks, and even the card index system to find books, and in serious need of renovation (repainting would already help a lot).

Although the campus is next to one of the busiest places in Shanghai (the Zhaojiabang Lu / Caoxi Bei Lu intersection in Xujiahui surrounded by several shopping malls), it was actually very quiet here. A nice place to go to during the weekend, just lying on the grass reading a book. And you can even bring your laptop: there is wifi everywhere!

Moving office

Today Spill Group Asia moved to its new office in the incubator center of Jiaotong University. A super location, right behind the shopping malls of Xujiahui and a 5 minute walk from the subway station. And right next to a park, not many offices in Shanghai have a view like this I suppose.

The only problem was that the furniture did not arrive yet (they are still making it, it should be finished by this weekend), but we managed to get some old furniture from the university for a few days. The main thing is that the internet connection works, and that was arranged today.

(I was planning to put more pictures here, but for some reason my blogging tool tonight does not like wysiwyg, so I have to do everything in html. I am too lazy (and tired) to make it look nice, so for more pictures see here, here, here and here – or just go to my main photo page)

New Google Talk test version

Google Talk has released a new test version, but is seems they are only spreading the word through viral marketing. Through this link you can download the latest version (no April Fools Day joke, by the way).

New in this version:
– buddy icons (put your picture or avatar next to your name)
– chat themes
– contact card: when you move your mouse over a contact you see his/her details

(source: marketingfacts.nl)

game.com.cn live!

Spill Group Asia today launched game.com.cn, our second gaming casual website in China. Youxi.cn is now online for about two weeks and is seeing a healthy growth in traffic.

The next launch of a site in China is planned for mid-April. And then it’s time to start with sites in other Asian countries outside China. Things are moving forward, and that’s a good feeling!

Coca-Cola China's online marketing strategy

Coca-Cola is one of the very few multinationals in China that seem to understand the market. Although it is a foreign product it is known and accepted by almost every Chinese, and it’s available all over China. It might be the only foreign product that can really reach all China’s 1.3 billion customers. I follow their branding and marketing activities, and also there they seem to have a good nose for trends. Last year they partnered with The9 to promote World of Warcraft in China. Coinidence or not, WoW is now the most-played online game in China.

CCTV International today announced that Coca-Cola set up a strategic partnership with Tencent. In case you don’t follow Chinese internet companies, Tencent is the biggest player in the instant messenger and online gaming market here. Their IM client QQ has a market share of about 80% (!) in China, and because of that they can reach almost every Chinese person who goes online. I think the interaction between the online and the offline world will continue to increase, and Coca-Cola is very smart to make this step. I hope this won’t further increase QQ’s market share though: Tencent is also active in online gaming and therefore a competitor of youxi.cn and the other gaming sites that we plan to set up in China.