UPDATE: I was just writing a follow-up post about all the great gigs Yuyintang has coming up in the next few weeks, then realised Morgan had already done a much better job of it here. Seriously, check out that line-up of gigs. It's pretty strong. As Morgan says himself, "now more than ever you should head down to one or all of these to show your support".--
False alarm? Maybe. News has just come through from Yuyintang that gigs this week will go ahead as planned, starting with tomorrow's Northern Europe showcase (it's a full week too, calendar and details here). The authorities have sent word that the venue has not been issued with an official ban and is therefore free to operate as a gig venue again. They can go and reclaim the equipment this afternoon and will be given more information about it all then, but essentially it seems as if gigs are going on as normal this week.
Clearly this is great news, but the whole situation seems very odd. First the gig on Friday night got shut down after the doors had opened, rather than in advance of the show. It was shut down by authorities from the city administrative department as well, not the cultural bureau as is usually the case with these things (it was the cultural bureau who tried to shut down the LOgO gig the weekend before). Then the Pinkberry EP release got "postponed" - although as Andy writes here, they were able to sneak out a few cheeky songs using the old sound equipment - and the police who came to inspect that were, as Andy put it, "the kind of city federal/special cops with proper gear and in shape etc", not the normal police who do this kind of thing. Finally, Yuyintang are now saying it's business as usual this week for gigs.
So what are we supposed to make of all this? Was it much ado about nothing or a pre-Expo warning shot? I guess we just have to wait and see, but the important thing is that Yuyintang is open again, which is clearly very good news.
Nice to see Yuyintang is not quite dead yet. Any word on the status of 696 Live House for the duration of the Expo? I heard Shanghai Live Bar might be getting cut down too.
As far as I know, the other venues are ok for now. The trouble is, they rarely get much warning about these things. My gut feeling is that Live Bar would probably be one of the safest, because it's a bit more out of sight in Yangpu district. Then again, YYT isn't too obvious really.
I'd fear more for Live Bar in the long run - the entire surrounding area has been completely gentrified in recent years. A rock venue in an old factory was fine when all that surrounded it was recycling depots, but it doesn't quite fit with the flashy tower blocks and organic shops that are now nearby.
We'll see though, I've kind of given up second guessing the authorities on things like this