Chengdu’s Best Club Returns: First Photos & Music Festival Ticket Giveaway

After being opened for over a year in the South of Chengdu, “Xiong Mao” (previously but still often known as Panda Club) closed and focused on re-appearing in a new venue. Last night was the opening event and I was there to check out the venue in anticipation of the Panda Electronic Music Festival headlined by DJ Shadow.

On my way to the venue, located in the East of Chengdu, I ran into several people I know who all gushed about how great the new place is. By the time I got there expectations were high but indeed the place looks fantastic. If you’ve been inside the previous Panda Club, the new spot is at least twice as large and is prepared to host thousands for large events like this weekend. This is huge news for Chengdu’s nightlife scene, as it’s been hurting badly since the last Panda club closed down. Rather than move to a new venue that would have surely been mediocre due to Chengdu’s limited offerings, I decided to put the monthly electronic music event Disco Death on hold for a year to anticipate the new Xiong Mao. After seeing the new location, I do not regret that decision.

Before & After: Dramatic Change

Although yesterday was the official opening, I visited the location about three weeks ago when construction was in progress. And by in progress, I mean totally and completely in progress. The floor was dirt, many of the walls were non-existant, and there were homeless-looking people wandering around the lot. Now, it’s shiny and looks tremendous with an abundance of ambient lighting and factory-like details throughout.

Check out these photos from three weeks ago and compare them to photos from last night below.

Dirt Floor Xiong Mao From 3 Weeks Ago

Xiong Mao Club before
Arriving at the Chengdu East Music Park
Xiong Mao Club before
Walking to Xiong Mao down the dirt road which a few weeks later would shine brightly
Xiong Mao Club before
The path to Xiong Mao was strewn with construction equipment and large trinkets like this
Xiong Mao Club before
Having just arrived outside of Xiong Mao, this guy comes out of his cave and sees what all the commotion is about
Xiong Mao Club before
Xiong Mao's opening corridor
Xiong Mao Club before
Cavernous and incomplete, but clearly with great potential
Xiong Mao Club before
Another vast room that was under construction

Now that you know what it looked like just a few short weeks ago…

Photos of Panda Club On It’s Opening Night

Xiong Mao Club after
The sign outside of the club is notably written in English and not Chinese

 

Xiong Mao Club after
Ambient lighting and fixtures at the main room bar
Xiong Mao Club after
The main room DJ booth is almost fully equipped. No turntables yet, though.
Xiong Mao Club after
Disco balls hanging in recessed pockets in the main room wall
Xiong Mao Club after
The main room has no tables, but features couches along the edges of the room
Xiong Mao Club after
Taps at the bar are neon and lit up
Xiong Mao Club after
Walls and furniture are minimal, lending a neon factory atmosphere
Xiong Mao Club after
CDJ-2000's and an Allen & Heath mixer in the DJ booth
Xiong Mao Club after
Vastly upgraded equipment from the previous Xiong Mao
Xiong Mao Club after
Over a dozen lights hang from trusses mounted to the high ceiling
Xiong Mao Club after
If you can't find the club, look for this very tall obelisk outside

Panda Festival Ticket Giveaway

I have five tickets to give away and each of them are for all 3 days. To win them, all you have to do is leave a comment below naming one of the headliners from a previous Disco Death event. First 5 win. If you can’t attend (or don’t plan on) attending all three days, please let me know and I will donate those tickets to someone else on the Chengdu Living Forum.

2011 Panda Festival Tickets
The tickets for the 2011 Panda Electronic Music Festival are colorful! Five sets of three.

Conclusion

The re-emergence of Xiong Mao brings a lot of hope with it. Hope for Chengdu’s fledgling live music scene and hope for promising events that attract an ever-larger crowd of music lovers. The first Disco Death is on October 28th and I can’t wait to kick things off and break in this new venue.

Hope to see you guys at the festival this weekend. All the information on that is on the forum here: 2011 Xiong Mao Festival with DJ Shadow.

19 thoughts on “Chengdu’s Best Club Returns: First Photos & Music Festival Ticket Giveaway”

  1. What a great addition to Chengdu’s burgeoning culture scene. Definitely looking forward to checking out the new venue this weekend. Oh yeah, also stoked that DJ Shadow is in town representing my homeland,the Bay Area!

    Reply
    • Absolutely. I think everyone who knows DJ Shadow is a little stunned that he’s playing in Chengdu. I’m sure he’ll be well received after seeing DJ Krush absolutely kill it several years ago at a much lower profile event than this is.

      Reply
  2. DJ JCC (or ICC) was supposed to headline on 9/24/2010 but her plane was cancelled. That was the first night I heard Cvalda play.

    Meh I decorate my room with fliers, so this was easy 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Comment