15 fantastic things to do this week
September is here and dare we say it's bringing with it some much welcome cooler temperatures. As always, there is plenty to do in Shanghai this week, including a certain well known music festival franchise from Miami making its China debut. See below for our full list of picks for the week ahead.
Food and Drink
China Restaurant Week 11th edition
China Restaurant Week by DiningCity has returned with restaurants all over Shanghai offering great deals on multi-course set lunches and dinners. Until Sunday 10 September, this delicious occasion will see hundreds of top restaurants preparing 11 days of special dining feasts, with lunches from 68RMB and dinners from 108RMB.
Various locations around Shanghai. See restaurantweek.cn for more details.
Music and Nightlife
Ultra Festival
The Miami-founded, internationally renowned music festival makes its China debut with a who’s who of of upper echelon EDM stars on the bill including Armin Van Buuren, Dubfire, Martin Garrix, The Chainsmokers, Zedd and Nicky Romero, alongside a few big-name, old-school acts too, with Carl Cox plus Sasha and John Digweed joining.
Expo Garden Park Shibo Avenue, near Zhoujiadu Lu. Sat 9-Sun 10. 1pm. 1,280RMB for two days.
Optimo
In 1997, Glasgow-based DJs JD Twitch and JG Wilkes’ came together to create a new night at Sub Club as a reaction to what they saw as the then-domination of run-of-the-mill 4/4 techno on the nightlife scene. Two decades on the Optimo brand has travelled the world, mixing together all manner of genres and hosting guests such as Four Tet, LCD Soundsystem and Peaches in pursuit of eclectic, essential club events.
DADA 115 Xingfu Lu, near Fahuazhen Lu. Sat 9. 10pm. Entry tba.
D.O.A.
Canadian hardcore punk legends D.O.A. embark upon their third tour of China in celebration of a split vinyl with (possibly now defunct) Beijing band The Diders on Genjing Records. One of the founders of the hardcore movement along with Black Flag, D.O.A. have been hugely influential over the years and despite numerous line-up changes, frontman Joey Shithead's energy and political convictions show no signs of dimming.
Yuyintang 851 Kaixuan Lu, near Yanan Xi Lu. Mon 4. 9pm. 90RMB.
Free the Robots
LA-based beatmaker and DJ Chris Alfaro – aka Free the Robots – returns to Shanghai for what ought to be an eclectic, interesting set blending hip-hop, jazz, soul and more.
DADA 115 Xingfu Lu, near Fahuazhen Lu. Fri 8. 10pm. Entry tba.
Hang on the Box Album Release
A slightly ramshackle all-female punk band, HotB were the buzzed about Chinese band of the late '90s. Since then there have been a number of iterations of the group led by frontwoman Gia Wang, but this latest version appears to be one of the better ones.
Modern Sky Lab Third Floor, Ruihong Tiandi, 188 Ruihong Lu. Thu 7. 8.30pm. 100RMB. 80RMB (presale).
Shyboi
New York-based multi-disciplinary artist Yulan Grant brings her Shyboi project to ALL for a night of 'sonic disruption'. The Jamaica-born performer and #KUNQ queer art collective member 'uses sound to interrogate ideas of identity, notions of power, perceived histories and the entanglements that happens within these topics.'
ALL Second Floor, 17 Xiangyang Bei Lu, near Changle Lu. Sat 9. 10pm. 80RMB.
Film
Spider-Man: Homecoming Movie Premiere
Catch the private premiere of Spider-Man: Homecoming at Jingan Kerry Center’s Premiere Cinemas with free popcorn and a pre-screening cocktail party at Calypso.
Premiere Cinemas N4-01 Kerry Center, 1551 Nanjing Xi Lu. Fri 8. 6pm. 129-169RMB. Long press and extract the QR code to book tickets.
Time Out Screenings: Blind Shaft
Trapped by a life of meagre compensation and daily brutality in the mines, two migrant workers concoct a grisly scheme to get rich. They prey on the gullible: taking desperate kids, offering them jobs, then murdering them in faked mining accidents. Subsequently, and without remorse, they pose as the dead miners’ relatives to demand payouts from the mining company. But when a new boy who happens to bear an uncanny resemblance to their first victim comes along, one of the two swindlers begins to have second thoughts.
Glam Seventh Floor, Five on the Bund, 20 Guangdong Lu, near Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu. Sun 10. 4.15pm. Free (but you need to reserve a seat. Send ‘Film’ to our WeChat to book your spot).
Dunkirk
You might already know how the May 1940 evacuation of France’s Dunkirk turned out: More than 300,000 troops, mainly British ones, escaped from the beach while being bombarded by the Nazis. But the power of Christopher Nolan’s harrowing, unusual dramatic re-creation is that it tries – with real success – not to make any of this feel like just another war movie. Instead there’s an uneasy sense of a bloody, strange event unfolding in that unknowable way that those on the ground might have experienced it.
On general release now.
Slam Cinema
The best of the worst movies every Tuesday at Real Shanghai with a three drinks for 100RMB special, including beer wine and cocktails. This week the catastrophe in question is Troll 2, a comedy/horror about a young boy trying to warn his family about the evil trolls from his childhood stories being real – it boasts a whopping 6 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Real Shanghai 429 Yanan Xi Lu, near Zhenning Lu. Every Tuesday. 9pm. Free.
The Pearl Movie Nights
See a classic film for free at The Pearl’s monthly Tuesday movie night series. This week's offering is James Cameron's epic Avatar. Every screening is paired with an all-night burger deal offering a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a beer for 88RMB. Plus, cash in on the pre-screening happy hour deal from 6-8pm.
The Pearl 471 Zhapu Lu, near Haining Lu. Every Tuesday. 8pm. Free.
Art
Photofairs 2017
Acclaimed photography show PHOTOFAIRS returns to Shanghai for its fourth year this month, now sponsored by Porsche (it got fancy), and fresh from an inaugural overseas show in San Francisco earlier this year. The fair, known for hosting cutting-edge photography from the Asia Pacific region and beyond, last year welcomed over 27,000 visitors to see art from 15 countries worldwide. PHOTOFAIRS 2017 expects to host over 40 galleries.
Shanghai Exhibition Centre 1000 Yanan Zhong Lu, near Weihai Lu. Fri 8-Sun 10. From 100RMB. Time Out readers get 15 percent off presale tickets with the code 'photofairstosh' through the official PHOTOFAIRS ticketing platform at photofairs.org/shanghai.
Stage and Theatre
Eifman Ballet: Anna Karenina
St. Petersburg's Eifman Ballet is known for its extreme physicality and dark adaptations of classic subjects; some (critics) feel this clouds the character work, others (audiences) thrill to these pinnacles of the human form. Decide for yourself.
Shanghai Oriental Art Center 425 Dingxiang Lu, near Century Avenue. Sat 9-Sun 10. 7.15pm. 80-1,280RMB.
Cie La Naive: Antigona
French company delivers a Spanish-themed take on a Greek classic, as director Jean-Charles Raymond reinvents Sophocles' Antigone and examines the fate of rebels and revolutionaries everywhere. In French, with Chinese subtitles.
Shanghai Grand Theatre 300 Renmin Avenue, near Huangpi Bei Lu. Tue 5-Wed 6. 7.30pm. 80-500RMB.