[Shanghai Secrets] The New Underground Clubbing Mecca

It takes a village to come together – that's the ethos behind live music platform Yuyintang's ambitious and massive new expansion. Yuyintown opened this past December in C-Park in Changning District. Here are the broad strokes of all the venues now all sharing a roof at the community complex: not one, not two, but three new stages for live music; beloved 'round the way rock and roll dive bar Specters; record shop Uptown Records; late-night taco purveyor Rastataco; and Venezuelan street food restaurant Noiice, with more still moving in. All these venues are owner-operated start-ups, joined in the community by a shared scene for a number of years now, and for the first-time newly-opened all-in-one place.

It's like someone in the Changning government went, "Hey, we have like five airport hangers of empty space in this basement. Why don't you move all your friends in?"

Yuyintang Cube

The premier venue, Yuyintang Cube (or YYT C), is exactly that – a massive cube of a concert venue for international and nationally touring bands in all genres of live music. Sleek, grey and minimal, the investment money went into sound and lights, and they're serving up crisp concert experiences on a massive stage. Capacity is around 350, and with its sprawling stage and sweeping lights, it feels like watching a big, professional live show in a smaller, intimate environment.

Yuyintang Basement

As a continuation of classic YYT Kaixuan, Yuyintang Basement (YYT B) is a smaller, grittier venue. With a capacity of 150 or so, expect smaller, up-and-coming local bands and smaller national and international acts on stage. The minimalism aesthetic carries over here, and it is basically a concrete rectangle, with an emphasis on clean lights and sound.

Yuyintang Artspace

Still under construction as of this writing, Yuyintang Artspace (YYT A) is slated as a tiny, one-room folk music venue. Done up to look like a classic Chinese temple with heavy wooden doors and serene ochre walls, the space has a small bar and a floor stage for an audience of about 30. Yuyintang used to be something of a linchpin in the Chinese folk music scene, and this venue is seeking to revive that community somewhat.

Specters

With the live music split off to the other three stages in the complex, Specters 3 (this is now the third location for the punk rock dive) is back to its original recipe: drinks, rock music on the stereo, free pool, free foosball and no cover charge in an environment so unpretentious it's right back around to being super pretentious again. Dead rock and roll luminaries and undead monsters line the walls, drinks are cheapish and strong, and the bar stays open late, late, late with DJ selectors doing rock theme nights – punk, garage punk, soul, emo, ska, vintage rock, and, of course, the popular monthly Brit Pop night.

Yuyintang Boulevard: Uptown, Rastaco, Noiice and More

Yuyintang Boulevard is the connecting artery that joins the venues together and is home to six or seven booth venues, including vinyl record purveyor Uptown Records – anything from Bruce Springsteen to Boards of Canada available therein – good-reggae-vibes taco shop Rastaco, and Venezuelan hot dog and pepito place Noiice. Both of these venues host little DIY gatherings and DJ and music events, as well as serve great drinking food. The correct methodology is to head to Yuyintown on an empty stomach, get a bite to eat, see a show and get some drinks, and then loop back around again to get a late-night bite. Seriously good tacos and pepitos!

Yuyintown is part of a larger C-Park initiative to become a nightlife hub for "alternative" nightlife and music fans and frequenters – a sort of underground INS. You've heard of Found 158; here's Found 666. Look for the place to really blow up after Chinese New Year. In addition to the Yuyintangs, Specters and Wigwam – a really solid electronic music lounge open at the location for more than a year now – C-Park is welcoming in Cedar Kitchen (another indie music and community space), Good Good Beer (a Julu Road scene kid craft beer bar), IILLUM (an alt clubbing/fashion venue in the style of ALL) and Beijing's ZhaoDai, a no-nonsense techno club from the capital city.

The opening of Reactor in particular is one to watch out for. An offshoot of ZhaoDai one of the top techno clubs in Beijing and a frequent host of top international DJ talent, Reactor Shanghai is under construction in a massive multi-story, austere concrete box of a venue and will house multiple dance floors, stages and bars. It's kind of a big deal. We'll be writing about it soon...