Some stuff going on this weekend. Let’s do this backward.
Saturday
This night features the most anticipated World Cup match yet. See my earlier post here.
George’s, the new bar by George Zhou, opens almost three months to the night of his departure from Q Bar. Hard to believe a week ago this place had no floors or furniture and hardly any equipment but last night it looked ready to go. Expect a shortened cocktail menu, with the full list coming soon, and prices of ~RMB35 for mixed drinks and ~RMB50 for martinis. George’s is about 20 meters south of Stadium Dog in the southeastern corner of Workers Stadium.
Saturday will see electronic music fans say goodbye to White Rabbit, which will end its rather short run in Tongli Studio. Look for DJ Blackie and others from The Syndicate to provide the music and consoling group hugs. No word yet as to where the next Bai Tu will appear.
Friday
The second week of the World Cup kicks off tonight with Serbia vs Germany. No shortage of places to catch the match if you are a Germany fan (Paulaner, Drei Kronen 1308, Hopfenstube, and more), but if you cheer for Serbia, try Kiosk across from the north gate of Workers Stadium. If you cross the street from Gongti, go to the alley farthest to the right and look for the pink building (map). And try the 250-gram Big Bite burger. You won’t have to eat for the rest of the weekend.
Also tonight, Yugong Yishan will hold a big music mash to mark World Refugee Day. The bands include Black Cat Bone, Afrokoko Roots, Kite, and The Verse, from 9 PM, plus DJs later and a screening of documentary Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars at 7:30 PM (RMB50). If you want to merge music and football, 2 Kolegas is showing matches outside and hosting the launch of the first Wu and the Side Effects inside album. And Chunqiu is doing a two-hour show — half unplugged, half manic metal — at Mako.
And just because it is a good deal and this is a place I really need to frequent more, Scarlett is holding its regular TGIF special from 6 PM to 10 PM, with standard drinks at RMB25.
Two quick questions, JB. Forgive me if you’ve already covered this somewhere, but….
Do any bars actually have World Cup coverage with English commentary? I’ve been told that Schlomo, our wizard of the pirate satellite feed, is currently completedly stumped as to how to get overseas sports channels for the tournament.
Second, what’s up with the Gongti Donmen ‘Beer City’? I was planning to try to watch the England v USA game there last Saturday, but the place was completely deserted. I wondered if maybe the Stadium authorities were shutting it down at midnight??
Grateful for any input on these two great mysteries.
@ Froog,
Union, Paddy O’Shea’s, Frank’s Place, and Parkside have English commentary. Luga’s Villa advertises it but I haven’t been inside there yet. There are probably other places but those are the ones that come to mind.
Re Gongti, as far as I can tell, they aren’t showing the 2 AM games.
Cheers, Boyce