Why does Mayday have such a strong box office appeal?
On the occasion of the most difficult college entrance examination in history, Ashin spoke on Weibo, "That year, my math score was only 5 points... In your life, no matter how many tens of thousands of steps away from your dream, you can always only take one step at a time... No matter how difficult mathematics is, no matter how far away a dream, no matter how impossible a journey in life, it all starts with 1."
One fan left a message at the bottom, "You are not good at math, but you taught us this: frustration + music = happiness".
On June 3, the Mayday Tour Beijing completed the final session, ushering in the achievement of 20 Bird's Nests. From the nameless heights where he set sail at the beginning, to countless college campus performances, Mayday ran one announcement after another in the mainland, went to one university after another, and toured hard until he stood on the workers' stadium, then climbed the 10,000-person workers' stadium, and finally landed on the bird's nest.
Mayday has finally broken the industry ceiling. An idealistic orchestra insisted on taking root in the campus group, and finally completed the proposition of a musical group "idealism". Why?
01
360,000 tickets sold out in seconds, "collective carnival" inside and outside the bird's nest
"Hello everyone, we are Mayday! We're finally back in the Bird's Nest! "On the evening of May 26, amid the screams of fans, the re-party that belonged to Mayday and the five fan teachers began after 1369 days.
This is the seventh time that Mayday has climbed the bird's nest in 24 years since its debut, setting a "feat" with a total of 2 million participants, and once again breaking the bird's nest record. On the same day, more than 10 hot search terms, such as #Mayday guest#, #Mayday song#, #Mayday is back#, #Weibo rock front area#, directly dominated Weibo, and also kicked off the Mayday concert.
From May 26 to 28, May 31, June 1 and June 3, Mayday held six concerts at the Bird's Nest in Beijing. Three "I Want to See You" and three "Noah's Ark 10th Anniversary Evolution Reenactment", with a total of about 360,000 tickets on the two themes, were swept away within seconds of going on sale.
During these 6 concerts, inside the Bird's Nest, it was a grand scene of a sea of blue lights singing by thousands of people, and they were undoubtedly the lucky ones who grabbed the tickets. In the circle of friends, Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, we received real-time "war reports" from the five fans of the "cyber rock pre-zone".
Outside the bird's nest, it was the fans who gathered in the "can't meet area" and the scalper to the death, holding up the inflatable stick of "I'd rather stand at the door of the bird's nest than let the scalper earn", in this war with the scalper, they are the biggest winners, no ticket and still stubbornly stand to listen to the three-hour concert, until the end of nine o'clock is unwilling to leave.
Asking scalpers for tickets has always been an act of resolute resistance by fans and Mayday, and after witnessing the grandeur of ticket grabbing, bassist Martha called on fans to "don't let scalpers take advantage", and lead singer Ashin also said, "Even if you are outside the venue, you must be able to hear it", which gave fans the stubborn confidence not to buy scalper tickets.
Mayday fans spontaneously organized a boycott of scalpers who "would rather stand at the gate of the bird's nest than let scalpers earn", facing scalpers and calling on consumers not to collect tickets at high prices, "stay up until the scalper's mentality collapses, and wait for the return of the original price tickets".
Under the insistence of fans, the chaos of ticketing has improved when the Hangzhou station was officially announced, and Damai posted a notice that "purchased tickets do not support transfer and resale", and the strong real-name system avoids the existence of passers-by scalpers to a certain extent.
Next, there are four city tours waiting for the five fans, and the tickets for each show are also sold out in seconds, and on the barley, the number of people who light up "want to see" has exceeded 1 million.
From fans struggling to grab tickets, hard-lever scalpers to Hua Chenyu being snubbed... In addition to the hot searches, let's explore the next question, why does Mayday have such a strong box office appeal in the concert market? How was Mayday's mass base built?
02
The group has been in existence for 26 years, 9 physical albums
On March 29, 1997, five boys from Taipei Normal University High School, carrying guitars, bass, and drums, took the stage under the name "MAYDAY": Chen Xinhong, Wen Shangyi, Shi Jinhang, Cai Shengyan and Liu Yanming.
This is the first time the world has heard the voice of Mayday. A year later, Ashin and Martha rode motorcycles, walked into major record companies again and again, handed over the recorded samples to the front desk, and nervously but sincerely instructed: "Please be sure to listen to it before throwing it away." ”
The later story happened unexpectedly, these five young people finally met the life of Bole Li Zongsheng, entered the mainstream record industry vision, and signed a contract with Rolling Stone Records. In this way, Mayday cherished the same dream as John Lennon, using music as a weapon, all the way to the peak of the Chinese music scene.
In 1999, Mayday released its first album "First Creation Album" and was widely acclaimed, matching the sales of King Jay Chou's debut album "Jay". The song "Zhiming and Chunjiao" included in the album won the Best Lyricist and Composition Award of the China Musicians Exchange Association.
In the following ten years, Mayday's creation momentum was rapid, and one hot song after another exploded and achieved amazing success.
"Contentment", "Hug", "Love", "Can't Hear", "Stubborn", "Cangjie", "Step by Step", "Like Smoke", "Suddenly I Miss You", "You Are Not Really Happy" ... In the 26 years since its formation, Mayday has released 9 physical albums and 113 singles, and in its creative journey, Mayday has won the Taiwan Golden Melody Award nine times.
Since their first album, their songs have been running through youth, dreams, energy, and Mayday has replaced the heart-rending souls in its own way, interpreting Mayday-style rock. Just listen quietly and you will find that rock and roll can also heal people's hearts in this way. Eason Chan said: "You all say that I am the god of song, and if I am the god of song, then Mayday is a religion. ”
For the post-80s and post-90s, the most important proposition in the growth stage of life is to struggle to upgrade and fight monsters in the college system. It is easy to lose vitality and lose confidence in life and self in the fierce competition, but you have to "roll".
The appearance of Mayday's works is like a light, although some secondary two, some bloody, some simple, but really cut through the hearts of each generation of students. Different people find different comfort in Mayday's songs, behind the seemingly simple lyrics, anxiety, frustration, dreaming, confusion, love... The expressions in these works are relevant to the familiar psychological activities of the student community who are still exploring life.
In Mayday's works, there is the shadow of every college student's youth. Everyone who walks into Mayday Music finally finds themselves.
Ordinary listeners, after completing the heaviest emotional collision in the stage of youth and growth, may land like a boat after arriving at their destination, may not listen to Mayday again, may forget Mayday. But the memories of youth will always be cherished and suddenly triggered at a certain stage of life.
On the supply side of the pop music market, there are many positive energy music, profound music, demoralizing music, rebellious music, and lovelorn music, but when lonely and depressed, the music that can truly comfort, motivate and warm your heart seems to be only Mayday, which "cannot despair even if you are disappointed".
03
From unnamed heights to bird's nests,
The scene is always the foundation of Mayday
To talk about success stories in an industrial system, you have to talk about live music.
In Taiwan, musicians and bands attach more importance to the scene, thanks to the glory of the pop music industry, the scene will have requirements for industrialization, and there will be requirements for the musicians' on-site ability indicators.
In the live music industry, the key to the continued success of a singer and a band is "positioning". The performance should not only show the truth of the music and the expression of the work, but also create an immersive atmosphere through the interactive ability of the singer, combined with the stage, sound and lighting, and guide the audience to integrate music, release emotions and feel warmth in this short concert time.
For a long time, Mayday's scene can be called a "large-scale fan scene". As the BBC said in the documentary: "People who don't know Mayday will become their fans if they listen to their live performance once." ”
Speaking of Mayday's live strength, Li Zongsheng once praised: "I really think that Mayday is the most successful band in the Chinese music scene, and it has never been cold in the past 20 years. ”
But Ashin was not good at words at first, and his super ability to control the field benefited from one live performance after another in the early days. Before Mayday released their first album, they performed frequently on campus and in pub bars, and more than 20,000 people watched Mayday's performance live, so they accumulated a certain popularity on campus channels.
After joining the record label, Mayday paid more attention to the publicity effect of the scene, and they insisted on doing campus tours, and did not interrupt street performances and pub performances. Since Mayday was still a student when he debuted, in addition to taking care of their studies, every penny they saved was invested in the music career, and they were active in the performance scene with super perseverance and physical strength, and never slacked off.
Mayday's spirit of taking root in the scene has won the trust of campus fans and the industry, which is an ability to be blessed by both emotional touch and technology, and has also become the meaning of the band's tour - not to earn some performance fees, but to accumulate performance experience, promote musical works, interact with every audience who comes to the scene, and create the "long-term value" of the band's vitality.
Looking back at history, at the beginning of Mayday's entry into the mainland, the first performance that could not be avoided was in 2004, when Mayday participated in the performance of "Nameless Heights" in Beijing. According to industry insiders, only more than 30 spectators went that day, and many others went to see the band Joyside.
"Nameless Heights" is a gathering place for rock veterans, and Mayday, which is typed as a student band, trembles in front of a crowd of rock bands, like schoolchildren who make mistakes. Ashin was afraid of being ousted from the stage by his predecessors, and poured several bottles of beer before daring to play.
Time will tell. Since 2006, it has been agreed between Mayday and the fans to hold concerts every May.
In 2008, the album "Poems of Postadolescence" sold out as soon as it was released. Mayday participated in the program "Lu Yu Has a Date" to promote the new album, and when asked where the next concert would be held, fans in the audience shouted "Bird's nest!" Ashin's face was full of disbelief: "Can the bird's nest sing?" ”
At that time, Mayday would never have imagined that four years later, they would step on the stage of the Bird's Nest and become the first Chinese band to sing in the Bird's Nest. But life is so wonderful, on April 29, 2012, Mayday held a "Noah's Ark" concert in Beijing, and 100,000 tickets were sold out in three minutes.
A fan of the Five once wrote with deep feelings: "The nameless heights are only 1.6 kilometers from the bird's nest, but Mayday has walked for eight years." ”
Beijing's Bird's Nest is just the first step on Mayday's legendary path. So far, Mayday's footprints have spread all over the world, becoming the first Chinese orchestra to appear in Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, and Japan's landmark venue Japan Budokan.
After the epidemic, in the blink of an eye, this year has been the seventh time that Mayday has climbed the bird's nest, and then on the bird's nest, Ashin is no longer the immature appearance of choking in front of 100,000 people, but they are still the Mayday who will talk trash on stage, sincerely thank fans, and encourage everyone to live well.
Now, with 20 Bird's Nest concerts, Mayday and the Five Fans have once again accomplished an industry feat together.
We cannot ignore the objective reality that every generation of young people cannot go beyond the rules of social operation and the grinding of red dust. Those sincerity and youthful spirit that have not changed, and the "middle two" spirit that encourages oneself not to give up or abandon the courage to pursue dreams, are all valuable mental journeys in personal growth.
It's not grand, it's not profound, maybe it's just a ray of sunshine, but for adolescent students, this ray of sunshine has great energy. These energies continue to accumulate, which in turn supports Mayday's box office market from campus to the top.
As musicians, Mayday members have never hyped, and their income is evenly distributed among members, and there have been no disputes and dissolutions. The band's insistence on eight years of resistance is admirable, and perhaps there will be an element of "embarrassment" in it, but if it has been 26 years, the style has remained the same and has never changed. Then at least time will tell that every song, every performance and every word they say represents their true face.
Since embarking on the road of creation and performance in 1997, Mayday has always done every song and performed every scene. Mayday's talent, hard work and dedication certainly deserve what has been achieved today.