RAMIFICATION, a band comprised of four Beijing-based college students, is now a frequent performer in the city’s popular live-music venues, captivating a growing fan base with its unique and psychedelic sound in the post-COVID era. “We have played shows one after another since this school term started, and our schedule is quite packed,” said bass player Gao Zexu. “Everything seems to be coming alive now.” The quartet of undergraduates from Beijing Foreign Studies University still remember how exhilarated they were when their newly-formed band was invited to play outside their campus for the first time in early 2022. To their dismay, however, the show in a downtown bar was eventually canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Although they gained several performance offers later, the band members would describe these shows more like open rehearsals with very small audiences. As China emerged from the epidemic and entered a new phase of COVID-19 response with optimized measures, the country’s live-performance industry started to pick up momentum, offering new opportunities to performing artists from home and abroad, including Ramification. Since the start of this year, many well-known singers and bands have announced their concert tours, and a variety of outdoor music festivals, such as the Midi Music Festival and the Strawberry Music Festival, have released their lineups to cater for the pent-up demand of music fans. According to statistics from the China Association of Performing Arts, in the first quarter of this year, the number of commercial performances nationwide totaled 68,900, an increase of 95.42% year on year. (Xinhua) | 