Excited music fans recklessly threw plastic water bottles into the sky and onto the stage during a show at the Midi Music Festival in Rizhao city in East China's Shandong province on Saturday night, May 27.

Although the festival officially kicks off August 4 and will run until August 7 in the coastal city, which was a recipient of the United Nation's Habitat Scroll of Honor Award, a warm-up season began on May 14, with rock bands from home and abroad performing every Saturday night leading up to the big event.

In 2000, the inaugural Midi Music Festival was held at Midi Music School - the country's first school of rock music, founded in 1993 - with 20 bands performing for two days, an event that attracted nearly 4,000 people. In 2011, the festival will feature a series of events, lasting for six months, in four cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Zhenjiang, along with Rizhao.