The history of Hong Kong’s H2 music festival, in pictures: as The Wanch’s legendary local band showcase returns in 2023, we celebrate epic moments with Logo, Weeper, Bamboo Star, Hey Joe Trio and more

Jun 25 , 2023

Yanyan Pang, lead singer of After After Party, performs at the most recent edition of The Wanch’s long-running H2 music festival, in 2019.The city’s “largest showcase of local bands” returns in 2023 for the first time in four years. Photos: Hong Kong Rocks

Hong Kong live music institution The Wanch will launch its first full H2 festival since the pandemic from June 27 to July 2 – to celebrate, Style sat down with founder Keith Goodman for a walk down memory lane

56 bands will play over 6 days – from Black Sabbath tribute Supernaut and local favourites Rubicube and Rockstars Anonymous, to recent Aftermath Battle of the Bands winner Whitt’s End

Like so many things in Asia’s so-called “world city”, Hong Kong’s music scene can be neatly divided in two – with the expat-centric/English-language/island-focused bands on one side, and the local/Cantonese/Kowloon-side musicians (quite literally) on the other.

But while there are numerous venues, individuals and sub-scenes that can claim to have played a deep role in nurturing home-grown creativity north of Victoria Harbour, the Hong Kong Island scene really only has one spiritual home – and that home is The Wanch.

In business since 1987, the Wan Chai bar is among that rare breed of after hours establishments that actually deserve the term institution. Since 2010, it has hosted an annual festival that legitimately claims to be the city’s largest and longest showcase of local talent, running for around a full week. For obvious reasons, that event has been MIA since 2019, but now the venue is gearing up for its first H2 festival in four years – in a shiny new home, to boot.

A typical Friday night at the “old Wanch”, Hong Kong’s unofficial “home of live music”.

Kicking off on Tuesday (June 27), this year’s H2 will see a total of 56 acts performing over six days (not including a showcase by the Aspire Music School and surprise pop-up “punk poets”). The USP? Artists typically get no longer than 30 minutes on stage – offering audiences the chance to catch up with a dozen bands in a single day. “You get a whole year of music crammed into one week,” says Keith Goodman, co-owner of The Wanch and H2 festival director. “And for bands, there’s no excuses – if you can’t play six songs, you shouldn’t be doing it.”

Hot original music picks include emo-ish Brother Plainview, carnivorous power trio Meatgasm, Arctic Monkeys-inspired psych-rock troupe The Lemon Ones and mysterious space rock newbies The King of Pig Bones. They’ll share the stage with unknown upstarts and live cover band favourites like Rockstars Anonymous, Powerful Moss and Black Sabbath tribute Supernaut, while Whitt’s End will perform fresh from winning The Aftermath Battle of the Bands 2023.

Keith Goodman, co-owner of The Wanch, founder of H2 and frontman of The Sleeves.

However, the event is notably a tad more muted than previous years: H2 has traditionally been held over a full week, but this year was only marked down for five days before a sixth opening night was added. And “only” 75 acts applied to play the limited slots – half the pre-pandemic peak. “We didn’t know if there was going to be that many bands still around,” admits Goodman. “During Covid a lot of people left – and you only need one person out of four to leave for a band to be over.”

The festival will be the first held in the bar’s new home on the corner of Jaffe Road and Luard Road – a stone’s throw from the old venue, but a world away in atmosphere to the gritty, insidery vibe of the OG location. Indeed, regulars have taken to calling the new spot the “Wanch Rock Cafe” in recognition of its cavernous space, pro sound system and calorific kitchen offerings. (Dinner at the old Wanch meant a packet of crisps at best.)

The Wanch has traditionally been a mecca for music lovers on Hong Kong Island, including punk band Oi Squad (pictured).

“A full house before was 60 people inside – and 100 in the street. Here, we can get 200 people inside,” adds Goodman, who has also performed at nearly every H2 festival himself as frontman of popular Britrock band The Sleeves. “I still miss the old Wanch, but I think maybe we now offer a good way for people to sample live music in a more accessible ambience.”