Set against the backdrop of Aranya’s distinctive costal community, the festival offered an immersive blend of music, art, and resort living, creating a unique holiday experience. More than 40 artists — including Karen Mok, Liang Bo, Omnipotent Youth Society, LANY, and Battles — performed across multiple stages. The event featured the Chinese mainland festival debuts of several international bands, alongside a vibrant intergenerational showcase of Chinese musical talent, delivering what organizers described as a “musical adventure.”
This year marked a significant evolution in the festival’s format. The duration was extended from three to five days, aligning more closely with holiday patterns and meeting audience expectations for a combined “music and vacation” Experience. The number of performance stages increased from two to three, with the addition of the new “Outing Stage” designed to accommodate folk, improvisational, and other niche musical genres, further enriching the festival’s artistic diversity.
The 2025 Aranya·Xiami Music & Arts Festival continued to uphold Xiami’s distinctive aesthetic vision —authentic, uncompromising, and creatively bold — while embracing a global outlook and delivering fresh, memorable experiences. This year’s line-up featured 11 international acts from six countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Thailand, and Denmark. Artists such as LANY, Battles, Rialto, The Raveonettes, VTOROI KA, and TOKYO GROOVE JYOSHI made their Chinese mainland festival debuts, offering audiences exclusive “first-time encounter” performances.
Notably, several of these bands — as among them LANY and Battles — have previously appeared at globally renowned festivals including Lollapalooza, Coachella, Summer Sonic, and Fuji Rock, earning widespread internal acclaim. At Aranya, LANY delivered a romantically charged and emotionally resonant set, while Battles captivated audiences with their avant-garde energy and dynamic stage presence.
The Chinese line-up at this year’s festival was equally distinguished, offering a “premiere-level” experience that resonated across generations. It featured a compelling mix of celebrated mainstream artists and critically acclaimed indie bands, delivering a seamless fusion of musical excellence and captivating live performances.
Karen Mok & The Masters made their major festival debut, unveiling the new track Beget alongside timeless favorites such as Empty World and He Loves Me Not, leaving the audiences deeply moved. Omnipotent Youth Society headlined the Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine’s Day) Rock Session, performing their full album Inside the Cable Temple for the first time at the festival. With its rich narrative, intricate detail, and the iconic melody of Qinhuangdao, the performance was widely regarded as one of the festival’s most memorable musical moments.
Artists and bands including Liang Bo, Wu Qingfeng, Rainbow Chamber Singers, Yoga Lin, Mavis Fan & 100% Band, Nova Heart, Erguna Band, Woo Yeah, and Pan delivered standout performances of their signature tracks. Spanning genres from rock and pop to jazz and electronic, this rich musical diversity further underscored Xiami’s distinctive aesthetic and curatorial vision.
As one of China’s most prominent resort-based music festivals, the Aranya·Xiami Music & Arts Festival continues to redefine the boundaries of traditional stage performance. By seamlessly integrating music, visual art, and community culture, the festival offers a multidimensional entertainment experience. Beyond the musical line-up, this year’s edition placed greater emphasis on artistic and community engagement, featuring trend-led exhibitions, large-sale installations, and improvisational interactions. These elements significantly broadened the festival’s content offering, transforming the venue into an immersive, participatory cultural space.
Sustainability remains a core pillar of the Aranya·Xiami Music & Arts Festival. In 2025, the festival deepened its collaboration with Ant Forest to enhance its environmental impact, attracting over 1.24 million participants to its carbon neutrality initiatives. Through comprehensive measures — from production to on-site execution — the festival achieved full-chain carbon neutrality, advancing its vision of becoming “China’s Zero-Carbon Music Festival.” On-site efforts such as waste sorting, beach clean-ups, and marine conservation further translated the concept of “green performance” into tangible action, setting a new benchmark for sustainability within the festival industry.
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