The Kunshan Beer festival is up and running and only 12 minutes away by fast train, so this is the weekend to get out of the city and get down to some oom-pah tunes. If you get off work too late to skip town, our favorite new bar Dada is having its grand opening party. Expect cheap drinks, tunes from DJ Siesta, Ben Huang and Ben Thriller, plus an introduction to the hippest little dive bar in town. Meanwhile, Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall is at M1nt and Coco Zhao is throwing a night dedicated to vilifying all her ex-boyfriends. For punishment of a different kind, the European and Asian Noise Party offers sonic torture, or there's electroclash and cheap drinks at Not Me's Knives Out.

This little spot off Hengshan Lu is fast becoming one of the best places to catch first-rate music in the city, and we'll probably head back on Saturday for Loads of Nothing, mainly because they mention Aphex Twin on the flyer. However, there is this Britpop Night at Yuyintang. Warm up with a Saturday night drink deal at chilled out neighborhood bar Free Soul, or at the third Summer Vibes party at Cotton's, Xinhua Lu.

Sunday is all about mopping up the last of the summer. We like the sound of these barbecue beats down at Manifesto, while Sining on the Lord's day is always a temptation. As the evening draws in, the House of Blues and Jazz waves goodbye to its house band, led by Greg Luttrell, and welcomes its new performers, the Mike Null Blues Band.