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The boys are back and ready to rock
By Nie Xin |
August 6, 2009, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HANGZHOU has become a hot destination for pop singers to hold their concerts. This year many heavyweight singers, including Hong Kong superstar and one of the "Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings" Andy Lau, and Taiwan folk/rock singer-songwriter Chen Qizhen, have performed in Hangzhou.
What's more surprising is that almost all of them have achieved good market feedback.
In the middle of this month, the Taiwanese rock band Mayday will hold a concert at the Huanglong Stadium.
It's one of the stops in its world tour "Mayday D.N.A." after a performance in Shanghai in July.
Also this month, the Hong Kong Cantopop band Grasshopper will put on a show at Hangzhou Stadium, 27 years after the group was founded.
Mayday is one of the most popular rock bands currently playing live, which is often cited as "one of the pioneers of rock music in Taiwan."
It will be Mayday's debut concert in Hangzhou since the five men got together 10 years ago, and their fans in Hangzhou are excited about the imminent arrival of their idols.
"Since I knew that Mayday would hold their concert here, I was too excited to sleep well," says Sun Zhen, a 29-year-old Hangzhou local who has bought tickets and can't wait to go to the concert with his girlfriend.
The official color of Mayday is blue and its fans have arranged via the Internet to spring a surprise.
"Everyone will bring a blue glowstick to the concert. We are going to make Mayday's concert a sea of blue," says Sun.
When the band held its concert in Shanghai last month, a record 5,000 tickets were sold in one day.
The situation in Hangzhou should be similar.
Tickets went on sale on July 15, priced at 255 yuan (US$33) to 955 yuan.
So far the 255 yuan, 355 yuan and 555 yuan tickets have been sold out and there are only a few tickets of the 755 yuan and955 yuan left.
To control ticket sales, the concert organizer has limited sales to two tickets per person.
It's the first time that limits on ticket purchases have had to be imposed in Hangzhou's concert history. Even Hong Kong pop kings Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau didn't experience this kind of situation.
"We hope that we can let more people have a fair chance to enter the stadium and enjoy the performance of their idol Mayday. The ticket purchase policy was also agreed by Mayday," says an organizer, surnamed Zhu,
"I am also surprised by the hot marketing feedback for the show, but we have to say that Mayday is the real king of live concerts. It's now the era of young people."
'Best Band'
Mayday was formed in the late 1990s with five young people who loved music °??? Ashin (vocalist), Monster and Stone (lead guitars), Masa (bass guitar) and Guan You (drums).
The band was named "Best Band" in the 20th Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan in July.
"We are glad to win the award. It's the 10th year since the founding of our band. The award and the concert tour are very meaningful to us. We hope we can bring a great show to our fans," says Monster.
The band has sold more than 1 million copies and its songs are written mostly in Minnan dialect (a language spoken in southern Fujian Province and its neighboring areas) and Mandarin.
They are popular because of their student band roots and their ability in capturing the feelings of Taiwanese youth in the mid to late 1990s.
Mayday has made no secret of its admiration of the Beatles and cite them as influencing their ideals of rock music. The eighth track of the band's fifth album has a track called "John Lennon" where the band espouses its dreams to become the "Beatles of the Chinese World."
Many of their popular works including "Viva Love" and "Armour" which have inspired many young fans will be performed in the upcoming show.
The boy group Grasshopper was formed in 1982. It consists of Edmond So, Calvin Choy and Remus Choy.
The trio is best known for their singing and dancing talents. There are many hot dance tracks such as "Baby I'm Sorry" and "The Forgotten Samba" in Mandarin which will be on the performing list of the upcoming concert, apart from their other famous works both in Cantonese and Mandarin.
The stage show will feature an acrobatic troupe to bring more fun and fantasy to the audience.
Calvin and Remus are brothers and grew up with their neighbor Edmond in Hong Kong.
They entered the Hong Kong New Talent Singing Awards in 1984 where Anita Mui was one of the judges and its first winner. Soon after, they were invited to perform as back-up dancers and singers for Anita. She acted as their mentor.
The trio released their first album "Grasshopper" in 1988 and continued to go on tour with Anita. In 2000, Edmond was approached by TVB to star in a series.
This started a period where group members pursued their respective solo careers.
However, contrary to popular belief, the band never broke up. They stopped singing and focused on acting for a few years, but returned to music in 2005 when they held a few successful concerts.
The band currently performs all over the world including putting on shows in Las Vegas.
Mayday
Date: August 21, 8pm
Venue: Huanglong Stadium, 1 Huanglong Rd
Tickets: 255-955 yuan
Hotline: (0571) 8701-1185
Grasshopper
Date: August 30, 8pm
Venue: Hangzhou Stadium, 210 Tiyuchang Rd
Tickets: 180-1,080 yuan
Hotline: (0571) 8839-8123, 400-818-3333
What's more surprising is that almost all of them have achieved good market feedback.
In the middle of this month, the Taiwanese rock band Mayday will hold a concert at the Huanglong Stadium.
It's one of the stops in its world tour "Mayday D.N.A." after a performance in Shanghai in July.
Also this month, the Hong Kong Cantopop band Grasshopper will put on a show at Hangzhou Stadium, 27 years after the group was founded.
Mayday is one of the most popular rock bands currently playing live, which is often cited as "one of the pioneers of rock music in Taiwan."
It will be Mayday's debut concert in Hangzhou since the five men got together 10 years ago, and their fans in Hangzhou are excited about the imminent arrival of their idols.
"Since I knew that Mayday would hold their concert here, I was too excited to sleep well," says Sun Zhen, a 29-year-old Hangzhou local who has bought tickets and can't wait to go to the concert with his girlfriend.
The official color of Mayday is blue and its fans have arranged via the Internet to spring a surprise.
"Everyone will bring a blue glowstick to the concert. We are going to make Mayday's concert a sea of blue," says Sun.
When the band held its concert in Shanghai last month, a record 5,000 tickets were sold in one day.
The situation in Hangzhou should be similar.
Tickets went on sale on July 15, priced at 255 yuan (US$33) to 955 yuan.
So far the 255 yuan, 355 yuan and 555 yuan tickets have been sold out and there are only a few tickets of the 755 yuan and955 yuan left.
To control ticket sales, the concert organizer has limited sales to two tickets per person.
It's the first time that limits on ticket purchases have had to be imposed in Hangzhou's concert history. Even Hong Kong pop kings Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau didn't experience this kind of situation.
"We hope that we can let more people have a fair chance to enter the stadium and enjoy the performance of their idol Mayday. The ticket purchase policy was also agreed by Mayday," says an organizer, surnamed Zhu,
"I am also surprised by the hot marketing feedback for the show, but we have to say that Mayday is the real king of live concerts. It's now the era of young people."
'Best Band'
Mayday was formed in the late 1990s with five young people who loved music °??? Ashin (vocalist), Monster and Stone (lead guitars), Masa (bass guitar) and Guan You (drums).
The band was named "Best Band" in the 20th Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan in July.
"We are glad to win the award. It's the 10th year since the founding of our band. The award and the concert tour are very meaningful to us. We hope we can bring a great show to our fans," says Monster.
The band has sold more than 1 million copies and its songs are written mostly in Minnan dialect (a language spoken in southern Fujian Province and its neighboring areas) and Mandarin.
They are popular because of their student band roots and their ability in capturing the feelings of Taiwanese youth in the mid to late 1990s.
Mayday has made no secret of its admiration of the Beatles and cite them as influencing their ideals of rock music. The eighth track of the band's fifth album has a track called "John Lennon" where the band espouses its dreams to become the "Beatles of the Chinese World."
Many of their popular works including "Viva Love" and "Armour" which have inspired many young fans will be performed in the upcoming show.
The boy group Grasshopper was formed in 1982. It consists of Edmond So, Calvin Choy and Remus Choy.
The trio is best known for their singing and dancing talents. There are many hot dance tracks such as "Baby I'm Sorry" and "The Forgotten Samba" in Mandarin which will be on the performing list of the upcoming concert, apart from their other famous works both in Cantonese and Mandarin.
The stage show will feature an acrobatic troupe to bring more fun and fantasy to the audience.
Calvin and Remus are brothers and grew up with their neighbor Edmond in Hong Kong.
They entered the Hong Kong New Talent Singing Awards in 1984 where Anita Mui was one of the judges and its first winner. Soon after, they were invited to perform as back-up dancers and singers for Anita. She acted as their mentor.
The trio released their first album "Grasshopper" in 1988 and continued to go on tour with Anita. In 2000, Edmond was approached by TVB to star in a series.
This started a period where group members pursued their respective solo careers.
However, contrary to popular belief, the band never broke up. They stopped singing and focused on acting for a few years, but returned to music in 2005 when they held a few successful concerts.
The band currently performs all over the world including putting on shows in Las Vegas.
Mayday
Date: August 21, 8pm
Venue: Huanglong Stadium, 1 Huanglong Rd
Tickets: 255-955 yuan
Hotline: (0571) 8701-1185
Grasshopper
Date: August 30, 8pm
Venue: Hangzhou Stadium, 210 Tiyuchang Rd
Tickets: 180-1,080 yuan
Hotline: (0571) 8839-8123, 400-818-3333
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