Alcken or Hacklan Concert? Either Way...Legendary!

Verbose, verbal detailing of my memories is below, but I did manage to sneak some non-verbal memories in the form of:

- Crappy cell-phone pics: (Click slideshow for larger pics)

- Short, crappy cell-video (before security yelled!) (Youtube Playlist)
- Really crappy cell-mp3s (Imeem Playlist)

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You should have heard my squee of delight when I heard that two of my most favorite HK Cantopop singers, Alan Tam (譚詠麟) and Hacken Lee (李克勤), were reuniting to do a series of concerts in February 2009. (Their popular 左鄰右李 concert, which is a play on words using a Chinese character from each of the singer's names. The concert title sounds like the four-character Chinese phrase "左鄰右里", and is meant to denote a close community with good neighbors and friends nearby.)

The squee got louder and more shrill when I found out the concert was being held at the legendary Hong Kong Coliseum (or the Hung Hom Coliseum, which is named after the district in which it is located.) The Coliseum is a wonderful venue with a cool open stage with lots of interesting lighting and effects capabilities, but had been undergoing renovations for the past year. The inaugural event at the newly renovated coliseum would be "Neighbors 2009". Yay!

Tickets were available a full month before public release for patrons of the Bank of East Asia. (By the way, this is evidently a common practice, giving special early access to particular sponsors' patrons.) And yes, I considered opening a BEA account just to get a chance to get tix early. Funds limitations and minimum deposit restrictions put the kibosh on that plan, so I, like the rest of the plebeians, waited until tickets were released to the public, which is roughly a month before the first show. I bought one "top tier" ticket for HK$480, which is a pretty good price, considering how much tickets to a show like this would cost in the States. (Easily double the price, probably more.) They had originally scheduled 10 shows, starting in the beginning of February, but then added a few more, bringing the total to 14. After some thought, I talked myself into getting another ticket for another show. Some of my internal rationalizations: The tickets are a steal, I heart Alan and Hacken, and when will I get to see them perform here again? Suitably convinced, I now possessed two tickets (one for Wed., Feb. 4, and one for Sun., Feb. 8) without any qualms or guilt.

Getting to the concert arena was a breeze. It has its own MTR station, which is located only 2 stops away from my location. By the way, this MTR line (the East Rail) was formerly operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway, which was a separate longer haul train operator that recently merged with the HK MTR. The former KCR line took passengers to parts of Southern China, and even now, Hung Hum Station is one of the hubs for trains into China.

I arrived to the venue about 40 minutes before the official listed start time of 8:15pm, and walked around the arena, which is this cool, huge, diamond-cube-trapezoid? (guess it depends on how you look at it)-shaped building. Seating areas are divided into four colors, and the admission gates corresponded to the colors. I was a Red on Feb 4, and a Yellow on Feb 8. People were lining up at the admission gates about 30 minutes before, so I hopped in line, too. I was surprised at the wide variation in audience demographics: I saw cool hipsters, yuppies, middle-aged "see nais", elderly peeps, middle-aged couples who brought kids...the snarky overseas student demographic was limited to just me, as best as I could see.

We were finally allowed entry at 8pm, and it was pretty painless, considering how pushy Hong Kongers in a crowd tend to be! And especially when free schwag (in the form of inflatable thundersticks) is concerned. I found my seat, which was in the front row of the raised area beyond the cream of the crop, stage-side seats. (As an open, four-sided stage, this meant there are four front rows on the main floor. Then there are about 9 rows on the main floor behind them, then we get to the raised stadium seating, which is where I was sitting. So to be technical, I was in the 11th row of the "top tier seats".) The seats were still good, though of course I wished I were a BEA customer who had snagged one of the main floor seats...

The stage didn't look super different from what I remember seeing in the past concerts on DVD, but I did notice the lighting rig above the stage and around the huge 4-sided jumbo-trons, looked much fancier than before. I guess the renovations must have been mostly structural, with some cosmetic improvements. I amused myself for the next 15 minutes or so by watching the PSAs on loop on the jumbo-tron (Cantopop stars like Kelly Chen extolling the awesome public facilities like the HK library and museums), as well as the antics of snap-happy concert patrons. Aside from taking pictures of the stage, themselves, and themselves in front of the stage, I noticed many people posing with their inflated thundersticks and lightsticks, or making their poor kids do the same.

Let me take a second here to discuss thundersticks. To put it simply and rationally, I hate them. I wish I could righteously say it were due to the negative environmental impact (though there's that), but to be honest, it's because they annoy the crap out of me. The way they sound, the way they block people's views and also invade people's personal space. Hate 'em. And for this concert, the way they look was also annoying. They were shaped to look like microphones, but for me, whichever angle you held them, they looked phallic. So watching peeps pose with large, inflated, yellow, phallic-looking thundersticks, though annoying, was admittedly a hoot. Especially the annoying chick in the front-row seat who was holding it in an innocent (but not to my juvenile mind!) manner: she was hugging it and pretending to kiss it. I'm sure it was innocent. Only I have such a dirty mind. But I digress. Back to the concert.

At around 8:25pm, the venue went dark, and an announcer began reading off tragic events that occurred in the past couple years (i.e. the coldfreeze in January 2008, the May 2008 earthquake, the milk powder crisis, the financial crisis, economic downturn.), finally ending with the statement that people were beginning to worry and be scared...at which point, you could hear Alan and Hacken say firmly "Mm Sai Loot", which is Canto-country-slang for "No need to be scared!" Then upbeat music started, and the pair, resplendent in flashy, sequined costumes, rose to the center stage via a trapdoor and elevator rig. Their opening medley consisted of happy, upbeat songs from both singers as they jogged around the stage waving at the audience and shaking the hands of the lucky bastids who scored main floor front row tix. After the medley, they welcomed the audience by commenting on the unlucky events of the past year, and then made an optimistic statement saying they hoped their concert would bring the audience happiness and cheer to last them through the year.

Just as a brief historical note, when they did their first Neighbors concerts in 2003, it was amidst the post-SARS economic downturn in Hong Kong, and both Alan and Hacken wanted their concerts to cheer up Hong Kong. And hey, it seemed to work...

They then traded in their impossibly heavy, long sequined tailcoats for lighter, more dignified ballad jackets. (Note: Dignified is relative. The jackets were cut more like tailored blazers, but they were still in impossibly flashy colors and trimmed with sequins and sparkly bits!) Then a lovely interlude of them singing a couple of popular ballads commenced. I wished they could have just done that for the rest of the night! I was in seventh heaven, the awesome songs, beautiful voices, and the excitement of hearing it all live, in person.

Next was a gag that they did in the past, where they collected lai see or red envelopes, which are customarily given out to children during Chinese New Year (which was a week prior, and lasts for a couple weeks.) Alan called it "Kay Fook", or basically, asking for blessings of happiness by giving an offering (i.e. the red envelopes). Hacken commented that he didn't feel right collecting lai see now that he was married, at which point Alan advised him that if he wouldn't collect for himself, then at least collect for his son as it is expensive to raise a child. Hacken then sassed back that Alan would know, which was a not-so-hidden dig at Alan's personal life (he has a son, but not with his wife.) Alan laughed good-naturedly, then asked his assistant to bring his special lai see bag, which was a sling bag sequined in gold to match his outfit. Music started, the houselights went up, and hordes of people lucky enough to be in the front main floor section dashed stage-side waving red packets. The guys split up and went around the stage, shaking hands receiving lai see, and singing Alan's "Love is This Sweet". Near the end of the song, there was a commotion on Hacken's side, and he disappeared from our sight, and I actually thought something had happened to him (i.e. an overly enthusiastic fan pulled on him and he fell or something). But then Alan finished singing, thanked the fans, said that all the collected envelopes would be donated to the Sichuan Rebuilding Fund, and announced that Hacken would perform next. Oh! Hacken left the stage to prepare for his next song, and was not writhing in pain backstage! Whew.

So houselights dim, and Hacken, in a suit studded with white Christmas lights and adorned with a HUGE flower-esque silvery fabric sculpture on his back, rose from center stage as the first few notes of his "Flying Flower" played. In time with the music, background dancers, dressed as silvery flowers, also rose from hidden trapdoors. A lovely sequence with mellow dancing and lovely use of lighting commenced. In addition to "Flying Flower" Hacken also sang a new song, which was written by a young Cantopop singer named Justin. I wish I knew the song name. After a dazzling end to that song (think flares from the four corners of the stage, as well as a neon palm tree), Alan hit the stage. Or more precisely, a huge prop designed to look like a chaise lounge chair rose center stage, and on it, a background dancer dressed in a flowy, wispy red robe, hit the stage as the opening notes of Alan's "Fantasy" started. Alan rose to the stage via another trapdoor, and performed a rather dramatic rendition of the song, with great use of lighting and the sheer red fabric of the dancer's costume.

Next, two poles were raised in opposite corners of the stage, and two sexy dancers with identical bobbed wigs did a suggestive striptease. Then, clad in purple satin bra and skivvies, they did some impressive pole dance work. Hacken ascended the stage and began singing a really trancey version of "My Shirley", while performing rather suggestive and racy dance moves with the two dancers. One of the moves involved her pulling down his leather vest to show off his surprisingly well-toned chest. Yes, I said it, Hacken Lee, he of the skinny, bony, "love him for his personality and talent, not his looks", category, has a tanned, well-toned chest. Now, he will never be on Aaron Kwok's level of tanned, well-toned chest-ness, but Hacken had a respectable-looking physique. Truly, I think he is in the best shape of his life...no wonder he made sure to thank his personal trainer. But back to the performance. He ended "My Shirley" with a rather S&M-esque touch, being tied with purple ribbon to one of the poles.

At that moment, Alan and a scad of dancers popped up via the scads of trapdoors around the stage. They all had on black leathery costumes. Both singers performed some song of Alan's (sorry, it wasn't that memorable) while dancing. Then Alan did a solo performance of one of his songs with a jazzy feel (sorry, again, the song wasn't super memorable.)

Next was a blur. I think they reverted to ballads (yay!), in which they mashed up versions of each other's songs. For example, Hacken would sing half of an Alan song, then Alan would sing half of a Hacken song, without the music stopping or transitioning. That is, the musical director composed a way of mashing the two songs to sound as if they were part of the same song. Really cool, and of course, it's always nice when they sing ballads.

Then we moved on to one of my favorite performances...when a huge wooden mountainesque sculpture appeared, with Hacken atop it, dressed in another sleeveless vest-leather-pants ensemble. He began singing one of Alan's ballads, and then was joined atop the wooden sculpture by Alan, also in a similar black sleeveless leather ensemble. Then as they continued to sing the serious ballad, with similarly serious faces, the wooden sculpture began to rotate slowly, and the guys started to, and I kid you not, do bodybuilder poses. They continued with this, faces deadpan, singing perfectly, and doing wacky bodybuilder poses on the revolving wooden sculpture. I laughed my arse off, it was so perfectly goofy and "them". They did the "bend on one knee and extend arms like an arrow towards the sky pose", the classic "look at these guns, ladies" double bicep pose, and many variations in between. Genius. Brilliant. Loved it.

Next was the "talky" segment, where a local actor (Chien Ka Lok) came out to banter and gossip with them about local entertainment news. It was amusing. The actor then helped get the crowd worked up to do the wave, then sang Alan's "Lorelai" with them.

The next performance was athletics-related, since another one of the sponsors was the East Asian Games, which are being hosted by Hong Kong this year. In addition to singing the theme to the games, on Sunday, they brought a bunch of the athletes on stage with them. Then was a dancey segment where the guys sang a couple of their less memorable, thus newer, up-tempo songs while dressed in sequined tracksuit-esque costumes.

The finale was the best part, when they sang a school band version of Hacken's "Hope", then the guys, on raised daises, did some wacky ribbon dance choreography in time with the speeding up of the song. On Wednesday's show, Hacken's ribbon flew off the stick. You could hear his "Aiya!" of frustration, then he tossed the ribbon stick into the audience, and picked up the ribbon and tried to continue on, but the ribbon wouldn't cooperate, so you could hear Alan stifling laughter as they both continued to sing the song. When they finished the song, they both busted up laughing, and Hacken referred to the ribbon curse...evidently on an earlier show, he stepped on the ribbon and the ribbon snapped. It was a funny interlude that seemed so genuine and real, and I enjoyed it immensely. On Sunday, there were no ribbon mishaps, though they both did comment on the ribbon curse after the performance.

Next was the official "finale" sequence, where they did some more fast songs, then a few ballads. The most memorable bits were them singing ballads on the edges of the stage, then those edges rising, illuminating in soft light, then rotating. That was kinda cool, and must be part of the new stage improvements. They also did a few "get up and dance" sing-along songs, most notably, a fast Alan song with the chorus of "Wildly Scream 'I'm Lonely'" (i.e. Kwong Foo Ngo Hoong Hui! Hoong Hui!), as well as Hacken's soccer song (Qi lai, qi lai, qi lai, qi lai....).

They ended with the official "Neighbors" song, and descended under the stage with Alan hinting that they'd play longer in the encore if the audience showed them more love. The encore curtain calling began, with the drummer helping to set the applause rhythm. Then the guys finally ascended amidst lots of fanfare, and performed a couple more upbeat songs (i.e. Alan's "Love Trap"), then took audience requests. They sang a few lovely ballads (i.e. Alan's "The Source of Love", Hacken's "Crescent Moon Song"), and on Sunday, even brought a few celebrity audience members on stage to sing with them. They were a couple of married actors whose heyday was the 1980s, as well as Anita Yuen and Julian Cheung, who were celebrating their eighth wedding anniversary. The quartet and the singers then sang Alan's "Who Can Change", which was very sweet. A note on other famous guests. On Wednesday, Alan pulled Wing Yee, a relatively young and new singer onstage to sing the same song. On Sunday, the chief executive of HK, Donald Tsang, was in the hizzy, along with a tycoon whose wife is a gorgeous former Miss Hong Kong. It was kinda cool to see these guys there.

But back to the concert. They ended on Hacken's iconic "Red Day", which is a fabulous, "get up and sing along" song. After that rousing performance, while yelling "thank you", they descended the stage, as the announcer politely informed the audience that the show was over. This normally wouldn't deter me, especially after the Arashi concert where the announcer said three times the show was over, yet the boys still came back for encores...but things be different here. Arashi fangrrls are way different and more unified than the diverse, ragtag audience of this concert. All in all though, it was a very satisfying, awesome, legen...wait for it...dary concert. Hacklan/Alcken Forever!

Addendum: Just a quick note about photos and recording. Officially, all photography and recording is off-limits, but the security peeps seemed to tolerate photography, even flash photography. They were totally strict about video recording though, which explains why I got yelled at by security while video-recording with my dinky cellcam, yet he left the chick beside me, with a huge professional quality camera and telephoto lens setup, alone! On Sunday, they even started confiscating cameras from peeps caught video recording. (Darn that tell-tale red light...) But anyway, while I much prefer enjoying the concert experience in person, the sentimental peep inside me always want some reminder of the concert, which is why I do try with the photos and recording...unfortunately, it's always with my crappy cellcam, so the end result is always terrible! Oh well.