Monday, March 18, 2013

The Big Four World Tour Concert - London O2

Yaaaaaaaaaaay!! I was so excited when OrienTouch announced they were going to bring more Chinese entertainment to London during the Jam Hsiao concert!! I couldn't believe it. FOUR big Hong Kong stars who have grouped together to become The Big Four 大四喜 (daai sei hei) would be coming to London. Awwww!! I bought my ticket for £96 (it's worth it) when they were selling tickets. I tried to reason myself by saying it's only £24 for each HK star and it's a week before my birthday. So yeah, it's worth all that money and a big birthday present to myself. Well, I probably won't see them for another decade or so...

The Big Four consists of the following Hong Kong stars (in my favourite order):
1. Dicky Cheung 張衛健 (cheung wai kin) - my favourite, favourite star out of the four!! I believe he is the popular out of the four too... (that's what I like to think anyway). BUT I think the audience loved him too!! He is a very funny character, and I would go and pay to see him again and again!
2. Edmond Leung 梁漢文 (leung hon man) - to me he was more popular when he was acting! But his singing is also good, and I love both his acting and singing! Probably the sweetest out of the four!
3. Andy Hui 許志安 (heui zi on) - Very, very popular in HK. He is currently dating / engaged to one of my favourite female singers Sammi Cheng 鄭秀文 (zeng sau man). He is having an on / off relationship with her according to Dicky Cheung during the concert (and of course we knew what he was talking about when he was describing Andy's relationship problems!).
4. William So 蘇永康 (sou wing hong) - I only watched him on TV shows and haven't really listened to his songs, but his songs are very good too... Touching... He is the fashionable one of the group I believe. Sunglasses. Extravagant clothes. Extravagant costumes!

All four of them used to do a lot of acting for the famous HK Entertainment station TVB (that's how I followed these stars). I followed them since the early 1990's, I was still in primary school back then (around the age of 8 or 9 - and now you can work out my age if you're good at maths or guessing ^_^)! 

I purchased my ticket from Orientouch Entertainment who were randomising the best seats to us lucky people, so I didn't know where I was sitting. The concert unfortunately was scheduled for a Monday...Why Monday? It's probably one of the worse days of the week to have a concert and when one has loads to do for the rest of the week, like work meetings and replying to emails etc., etc... (hmmm, whatever, who cares about work! ¬_¬"" Future employers, I am a very hard working person!!). Wednesday's to Saturday's are the best days to have a concert! I hope OrienTouch Entertainment will consider about the dates during the next concert they throw. Did you not hear about the Justin Bieber situation...? Lots of school kids needed to go to school because his concert was on a Monday too...

Mr Bear tried to tone down my excitement last week by telling me they'll probably cancel the show. :( Noooo don't disappoint me.... 

I got there way before the concert started. After 6.30pm... When I got there, I didn't realise the O2 was right behind the station, and I was looking at buses on how to get there! D'oh!! :P
At the O2 - so extravagant!!

Nice lights

Security Check!!

Got there. Took my seat. I was in the middle, so I had a good view. But unfortunately, the arena was only half full!! :( (This is what happens when a concert is on a Monday...) Most of the audience were of the older generation, the people who love these Four awesome guys...
Very near to the stage!!

Behind me... Not a lot of people...
Ok, so enough talking Miss Geek! Let's see some more pictures! ^_^ 我哋睇多啲相片啦!^_^

It started off really well (but 15 minutes late!). Everyone was excited and very enthusiastic, until they started talking a lot. The people beside me and those behind me were not very happy it seemed. I think they were thinking this was becoming more of a variety show... Seriously I didn't mind. I enjoyed all the funny Cantonese jokes. The gossip about Andy Hui and William So's fashion sense and Edmond Leung's sensibility and the fact that Dicky Cheung couldn't do a break dance move after two years!! (I'm sure he can do it!) But alas, a person in the audience was able to do it (I bet he was part of the act!!!) and got £200 for it. Lucky guy!!
Dicky Cheung

Andy Hui

Edmond Leung

William So

Talking at this stage...

More talking...

The lucky person who won £200!!!

Interval time... The dancers!

Towards the middle of the show I was told not to take any videos. I became very disappointed. And I think majority of the audience felt the same. I saw no phones. Nobody dare taking a video during the second half of the concert. Just people taking a lot of pictures (but some people were still videoing towards the end... I guess they didn't care less!).
William So singing

More singing!!

Andy Hui playing the piano ^_^ ... He played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata :D

Andy Hui talking a bit!

Dicky Cheung with a new wig on!! ^_^

A different costume on now!!

And another costume! Where did he get all of these from?!

And another one!

I forgot these two guy's names - anyone know? ... 
They are Eddie Ng 吳國敬 (ng gwok ging) and Joey Tang 鄧建明 (dang ging ming)
I only became enthusiastic again when they started singing a very famous Beyond Song 年少無知 (nin siu mou ji). Sigh. I like this song... I think it's banned in China, as most Beyond songs are!!
Woohoo!! Guitar music time!

Singing the Beyond Song!

So many costumes Dicky Cheung!!!

Andy Hui coming out

Edmond Leung in another costume

William So has so many sunglasses!! :P

William So and Edmond Leung :D

The Big Four!

The end song :(

These people on my right hand side were the most enthusiastic  lot!!

The Big Four Sign...
It ended around 10-ish. I think everyone wanted more! But the audience was too shy to shout for more like in the other concerts I went to... :( But we did get a small encore! Yipee!!
I like this picture...

The audience on my left :D They got the most hand slaps
from The Big Four... A bit disappointed that they didn't come
to the back :(

Dicky Cheung again... Well he is my favourite!

Handshakes with the audience

More handshakes...

Nice pic of the audience

What? More handshakes?

The end... Bye bye The Big Four... Come back soon!!
All in all, it was a good, average concert. A lot of jokes. Singing wise - I think there could have been a lot more. I don't think they knew which songs we liked (the audience didn't like the Mandarin stuff I'm afraid... I didn't mind. This shows that I'm an OK fan!). I think The Big Four held back a lot of what they had done in the past in Asia too, which they had shown in videos instead of performing it. Very conservative performance, but there is no need for it. British Chinese love enthusiasm. We love interaction too (well most of us do!).
And obviously I have to take a pic of the backstage crew!!
The peeps who were trying to control our videoing and picture taking!!
Message to OrienTouch Entertainment - I want Aaron Kwok or Andy Lau or Bowie Lam or Sammi Cheng or Denise Ho, OR these Taiwanese singers / groups - F.I.R or DaMouth or even Jay Chou to come to London next time.... PLEEEEEEEASE!!! 

I can't make it to the Sandy Lam concert on Sunday 21st April - but I'm sure it will be GREAT! ^_^

Let's revive Canto-Pop around the world!


***

I took many videos, but not all of them are great, and I think I will get a message from somewhere beyond and far away to say my video is banned. So I'm just going to put up two videos, which the audio is average. :(

Video 1... Introduction

Video 2... Dicky Cheung's breakdance moment...
Enjoy!!