Image credits: Michelle Wu
Absence makes the heart grow fonder – while this debatable phrase might not always hold true, Andy Lau definitely took it to heart when he opened for the last leg of his 2024 Today… Is the Day tour in Taipei, Taiwan earlier this November. Despite several misfortunes experienced in the tour, including delays in concert times from various typhoon warnings and a minor injury he’d sustained from a previous concert, the Hong Kong superstar eagerly greeted his 15,000 fans in the Songshan District Taipei Arena shortly before the start of the show, “Hello, friends in Taipei! It’s good to be back! 好高兴回来了，台北朋友们！”
Upon Lau’s announcement that he would perform in the Taipei Arena for the first time in ten years, a full-on brawl emerged over the tickets. “Andy Lau” might get little to no reactions for the average American, but the singer is a household name in the Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking world, with a three-decade-spanning career in both the music and film industry going strong to this day. Imagine him as Chinese Tom Cruise, if Tom Cruise spent less time in Scientology and more time in the studio releasing really good Cantonese pop music. Tickets for his four-day Taipei concerts sold out within a week of registration, according to local news. I have only my Tixcraft-savvy (Taiwanese version of Ticketmaster) grandparents to thank for my spot.
Everything was relatively smooth sailing from there, after the initial ticketing stress. The concert check-in process consisted of mostly simple security checks before me and my friend were ushered into the crowded but still comfortably air-conditioned venue. To keep us from boredom during the hour-long countdown to the concert, we were treated to free snacks and free merch ranging from posters to handheld fans to sticker-decorated photocards; some girl in the row in front of me even managed to get her hands on a whole umbrella with Andy Lau’s face on it.
The weeks leading up to the concert, some concerned Chinese-speaking netizens (Internet users) chattered about Lau’s ability to perform a whole three-hour concert due to his age and past medical issues. However, the 62-year-old superstar failed to disappoint, singing exceptionally well for nearly the whole concert duration. He stopped only to talk to fans and interact with the crowd.
“Insane” is the only way I can describe the concert experience. The singer loaded the setlist with his famous crowd-pleasers, like “Days We Spent Together 一起走过的日子” and “Forget Love Potion 忘情水,” but made sure to sprinkle in some underrated cuts. Lau sang his sole Taiwanese Hokkien-language song “World’s First 世界第一等” specifically for the Taipei concerts. Equally impressive was the varied rotation of different sets and outfit changes Lau did for each song, with my favorite being the 1930s cheongsam-wearing background dancers and Old Shanghai-inspired backdrop for his cover of iconic Cantopop song “The Bund 上海滩”, during which the crowd was possibly the loudest that night.
There was a strange yet endearing sense of unity that night, being in the sea of fans ranging from ages of both middle-aged and Gen-Z for this 62-year old Hong Kong singer whose popularity has not only grown, but seemingly skyrocketed as the years passed. “I’ll love you for a thousand years!! 爱你一万年！！”, the crowd had shouted as the concert wrapped up, to which Lau jokingly replied, “You guys better not lie! 不可以撒荒哦！” Rest assured 华哥, I’ll still be keeping your photocard in my purse by the time I’m also your age.
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