Jacky Cheung kicks off World Tour in Shanghai

Jacky Cheung kicks off World Tour in Shanghai

Sunday, January 02, 2011 Hong Kong

Source: Mingpao & Oriental Daily

Translation: llwy12

Jacky Cheung kicked off his <<1/2 Century World Tour Concert>> in Shanghai on New Year’s Eve. On stage, Jacky gave his usual 100% effort – in addition to singing many of his classic hits, he also invited film actress Shu Qi to perform a special mini-movie with him that was featured in the concert. Jacky also arranged a special tribute to his godmother, the late Lydia Shum (Fei Jie) – not only was there a huge replica doll of Lydia on stage, there were also a few dancers who dressed up as Lydia for the segment.

As jazz music played in the background during the opening segment of the concert, Jacky came out on stage dressed in a white suit. After that, while singing his hit《花花公子》, he pulled open a curtain to reveal a huge screen that played a short movie with him and Shu Qi as the male and female leads – the segment depicted the various stages of a love story -- when the couple meets, falls in love, marries, then eventually separates. To accompany this ‘love journey’, Jacky performed many of his classic Cantonese and Mandarin hits. Since the first half of the concert was in the form of a musical, Jacky invited renown HK film director Andrew Lau to direct and choreograph the segments.

During the first half of the show, Jacky did not speak much, however in the second half, he could not stand it anymore and finally addressed the audience, especially since he had just finished singing the song《天氣那麼熱》and forgot the lyrics during one part. He told the audience: “The most embarrassing part is already over, now I can ‘go for broke’!” Then, the big screen flips over and turns into a slanted, revolving stage -- Jacky stands atop this stage and performs a few more of his classic hits, joking with the audience that he has a little fear of heights, so may have to close his eyes when he performs. The stunning double tiered revolving stage combined with the special-effects lighting was an awesome spectacle, as it gave off the effect that Jacky was performing in midair.

During the special tribute to Lydia Shum, there was a 20 foot replica of the late actress on stage, as well as a group of dancers who dressed up in Lydia’s signature attire for a dance segment with Jacky. To the audience’s amazement, Jacky imitated one of Lydia’s ‘classic moments’ by attempting to do the splits while performing the song specially written for her. Afterwards, Jacky jokingly said: “Very interesting! How did Fei Jie do it back then? I can barely stand up right now!”

At the highest point of the concert, the audience joined Jacky in singing a dozen of his most famous songs, including hits such as 《她來看我的演唱會》, 《一路上有你》, 《心如刀割》, 《愛是永恆》, etc. At the end of the concert, Jacky apologized to the audience: “Very sorry! The first day of the performance and there were so many errors. I will definitely do better tomorrow!”

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My comments: I normally don't post articles in my main blog section, but just absolutely had to share this!

Yay!!! Jacky's 2011 concert has officially begun!! Just from reading the articles, sounds like it will be another AWESOME performance from Jacky! Absolutely can't wait for my chance to watch the concert in person in February!!! You bet that I'll be one of those fans singing loudly during the "sing-along" portion of the show...lol!