Hacken will contemplate seriously about adding more shows to his concert, his phobia of poor ticket sales still remains

28 December, 2007

Hacken Lee attended a press conference for his upcoming 2008 concert "Prudential & You Use Your Heart to Listen: Your Hacken Lee Concert Hall 2008 Concert". The concert will start on February 8, 2008 till February 14. All 7 shows will be held in the Hong Kong Coliseum, and music will be the highlight of the concert. Four famous musicians were also invited to perform, including Lung Heung Win and Huang Shih Lun who were present at the conference to show their support. The organization presented Hacken with a computer and popcorn to wish him success and astonishing sales for his concert. Present at the conference also were 12 children who played the violin as accompaniment.

The main highlight will be music, will not imitate Andy Lau

Hacken expressed that his concert sales were not very good in the past (more than 10 years ago) and it did affect him. Will he add more shows? He said that for now, he will not do so as it is better to maintain the stability. As the concert is held during the Chinese New Year, there will be many audience members giving him red packets. He reveals that he will donate all the red packets he receives to charity unless it is specified that the red packet is for his son. If so, he will set up an educational fund for Ryan. He also joked he wants to compare the number of red packets between him and his son. “Dear fans, remember to give 1 more red packet this year!” he said. He says that receiving many red packets is like receiving lots of luck. He will spend the amount of money received, and then donate the same sum to the charity. In the past, the amount of money totaled up to almost ten million and he believes that Ryan will receive more red packets than him. He is happy to know that his concert sales reached at least 60 percent.

Will he give half of what he earned in his concert to Emily? “We’ve not thinking about money! She’s not a materialistic person.”

“I’ve seen Andy Lau’s carnival-style concert, it was very well done. I give it 101 marks. I will not follow his style but put music to the highlight instead. Even the costumes are simpler; there will not be flashy outfits. It’d be great if I can wear sports shoes.” Emily has always been in-charge of his clothing, but she will be taking care of Ryan this year. He will employ another image consultant this time. The flashy outfits will be saved for the future concerts with Alan Tam. Did he invite Alan as guest? “He should not sacrifice his family time for me, let’s see if he’s free,” Hacken joked. “I’ve asked several other singers, whoever is free can come and have fun!”

When asked if he starts his concert on the second day of CNY because he wants to spend the first day together with his family, Hacken reveals, “The schedule was arranged this way. Even on the first day, I need to rehearse. For the past few years, I’ve been a regular at holding CNY concerts and I’m used t it. And when it comes to receiving red packets…it’s really great and happy.” In the past, red packets received during his concert with Alan Tam were given to charity. He also says that as Ryan is still very young, he will not let him attend the concert. Will he attend the 903 awards ceremony? “It’s not appropriate to answer this question now. Let’s wait a few more days.”

Does not speak about the Metro Hits Awards

On the discussion that the Metro Hits Awards were as predicted, Hacken said that he does not wish to comment on this anymore. He’s happy if there’s an award, but if there’s none he will go fulfill his duties as a father. For now, the most important to him is his concert. He congratulates all winners, and is happy that Priscilla Chan is back in the industry.

At the Metro Hits Awards, Andy Lau, Eason Chan and Hacken Lee were the winners that day, each with 5 awards. Leo Ku received 4 awards, falling behind by 1. Joey Yung received 4 awards while Janice received 3.5 awards though she could not attend the function due to food poisoning.

Before the awards ceremony, Gold Label announced that they are boycotting Metro Hits and none of their singers would be present. During the opening ceremony when the various music companies were introduced, it was mentioned that Gold Label was not present due to personal financial problems. Hence, all related personnel did not attend. However, Gold Label singers still received encouragement and awards, which also shows the fairness in this event. Following this, one of the first 4 songs to receive awards was Leo Ku’s "Love Coming Home", which received Most Number of Plays award---Justin’s "Man & KTV" and Kary Ng’s "Forcing Too Hard" both received Best Original Song Award. Edmond Leung’s "Trying to Be Smart" and Stephy Tang’s "Light Bulb" won the Karaoke Award. The host commented on the good results.

[Sources: http://www.leehacken.com/news/2007/news_20071228.htm, Mingpao, Singpao, Oriental Daily, Orisun] [translated by: HIANEZ, edited by: KATE]