Coldplay announced on Sept 19 that it would hold three concerts in Hong Kong on April 9, 11 and 12. - Kaitaksportspark/Reuters
HONG KONG: British rock band Coldplay’s recent announcement that it will perform at Hong Kong’s new mega stadium in 2025 has breathed life into the city’s ambition to become a top concert destination in the region.
While the news has been welcomed in Hong Kong, it has also sparked concerns among locals about whether the financial hub can execute the concerts smoothly.
Chief Executive John Lee said on Sept 24 that he had ordered his government to go all out to ensure that events held at the Kai Tak Sports Park, including its grand opening in the first quarter of 2025, would run smoothly.
“I have asked them to hold many rehearsals,” Lee told the media. “These rehearsals will target not just crowd management, but also our ability to operate smoothly at different times of the day and under different weather conditions.”
Coldplay announced on Sept 19 that it would hold three concerts in Hong Kong on April 9, 11 and 12. Its 2025 Asia tour also includes one show in Abu Dhabi, two in Mumbai, and four in Seoul.
The concerts in Hong Kong will be the band’s first in the city since 2009.
The British rock band, which played six nights in Singapore in January, is the first big international act to confirm its performance at the soon-to-open stadium on the eastern side of Kowloon Bay.
The Hong Kong Rugby Sevens will also be held there in March.
Construction of the venue, which has been 17 years in the making, will be completed by the end of 2024.
The opening of the 50,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof will position Hong Kong among Asia’s top destinations with the all-weather capacity to host mega concerts and other world-class events of high economic value.
In terms of capacity, the new venue represents a major upgrade over the city’s two current biggest concert venues, each seating 12,500 people. In recent years, Hong Kong has played second fiddle to Macau in attracting major acts to the Greater Bay Area.
Local lawmakers and industry veterans are concerned about whether the city’s transport networks and logistical planning are up to the task of handling the anticipated crowds, and if businesses can effectively capitalise on the opportunity to boost their earnings.
Tourism-sector legislator Perry Yiu told local broadcaster RTHK on Sept 20 that he was worried about whether Kai Tak’s existing transport links were adequate to cope with “the tens of thousands of people who would be leaving the concert venue all at the same time”.
Hong Kong Tourism Association executive director Timothy Chui told The Straits Times that the authorities should “add more shuttle bus services to ferry concert goers to tourist and consumption hotspots, such as the Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district and Lan Kwai Fong nightlife district”.
The Kai Tak area is far out from the city centre – at least an hour by public transport from Central and minimally 20 minutes by car – and has previously faced criticism for its limited transport options and a lack of shopping, dining and entertainment facilities.
Lawmakers on Sept 24 said more than 80 per cent of shops at the stadium had already been rented out, and that at least five large-scale tests would be conducted to ensure the venue can operate smoothly before it opens.
Economist Simon Lee, an adjunct faculty member at the Shenzhen Finance Institute under the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen), said that “transportation, support facilities and the quality of the audiovisual systems are all concerns”.
“It’s quite worrying as the (nearest) Kai Tak and Sung Wong Toi MTR stations are not big enough to accommodate 50,000 people leaving the venue in a short time. We have to conduct thorough testing and detailed trial runs beforehand,” Lee told ST.
Investment bank Natixis’ senior economist Gary Ng said the concerns were “very valid”, noting “historical examples” in the city of previous major events being mishandled due to a lack of planning and risk management.
In 2023, authorities were lambasted for their poor management of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, not far from the stadium. Cruise tourists arriving there found the terminal largely empty, with most of its shops closed, few staff present, and a lack of nearby facilities and transport options into the city centre.
In 1998, the relocation of the city’s airport to Chek Lap Kok, from where the stadium now stands, also encountered many hitches, with malfunctioning facilities and a shortage of ground staff that left planes and cargo stranded on the tarmac.
Beyond the logistical aspects, Bernard Chan, vice-chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA), said Hong Kong has to go further than “just one stadium” to turn its mega-concert-hub hopes into reality.
“We need to build an ecosystem,” Chan told ST. “This new stadium can draw the crowd to mega events, but we need other activities to retain the visitors for a few more days.”
Local businesses should also provide “product offerings that are competitive and a value for money...ranging from hotel accommodations to food and beverages and other leisure offerings”, he added.
WKCDA manages various arts developments along the Kowloon waterfront, including the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
CUHK-Shenzhen’s Lee said Hong Kong should aim to host more big international sports, music or religious events that could maximise Kai Tak stadium’s 50,000-seat capacity.
“Perhaps at the beginning, some financial subsidies or non-financial support are needed; just as a new shopping mall might offer its tenants discounts at the start,” he said, noting that the Macau government subsidises concerts held at the casino hub.
“It is much easier to book a (performance) venue in Macau compared with Hong Kong. The costs are lower, too.”
Hong Kong singers accounted for 60 per cent of Macau’s concert performances in 2023, according to industry data.
“Reasonable rent and one-stop assistance for any event organiser at the new stadium to cut red tape can be a good starting point” in providing the right kind of support for the city’s concert economy, Natixis’ Mr Ng told ST.
“In the long run, it is about whether the performers and audiences will want to come to Hong Kong.”
“The positive news is Hong Kong finally has a world-class venue” to host mega events, he said.
“The beginning is always the easiest... The question is whether the government can provide the right support to make it commercially profitable to host concerts in the city.” - The Straits Times/ANN
