Tickets for arguably the biggest Shanghai concert of the year are set to go on sale tonight, as confusion of megastar Faye Wong's year-end show at Mercedes-Benz Arena finally appears to be clearing. After months of speculation amid minimal information from the promoters, tickets are due to go on sale at 8pm on Monday 5 December through Damai - and we expect them to sell out in minutes.
Why is this show such a big deal? Wong is one of the most influential living Chinese celebrities, a true Mando and Cantopop queen who is a KTV staple and is so big that her music was even played in space by Chinese astronauts - and this will be her first live show in four years. While the concert has been rumoured for months, ticket details have been sparse until now.
Oddly, Wong’s Shanghai appearance was originally said to be ‘invitation only’, while some ticket sites were advertising (but not officially selling) seats in one of the front three rows for 28,888RMB, with ‘cheap seats’ listed as at least 1,800RMB. Yet in late September, Wong’s manager railed against ‘fake posters’ and ‘fake ticket sellers’ on Weibo, while promising more information would be forthcoming.
It wasn't, but today Damai announced they would be selling tickets for the Faye's Moments 2016 show. While the 'cheap seat' prices turned out to be accurate, the highest-priced tickets officially are going for 7,800RMB. Still not cheap by any means, but expect those to get snapped up pretty quickly regardless (whether by true fans or merely by touts remains to be seen).
Wong is known for pared-down live performances and in her previous live shows she's regularly eschewed pop star trappings – she rarely uses dancers or dances herself, interactions with the audience are limited and she doesn’t do encores – preferring to focus on her singing. Getting tickets to witness this in person will not be easy, but if you do manage to get a ticket, it could well be an ‘I was there’ concert.
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