The concert sector’s reemergence after the epidemic is helping to stimulate economic growth. Wang Xu reports from Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
In May, when Taiwan rock band Mayday announced concerts on the Chinese mainland, some 300,000 tickets completely sold out within a mere five seconds across all booking platforms. That not only illustrated the band’s great popularity but also indicated a high level of demand that highlighted the rebirth of China’s live concert market.
“I kept updating the ticketing site, but every time I clicked to buy, they were already sold out,” said Jia Jun, a student at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
Jia added that he tried everywhere the band played and the effects were the same.
He wasn’t the only one who had a hard time getting a ticket. It became a common experience among fans, with topics such as “Mayday ticket frenzy” and “Who got Mayday tickets?” trending for several weeks on social media.
Data from ticketing site Damai shows that more than one million people were interested in attending the Mayday concerts in Shenzhen. However, the three showings on July 7, 8 and 9 may only offer a maximum of 144,000 seats, meaning only 14 more people out of every hundred applicants would attend.
Those who couldn’t get tickets discovered another way to celebrate the band’s return to the tech center: by doing a song in the outdoor spaces of the open-air stadium.
“I know there are a lot of outdoor enthusiasts who can’t enjoy the concert with us on site. When we played here the last time, we didn’t expect to have to wait more than 1,000 days to see you again. “Again,” Mayday singer Ashin said at one of the concerts in Shenzhen. “Let’s be silent for a moment to pay attention to their (outdoor enthusiasts’) voices. “
COVID-19 delivered a severe blow to China’s live performance industry for the past three years, as large groups of people were strongly discouraged by strict social distancing regulations.
Nearly 9,000 shows were canceled or suspended in the first three months of last year, when the country went through the third wave of the epidemic, according to the China Entertainment Industry Association.