Asia News: Jacky Cheung Boosts Economy; Woodstock Korea Postponed; Worker Killed In Water Cannon Mishap

ASIA

MACAU

Jacky Cheung Boosts Economy

Just as recent concert runs by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have been cited by journalists for having boosted local economies, a series of concerts by Cantopop superstar Jacky Cheung has, according to Inside Asian Gaming, buoyed the fortunes of Macau in extraordinary ways.

Cheung was originally slated to perform six shows in June at the Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena. The number was doubled when the initial run of tickets sold out in a matter of hours. In the end, the series attracted 109,000 paying customers. IAG mainly attributes the success of the series to the fact that Cheung had not performed in Macau in five years, but it also had something to do with Macau’s heightened profile among Chinese people since the end of the pandemic.

Sands China, the owner of the venue where the concert took place, has been “rooted in Macau for over two decades,” the company’s president, Dr. Wilfred Wong, told IAG, and has become famous for “bringing the biggest entertainment acts from Asia and around the world to Macau. We will continue to bring top-tier performers to the city to support the development of the concert economy and the Macau government’s…economic diversification strategy.”

The most significant effect of the concerts was that many of the people who bought tickets were also “high-spending consumers,” said Dr. Wong, thus adding Macau to the likes of Singapore, where high-profile concerts have become a draw for tourists from surrounding countries in Southeast Asia. In Macau’s case, it mainly means tourists from mainland China.

KOREA

Woodstock Korea Postponed

The Korean edition of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, the first incarnation of the Woodstock concert brand to take place outside of the United States, has been postponed until October, the Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper reports.

Originally, the festival was to take place July 28-30 at the Multiporpose Square in Pocheon, but on July 14, the local organizers announced it was being moved to the fall.

In a statement, the organizers said, “The Woodstock festival has been postponed to October 7-9 to ensure a safe event operation and to work on the event’s completion. The festival is being postponed, not canceled.”

Currently, the lineup is mainly rock and pop acts from Asia, including Japanese hard rock veterans Loudness and a number of seasoned Korean artists.

In early July, the organizers also announced that several overseas artists, including Akon and New Hope Club, would be performing, but these artists did not update the new Woodstock festival changes on their respective home page schedules, thus seeding doubts about their participation in October.

The festival has already gone through multiple challenges since it was announced in January, including criticism over the choice of venue, a constantly shifting lineup and high ticket prices. With regard to the third complaint, the organizers eventually cut the cost of a three-day pass by more than half.

JAPAN

Worker Killed In Water Cannon Mishap

During preparations for a music event in Osaka on July 14, a 40-year-old male worker was killed while setting up a water cannon.

The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported that the man may have been facing the barrel of the cannon when a “large amount of water accidentally shot out and hit him directly in the head.”

The water cannon’s nozzle was 1.5 meters long and 7.5 centimeters in diameter. Local police are investigating with a view to form a case of professional negligence resulting in death, which occurred while staff numbering some 200 people, were rehearsing.

A worker who was in charge of operating the cannon told police, “The water came out, but I hadn’t pressed the fire button.”

The preparations were being made for the Waterbomb music festival, which was supposed to take place July 15 and 16 but was canceled after the accident.

The festival features 40 water cannons shooting water at speeds of 120 kilometers an hour over the audience during performances by more than 20 K-pop acts.

The entire festival, including performers and water effects, are sold as a package to local promoters in Japan by a Korean company. It was to have taken place at the Maishima Sports Island, a venue built on landfill in Osaka Bay.