kanye west is here, can lady gaga be far behind?
2024-09-21
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even typhoon makar couldn't stop kanye west from going to haikou.
on september 15, the roof of haikou wuyuanhe stadium that was damaged by the typhoon was quickly repaired. in the golden wheat waves, the famous american rapper, who is habitually called "kanye" by the chinese, appeared in front of 40,000 fans wearing a black sweater with "told you so" printed on it, and the scene was full of joy.
kanye west world tour listening session photo courtesy of visual china
this was a listening session that the bbc commented as "quite unexpected". on the gorgeous stage, kanye west opened with "i love you haikou" and ended with "preacher man". during the three-hour listening session, kanye west gave a wonderful performance, and the audience responded with a "chorus", which can be said to be a two-way rush of stars and fans.
kanye west world tour listening session photo courtesy of visual china
according to haikou tourism, the audition will be extended with another performance on september 28. data shows that his first performance brought considerable benefits to haikou - 373 million yuan in tourism revenue, which can be said to be a strong boost to haikou's consumer economy after the typhoon.
behind kanye, more foreign stars will appear on the stages of major cities in china, bringing new excitement to the concert economy that has begun to show signs of fatigue.
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fans who attended kanye west’s listening session in haikou on the 15th will surely remember the sci-fi and doomsday-inspired stage design.
the vast expanse of golden wheat was filled with smoke, and the light sticks in the audience turned into stars. the piano prelude of "runaway" sounded, and kanye slowly walked into the center of the stage. when the red ambient lights came on, the wheat waves seemed to start burning, and he danced in the "sea of fire", just as netizens commented: "this is a complete creative show" and "he seems to have surpassed all spirits."
image source: kanye instagram
just like in a movie, when the music of "only one" written by kanye for his daughter north west sounded, a "mechanical vulture" made by haikou fans flew across the sky and circled for a long time, attracting the audience's amazement. in the song "everybody", kanye's four children also walked into the wheat field, running and jumping with him in the wheat waves to the rhythm.
such a performance was too shocking for many fans: "i was in a trance when i watched it. i couldn't believe it was real. i was still stunned when he left the stage."
kanye and his children on stage
in fact, kanye west's audition has become one of the hottest entertainment events in the country this week. all 42,000 tickets were sold out within a few minutes, and there are 230,000 people waiting on the waiting list.
it’s not just ordinary audiences who come to chase stars. some celebrities also come to haikou specifically. there are rappers such as wang yita, liu cong, gali, and pake, as well as actors such as fan chengcheng, zhou ye, and yan haoxiang. they all come here just to see kanye west’s tour in person.
netizens said that they met zhou ye
compared with previous listening sessions, kanye west seemed to be "full of sincerity" in haikou. there were 89 songs at the listening session, and he sang many of them himself, which was rare. unlike the more common "concerts" in china, "listening sessions" do not require singers to sing live. previously in many other countries, he mostly just showed up at the listening session and listened to the cd with the audience.
in addition to the world premiere of his new song "preacher man" to let chinese fans listen to it first, kanye also took off his headgear, which was rare. the first sentence he said was a deep confession to china: "in nanking, they took picture of me and i ain't got no wallet, best experience of my life." (in nanjing, when they took a picture of me, i was still a poor boy, but this was the best experience of my life.)
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kanye west's "best experience of his life" took place in the 1980s. in 1987, kanye west, who was only 10 years old at the time, came to nanjing with his mother, who was teaching at the school of foreign languages of nanjing university from the university of chicago, and lived and studied here for a year.
photos of kanye west at school in nanjing when he was a child
kanye's mother donda west later wrote in her memoir "raising kanye" that as the only foreign student in the class at the time, young kanye was very interested in chinese culture. for example, the four tones of chinese, which many foreigners find very puzzling, he found very interesting: "he thought it was very interesting that 'ma' could be pronounced as 'mother' or 'horse'. he always played with it and never got tired of it."
it was also at the nanjing university elementary school that this american boy started his first "commercial performance" in his life - performing a breakdance for his classmates in exchange for a skewer of lamb. when kanye west grew up, he said in an interview that he felt like he was being hailed as a star at the time, and it felt great to have the aura of a star for the first time, which also prompted him to embark on the path of becoming a global singer.
kanye west plays with his friends in nanjing
at that time, no one would have thought that this shy black boy would become an international music superstar and win 24 grammy awards. not only that, his famous yeezy series of sports shoes was once valued at $1.5 billion.
this performance in haikou marks kanye west’s return to china after 16 years.
after arriving in china, he immediately posted a photo of himself in nanjing as a child on his personal social media, with the caption: back.
netizens also showed great enthusiasm for this "famous primary school student in nanjing", and made jokes in the relevant comment area, saying that he had "a lifelong love for china" and "returned to his roots."
netizens teased kanye on his social media account
as a "marketing expert", kanye west obviously knows how to convert this enthusiasm into social topics to the greatest extent possible.
in order to block out this disturbing world, he used to cover his whole body with clothes when he went out, even wearing a mask on his face, wrapping himself tightly. but during this trip to china, kanye changed. he even gave up the hotel's meal delivery service and went downstairs to eat breakfast by himself.
kanye west's wife and children have breakfast at the hotel
apart from the audition session, their every move seemed very "down-to-earth". netizens kept posting photos of encountering this family shopping at miniso, buying milk tea and lego.
kanye west's child was encountered in a milk tea shop
what’s interesting is that the “china tour” that attracted such huge attention did not choose nanjing, which he had been obsessed with, nor did it follow the first choice of international stars in china, such as beijing and shanghai with a population of over 10 million, as it did in 2008. instead, it went to the rather unpopular haikou.
in fact, from the very beginning, kanye wrote in chinese in the form of an announcement: "listening session, haikou, september 15, 2024", and chinese netizens also outputted jokes at the same time: "haikou? could it be that the abbreviation hk was chosen as haikou? then will the next step be hankou, hekou and hongkou?"
after all, holding a concert of this level in haikou, a city with a population of about three million, even the guardian commented that the venue was "unconventional", but then added: "despite this, the 40,000 tickets were sold out in a few minutes."
after the concert, media reported that the box office revenue of the haikou audition was about 51 million yuan. since the beginning of this year, kanye has held a total of 5 auditions in the united states, italy, and france, with a total box office of about 84.74 million yuan (12 million us dollars). in other words, one concert in haikou is almost equivalent to three concerts abroad.
it is no wonder that the second audition session in haikou was immediately announced to be on the way.
iii
it’s no exaggeration to say that haikou put in all its efforts in this audition.
in may this year, hainan introduced measures to reward organizers of large-scale concerts that meet the requirements with up to 3 million yuan. after much difficulty in getting the audition, typhoon "makar" hit the country 8 days before the performance, and the roof of the wuyuanhe stadium in haikou was blown off by the typhoon.
on september 7, typhoon makar caused serious damage to the roof of wuyuanhe stadium. image courtesy of visual china
at that time, people outside speculated that the music festival might be cancelled due to the impact of typhoon makar. however, the local cultural and tourism department soon held a press conference to announce that the wuyuanhe stadium had been repaired and all service support work for the performance was proceeding in an orderly manner, and the performance would start as scheduled.
this audition also brought significant economic benefits to haikou. the surrounding effect driven by this audition has lasted for a week. among the audiences that night, more than 95% were from outside the island. guangdong, shanghai, zhejiang, and beijing became the main source of visitors, accounting for 40% of the number of visitors. in addition, in conjunction with the 114-hour entry policy, it also attracted many overseas audiences. the relevant person in charge of haikou's cultural and tourism department said that this performance not only successfully boosted haikou's cultural and tourism consumption, bringing 373 million yuan in tourism revenue to haikou, but also achieved a wide range of social effects.
after the official announcement of the additional show on the 21st, the second "kanye west" audition has pushed haikou's tourism industry to a new high. many people left excited messages saying that they would continue to play in hainan for a few days and wait for the next show; and fans who did not get tickets before are ready for the new round of ticket grabbing: "i will go to hainan no matter what!"
the audition scene photo is from visual china
such a scene is not easy to come by in this year's domestic performance market.
although according to data from the china performing arts industry association, after the concert economy exploded last year, concert and music festival box office revenues and audience attendance have continued to grow this year, the industry has also shown a serious polarization: except for a few concerts of top singers where tickets are hard to come by, most concerts are facing the embarrassment of difficulty in selling tickets. according to statistics, more than 30 concerts have been canceled this year due to "force majeure."
discussions on social media platforms about concert price cuts
"after the epidemic ended, the domestic concert market entered a period of revenge consumption. the number of audiences who wanted to attend concerts suddenly increased, and the rush for tickets was so crazy that many investors thought that the performance industry was profitable and all kinds of singers were holding concerts." according to industry insiders, the domestic performance market is now slowly returning to rationality and becoming normal. "domestic concerts are too homogeneous, and we need big-name foreign singers to stimulate the industry."
on the same day that kanye west performed in haikou, mariah carey, the queen of dolphin voice, also held her own concert in beijing. at the same time, it is reported that the singer broken eyebrow, who just announced his marriage, has also passed the review for his concert in haikou in november. in 2024, other stars who will perform in china include bruno mars, ollie, joyce jonathan, chris james, etc.
information about the approval of the "broken eyebrow" concert in haikou has been spread online
"but a more obvious change is that before (the choice of foreign singers) was basically only in beijing and shanghai, but it is obvious that this year's concerts are distributed in more cities." the industry insider told red star news that policies such as the "state council's reply on approving to carry out comprehensive pilot projects to expand the opening of the service industry in shenyang and other 6 cities" have simplified the concert approval process. in addition, the 144-hour visa-free transit policy for foreigners has been expanded to more cities. it is easier for more international stars to come to other cities to embrace the sinking market.
after kanye west’s audition, netizens were looking forward to more international singers coming to china to perform. some even left a message @haikou municipal culture and tourism bureau under the poster of lady gaga’s 2025 world tour, urging “haikou please work harder”. the haikou municipal culture and tourism bureau responded positively and confidently: “received!”
red star news reporter mao yuchuan ren hongwei editor su jing
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