It has been more than 20 years since the name Danny Diaz lit up the marquees here, but the handover was a good reminder that this was where his roots were.
Together with bands such as Sam Hui and the Lotus, and Teddy Robin and the Playboys, Diaz was a household name on the local music scene as the leader of the legendary Danny Diaz Trio, which he formed with brothers Romeo and Rudy in the 1970s.
Diaz left Hong Kong to settle in Canada more than two decades ago, but when he was offered a chance to return to play at the Pop Reunion Concert for the handover in July, he jumped at it.
'My brother called and said: 'We should do this. We started the band in Hong Kong, let's finish it with a big roar there in 1997.' ' Diaz' love of performing has not waned in the years he has been away, and an impromptu performance at the Dickens Bar soon landed him with an eight-week stint at The Excelsior.
It is no wonder Diaz caught the manager's interest during his two-hour unrehearsed set: he has a natural stage presence which he revels in.
'I'm such a ham, I want the live thing. I go home and open the fridge and do 20 minutes when the light hits me,' he laughed. 'I knew the first time I stood on stage it was my dharma [duty], my purpose.' Diaz performs a one-man music and comedy show at the Dickens Bar. With a keyboard, guitar and microphone, he performs a medley of hits from the 70s and 80s, interspersed with imitations and sound effects. You'll hear James Brown, Darth Vader and The Phantom. Diaz also occasionally meanders into Cantonese, and plays amazing trumpet.
The comedic aspect is very important to the 48-year-old performer's show. 'I try to make my time on stage as if I'm in a living room. When I get on stage I just want to have a good time, and I try to relay that as best as I can to everyone. Indirectly I remind them to let go and give themselves permission to have a good time.' With a repertoire ranging from Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World to a string of Beatles hits, Elvis Presley and even some Annie Lennox and Michael Jackson, Diaz believes that keeping the songs short keeps the audience interested. 'That started when I was playing in a lounge in Ontario. I had received a lot of requests one night, and someone made me a bet that I couldn't finish them. He didn't say I had to finish the song. The response was phenomenal. I think it's because we're in the computer age, and the attention span is very short.' Diaz and his brothers were at the height of their popularity in Hong Kong in the early 1970s. After winning the Levi's Battle of Sounds in 1968, Danny Diaz and the Checkmates were whisked off on a world tour. Instead of instant success in the West, they returned to Hong Kong, became the Danny Diaz Trio, and landed a job at the Mandarin Hotel's Captain's Bar.