Another first for Sam Hui, but not quite what he had in mind

You can count on whatever's hot in Hong Kong being hot in Guangdong province after a year or so, be it fashion trends, songs or television series. There are, of course, exceptions.

While Hong Kong went crazy about Sam Hui Koon-kit's comeback concerts last year, people in Guangzhou were less enthusiastic when the 'God of Songs' held a concert there last Saturday. Local papers reported the Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Complex, where the concert was held, was only 70 per cent full.

According to the box office, the most and least expensive tickets (480 yuan and 100 yuan, respectively) sold out, but only 40 per cent of tickets priced at 280 yuan and 380 yuan were snapped up.

This may have been disheartening news for Hui, but he was also frustrated because he was forced to break his golden rule. Hui has always started his Hong Kong concerts on time, but was forced to start his Guangzhou show 30 minutes late because of a ticketing problem.

In fact, the concert was almost cancelled because it was originally sponsored by a casino, the name of which was printed on advance tickets.

The local government was furious because this could be interpreted as advocating gambling, so fans who had bought advance tickets had to queue to pass through a ticket-exchange counter to obtain new tickets before entering the stadium.