Despite the typhoon signal No8, cognac label Hennessy VSOP went ahead with a concert last night at the China Resources Building in Wan Chai. The event was open only to invited guests and people who had recently purchased bottles of the fine booze. Among the artists were rock band Until June, local rapper MC Jin (Jin Au-yeung, left), Taiwanese jazz artist Joanna Wang Ruo-lin (right) and British pop star Shayne Ward (centre). They met the press en masse on Monday afternoon for a casual Q&A as crews were finishing their construction work. With plastic coverings everywhere, the artists did their best to promote their sponsor with vocal jingles and a freestyle rhyme from Jin that name-checked Ward. It would have been quite impressive if it wasn't so cheesy. 'The show you better care what you're going to get with / coz what I've heard it's Shayne Ward I'll rap with.' Afterwards, we asked Jin if it was really improvised or did he write it in advance. The red-faced MC - who obviously had had at least a couple of VSOPs - replied: 'That's a secret.' Ward, who's been to Hong Kong five times already but still hasn't seen much beyond his hotel rooms, hoped to see some tourist sights before the gig. 'I am hoping tomorrow before the show I get to go sightseeing, just basically see Hong Kong for once, which I have never done before.'
