Singer Pong Nan vows to ‘keep performing’ after West Kowloon arts hub axes Jan venue booking
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong Cantopop singer Pong Nan has vowed to “keep performing,” after his concert scheduled for next January was axed due to a venue cancellation by the city’s art hub. West Kowloon Cultural District said they had no comment on the matter.
Nan broke his silence on Sunday, two days after Sunchase Productions announced it would call off a concert marking 20 years since his local music scene debut. The 46-year-old apologised to fans who bought tickets, especially those who planned to travel from abroad to see the performance.
“You can stop a show, but you cannot stop me. I will keep creating, keep singing and keep performing as usual,” the singer – known for his support of the 2019 anti-extradition bill movement – wrote on Instagram.
Nan’s concert was originally scheduled to perform between January 3 and January 5. The singer had booked The Box, the city’s largest blackbox theatre at the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD). It can accommodate up to 450 spectators. Tickets for the concert went on sale in mid-November.
But Sunchase Productions said last Friday that they received a written notice from the West Kowloon Cultural District on November 27, informing them that the booking for Nan’s concert was cancelled.
Both Nan and the production agency did not mention whether the art hub had provided an explanation for the cancellation.
A vinyl record by Nan – who is openly gay – will continue to roll out in December as planned, while a limited edition of Nan’s EP single boys! and other merchandise would be sold through alternative methods, Sunchase Productions said.
Ticket holders were told to refer to an email for refund details.
WKCD told HKFP last Friday that it had no comment on the hiring arrangements for any individual events.
The art hub is governed and developed by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, a statutory body founded by the Hong Kong government in 2008 under the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Ordinance.
The authority is governed by a board chaired by former finance chief Henry Tang. Board members included Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui, lawmakers and barristers.
Venue cancellations
It is not the first time a pro-democracy musician in Hong Kong has encountered venue cancellations for their shows. In May, activist-singer Denise Ho announced that she would move her performance online after having been unable to secure a live venue. Police showed up during the online gig.
The singer, who was arrested in 2021 in connection with the Stand News sedition case, said it was very difficult for her to do a “normal show” in an “abnormal place.”
Ho was convicted and fined in November 2022 for failing to register the 612 Humanitarian Fund – a legal fund for pro-democracy demonstrators which she was a trustee of – as a society under the Societies Ordinance.
In May 2023, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre refused to lease its venue to pro-democracy Cantopop singer Anthony Wong. The singer said he was initially notified in January that year that his application to book a venue was successful.
But the company managing the venue later told the singer that they could not proceed with the event, without giving any reason.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
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