Harbour Best

Air Supply was better than I expected. A lot better than I expected. Their hundred-minute performance was more than good enough to compensate for the 50 minutes before they stepped on the stage.

To everyone's surprise, the show started on time, but only because Eason Chan had a movie premiere to attend in Wan Chai at 9:30. He sang three of his latest billboard tops, then left the stage to Ronald Cheng to kill but another 15 minutes.

Because the audience wasn't told, what could have been called an intermission was just a really long wait. We thought the band would come out as soon as the equipment was set, who knew that meant 20 minutes of looking at the blacked out stage and two huge-ass TV panels showing nothing but the Harbour Fest logos while listening to "The Beatles Greatest Hits" play on the PA system.

Special lighting and sound effects plus the Air Supply's charisma made the performance of the previous two look like rehearsals for a highschool open day.

Unlike Eason Chan who decided it added a personal touch to perform in his pajamas, Graham and Russell went backstage midway into their show and changed into what looked like old ladies' pajamas, while Jonni Lightfoot carried out a phenomenal solo that could have been a show on its own.

I haven't seen Hong Kongers so hyper since July 1st. Most of us were on our feet, clapping or waving to the beat. I didn't know all the songs the band sang, but it was not hard to indulge myself in the music. Though at several instants the attention of my friends and me were direced to the waving asses of the fans in front of us.

And as I had expected, people do leave the show halfway, even though the tickets (as far as I know) were not free, and yet other people who stay till the end could still manage to not know what they had just seen. On the way out I overheard a guy asking his companion "I know that was Eason Chan who performed first, but who was that other guy?"

The ticket sales of last night's show were probably the best in Harbour Fest records so far. My guess is that they will remain the best throughout the rest of the fest. Sure, the Stones are big. But which Hong Konger wouldn't rather spend that budget on half an LV bag?!

But then, which government would spend a hundred mil on rock concerts?!