Hong Kong to become ‘must play’ tour destination

Kai Tak Sports Park chief John Sharkey says Hong Kong is on its way to becoming a “must play” destination for international stars after hosting its first stadium concerts in 25 years.

The ASM Global-operated $4 billion multipurpose complex launched with the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens at the end of March on the site of the former Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon.

The 28-hectare site in the Chinese special administrative region features a 50,000-capacity main stadium with a retractable roof, a 10,000-cap indoor arena and a 5,000-cap sports ground.

“Hong Kong is such a densely urban city with tons of high-rise buildings, so the city’s social approach to life is that it tries to be very careful about noise,” Sharkey tells IQ. “There have been no stadium concerts for the last 25 years as a result, but by closing the roof we are able to keep the sound in, as well as protecting ourselves from the rain and air condition the building in a very hot, humid climate.”

Sharkey, who was previously EVP of European operations for ASM and predecessor SMG until departing in 2021, served as project manager of the scheme during its development.

“I headed up the project through the bid and then moved across to the client side,” says the Scot. “It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it’s been really good.”

“It really brings Hong Kong back onto the calendar for touring – especially international stadium touring”

The stadium held its first official gigs last month with Coldplay – who played four sellout Music of the Spheres shows – and has since staged three nights with Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor Nicholas Tse. It also has four concerts booked with rock band Mayday (9-11 & 13 May), two shows with Singaporean artist JJ Lin (24-25 May) and a three-night stint by Taiwanese singer-songwriter Jay Chou (27-29 June).

“It really brings Hong Kong back onto the calendar for touring – especially international stadium touring,” says Sharkey. “But the arena itself is a cracking venue as well. We’ve got a lot of K-pop going in there and a lot of music award ceremonies as well. Between K-pop, J-pop, local Chinese acts and music awards – as well as international – it’s really interesting. There are artists I’d never heard about before I came here that are selling 200,000 tickets in a heartbeat.

“We’ve got a couple of irons in the fire at the moment, which hopefully we’re going to be able to announce in the next month or so. Again, they’ll make a statement internationally about Hong Kong, which is great. But equally, we want to cater for the local market as well, so it’s about trying to make sure we’ve got that balance.”

The Coldplay concerts were set up a couple of years ago with Singapore-based promoter Dennis Argenzia of Live Nation APAC. But with the stadium’s completion delayed due to Covid, it became a race to the finish line.

“We met in Hong Kong and talked about what would be a really good potential opener for Kai Tak, and you get to that difficult time where they need a guarantee that the venue is going to be ready,” says Sharkey. “At some point you’ve got to take a leap of faith, so we did that about a year ago and then the shows went on sale. But you get to that last three to five months and it’s squeaky bum time trying to make sure you’re going to be finished in time.”

“In the past, Hong Kong has been seen as a big financial centre, and now it’s about creating sustainable tourism and cultural events”

Kai Tak Sports Park was required by the government to undertake a series of “stress test” events prior to its formal opening, the last of which saw all three venues across the complex utilised simultaneously by 63,000 participants.

“They wanted us to do it at more than 100% of what we were going to be operating with normally,” explains Sharkey. “They wanted a full stadium, a full arena, a full public sports ground, so that was full-on.”

Tickets for the Coldplay concerts were priced between HK$399 (€46) and HK$6,599 (€755), while a range of concert + hotel packages were offered via a partnership with Hong Kong-based travel company Klook, bringing obvious economic benefits for the territory.

“For both Coldplay and for Nicholas Tse, there were also a lot of ticket sales coming from the mainland,” adds Sharkey. “You had a lot of people either coming in to stay the night, or going back because the public transport infrastructure here is just unbelievable. And we had the best part of a couple of thousand people on duty whose jobs didn’t exist before Kai Tak, so you’ve got the multiplier effect of that spend in the local economy.

“We’re looking at the mother grid infrastructure at the minute to try and make it really easy to bring your production into the venue, and basically make it much easier to be able to tour.”

The world’s third-ranked global financial centre, Hong Kong is already home to festivals such as Clockenflap as well as the 14,000-seater AsiaWorld-Expo, which has upcoming shows with Hans Zimmer Live, Ado, BabyMonster and Taeyeon, among others.

However, the market suffered a blow with the closure of the KITEC (Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre) last year. The complex housed the 3,600-cap Music Zone, which hosted acts such as Tom Odell and Laufey. Nevertheless, Sharkey is convinced of Kai Tak’s transformative potential for the region.

“In the past, Hong Kong has been seen as a big financial centre, and now it’s about creating sustainable tourism and cultural events,” finishes Sharkey. “I think that becomes a big part of Hong Kong’s power play going forward. It’s got money – without a doubt, it’s got money – and a really good target market. We’ve got 8 million people in Hong Kong and 86 million people within a two-hour journey. That’s a target rich audience for anybody.”

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