Character introduction:
Zhai Yi, a musician, music critic, and performance planner, has interviewed and witnessed Jacky Cheung's music journey at different times, and also hosted the press conference of Jacky Cheung's world tour. Since 2001, he has witnessed Jacky Cheung's six world tours and participated in hosting and hosting Jacky Cheung's concerts.
Erdong, I started to like Jacky Cheung in 1990. I bought almost all of Jacky Cheung’s albums and watched his concert in Shanghai in 1994. Since then, I have watched almost every concert of Jacky Cheung in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau and other cities. and musical theater performances.
Zhai Yi: Because when Jacky Cheung held the "1/2 Century Concert" tour in 2010, that is, when he was about to turn 50, in order to prove his status, he and his dance teacher came up with the idea of doing a "one-word horse" , he could not do this action before, but he successfully did it during that tour.
Another most important reason is that the song "Yueba Nuqie" from the new album "Private Corner" was sung at that round of concerts. The title of the song is actually the two words "Fat Sister" separated, Jacky Cheung's life Zhonghe and "Fat Sister" Shen Dianxia are very good friends, and this song is also in memory of this good friend.
"Horse" is Shum Dianxia's signature move. In order to better interpret "Yueba Nuqi" and pay tribute to Shum Dianxia, Jacky Cheung will perform the "Horse" move when singing this song during this tour.
But after the "1/2 Century Concert" tour, the "Jacky Cheung Classic Tour Concert" and "Jacky Cheung 60+ Tour" held later, "Yi Zi Ma" was no longer a fixed link, but Jacky Cheung was chatting The interactive session talks about inspirational topics, such as encouraging everyone to be brave enough to chase their dreams, or showing everyone that they are in a good state and have the ability to control the stage. Occasionally, they will do a "one-word horse" again.
So in fact, Jacky Cheung has not done this action in every concert in the past few years. If you can see it, you are lucky.
Zhai Yi: I think Jacky Cheung is not only a "god of singing", but also a "god of dancing". During his "Music Journey" world tour in 2002-2003, he sang and danced to 5 songs, showing his perfect dance skills at the age of 40, when he was at his peak.
Jacky Cheung not only knows modern dance, he is also very good at jazz dance and Latin dance. He has never been stingy in showing off his dancing talent in different tours.
Of course, time flies. After more than 20 years, we can’t expect him to dance as vigorously as he did at the age of 40. But now Jacky Cheung has formed his own dance style, although maybe the speed and rhythm now are slightly slower than he did 20 years ago. A little, but more mature than when he was young, integrating jazz, Latin, musicals, modern dance and many other dance types, coupled with his own talent and hard work, physical condition and temperament charm, his dance You will be more energetic, and your every move will be full of personal charm.
Zhai Yi: Jacky Cheung has been the artistic director of concerts since the musical "Snow Wolf Lake". The concert's lighting, sound, costumes, styling, stage, stage design, video and other aspects are all handled by a dedicated team. Jacky Cheung's personal opinions are also included, and his personal artistic aesthetic will definitely be incorporated into the presentation of his works.
For example, the art director and costume design master Xi Zhongwen with whom he collaborates most often is responsible for the styling of many first-line artists in Hong Kong. Some of the looks Xi Zhongwen designed for Jacky Cheung in the early years were actually very out of the ordinary and advanced.
Just like that year's "Music Tour" tour, Xi Zhongwen designed Jacky Cheung with short hair dyed blonde, and this was also the look on the poster. At that time, everyone's impression of Jacky Cheung was still in the "Four Heavenly Kings" period, which was the mainstream image of cleanness and sunshine. Therefore, when many performance companies saw this look, they went to the tour manager and proposed to change the poster and image. But in this case, Jacky Cheung insisted on using Xi Zhongwen's design, and this look that seemed very avant-garde at the time was also used during the concert. In fact, when we look at this look now, it is also fashionable and not out of date. So at this point you can see that Jacky Cheung has a very advanced aesthetic sense.
Erdong: During the first few years of Jacky Cheung's debut, for example, when he released the album "Smile", his voice was slightly hoarse and thick. Later, starting from "Love You More Every Day", he should have hired a vocal teacher to learn and adjust. When you lose your articulation and breath, your voice will become brighter. Watching his concerts in the past few years, I feel that it may be related to his age and concert status. Now his voice is not as bright as before. Bass will always be his strong point, and the treble will be somewhat different from before.
Zhai Yi: From what I know about him, if there is a difference, he can only compare with himself. He must have put in more effort than when he was young. In other words, in order to prepare for the concert, he practiced vocals and exercised physical fitness. He has put in a lot of effort and the most important thing is that he is very self-disciplined.
First of all, he does not smoke or drink in life, and his diet is very light. Then he does not attend commercial activities. You will not see him attending commercial performances or concerts. He puts all his energy on his records and his performances. superior.
If there is any difference now, I think the only difference is that he is more self-disciplined and more attentive than he was back then.
Zhai Yi: Jacky Cheung will first try to ensure his rest time as much as possible, focus more on rest and exercise, eat healthily, and avoid unnecessary social activities. To put it bluntly, he is still self-disciplined.
Many people may not know that Jacky Cheung has not been infected with COVID-19 yet. You may think it's because he has less contact with people, but that's not the case. Because as a singer, he must ensure his health. He cannot catch a cold. How can he sing for everyone if he catches a cold?
Zhai Yi: Many singers will be asked about their impressions of this city. They may check out the attractions, but Jacky Cheung is not like that. His itinerary is always the airport, hotel and performance venue, so from my perspective I will I feel he is lonely.
But he had no choice. He had to let himself be lonely to ensure his singing status and health. His loneliness brought happiness and excitement to every one of our fans.
Zhai Yi: I saw some fans saying that the playlist was cold, and many people didn’t understand it. What I want to say is that if you like a singer, you have to accept the different works of the singer in an album, and the album will have them. The title song and some slightly less popular songs.
And in fact, the songs in this round of "60+" are not unpopular. For example, "Can't Help It" and "ooh la la" were the title songs of his albums at the time, but we didn't know much about these albums at the time.
Actually, Jacky Cheung’s playlist for this round of “60+” tour has changed. He has slowly added some relatively familiar works. When it comes to playlists, he's not one to stick to rules or stay the same.
For example, during one of his tours, on April 1, he sang a cover of "The Wind Keeps Blowing" in memory of Leslie Cheung. This round of "60+" was held in Quanzhou. Because "Flowers" was a hit, he sang "Stealing Heart" again after many years. He sometimes brought some surprises to everyone.
must have his own ideas in the playlist, and he will also listen to some opinions from everyone, but everything is still subject to the theme of the entire concert. He will not change the playlist for the sake of the market, but based on his own artistic ideas. Cognition and aesthetics, make appropriate changes.
Zhai Yi: One of the characteristics of Jacky Cheung's "60+" tour is the use of a large string arrangement, and a string orchestra with 53 members was invited to accompany it.
Jacky Cheung respects his partners very much and is very approachable. At every performance, he will introduce the names and instrumental roles of 53 people to the fans at the venue. You may think that he will naturally remember it after performing 100 performances, but in fact, he can accurately call every member of the string orchestra by name from the first performance.
Jacky Cheung is very down-to-earth and willing to communicate with everyone. Among the 53 people in the string orchestra, only one is older than him, and the others are all younger. Jacky Cheung will respectfully call them artists.
If he goes to the hometown of a certain string orchestra member, he will specially introduce it to everyone. For example, if a horn player is from Chengdu, Jacky Cheung will deliberately tell the Chengdu audience that he is an artist from Chengdu and let the audience cheer for him.
Zhai Yi: In the past, when we talked about someone imitating Jacky Cheung in the imitation show, they would imitate his orchid fingers. The orchid finger is an action designed by Jacky Cheung during the "Music Tour" tour. He would do the orchid finger when his hands shook when singing. The first time he did this action was during that tour. But then I no longer saw him doing orchid fingers on stage. His middle finger and thumb would not pinch together. He would have his own hand movements, but in fact he had changed his hand shape and it was no longer orchid fingers.
Zhai Yi: There is such a rumor on the Internet that Jacky Cheung’s concerts will not sell seats in row 8 and 26 because a terminally ill fan grabbed a seat in row 8 and 26 at one of Jacky Cheung’s concerts. But in the end, he died of illness before the concert started. After Jacky Cheung accidentally learned of this incident, in order to commemorate the fan, he decided not to sell this seat at any concert in the future and leave it to the fans in heaven.
But I have witnessed his six rounds of tours. As far as I know, there is actually no such thing. I have never seen it. This should be just a beautiful legend imagined by fans.
Erdong: Jacky Cheung once said that his agent and friends suggested that apple juice is close to human saliva, so it can moisturize his throat and have the function of soothing his throat. Eating apples can make him sing. The song is better. It may sound a bit ridiculous, but he was indeed chewing an apple and singing at the same time during the concert.
Zhai Yi: The stage settings and special effects of Jacky Cheung’s world tour concert are very beautiful, but some of the more stunning effects will be canceled in some cities for safety reasons. For example, the "Jacky Cheung Classic Concert" was originally designed to have a fire-breathing effect, but later it was changed to a jet, and some pyrotechnic effects were not visible.
Erdong: It was at the Shanghai Stadium in 1994. I was still in high school at the time, and I finally got a ticket to go to the concert. The seat I sat in seemed to be on the top floor. In today’s terms, it was like watching the concert on the top of the mountain. That winter was not too cold that year, and it was considered a warm winter theme. The title song of the entire concert was "This Winter Is Not Too Cold."
Erdong: At that time, the Shanghai Stadium had not been renovated. It was a very small venue with a four-sided stage, a bit like the Hung Hom Stadium in Hong Kong. I remember when he was singing and dancing to the song "This Winter Is Not Too Cold", one of the backup dancers seemed to be dancing too hard and torn his clothes. His rotator cuff opened. Jacky Cheung patted the dancer on the shoulder and said: " Wow, I danced so hard that my clothes were torn." Not only did he make all the fans laugh, he also saved the audience. He was a very nice person.
Erdong: At the "Classic Tour" concert in Hung Hom, Hong Kong, when Jacky Cheung sang "She Came to My Concert", he said that he had a self-portrait he drew in his hand, and then when the camera panned to where , hoping that every couple and partner can react and interact in some way, such as kissing or hugging, and the one who gets the most applause will give this painting to him.
So when he sang this song, the atmosphere in the whole restaurant was very good. Different shots would be scrolling on the big screen, and couples would appear to watch his concert. It was very romantic.
Erdong: I don’t think he said it very clearly before. He just said that he would sing until he is old and sing until he can no longer sing. I really think he is a very dedicated singer. This time I went to see the Macau performance of the "60+" tour. He made an agreement with the fans on the spot that he would sing to 70+.
Zhai Yi: Jacky Cheung cares about his fans and is happy to interact with them. Every time he arrives in a city, his fans will actually go to meet him when he gets off the bus. He will interact with the fans to say hello, take photos or clap with everyone. Then he would ask his assistant to pick up the gifts that fans gave him, and he would also read the letters that fans gave him.When fans asked him to sign posters and records, he would sign them himself very seriously, and he would never sign them with someone else's hand. He also takes care of the fans' feelings. For example, when fans go to his hotel to wait for him, he will also greet them and take photos with them. In short, he will try his best to satisfy the fans' desire for interaction if he can do it.
