◎爱地人
On the evening of April 20, Singaporean female singer Xu Meijing's "'Dream' Xu Meijing Meet and Greet Concert" became a hot search because a large number of viewers in the venue shouted "Refund". This is different from other recent singers' concerts that are still talked about by fans and have endless aftertaste after the end. Although
is no longer a popular singer and has not released a new album for 24 years, the name Xu Meijing is the memory of many people's youth. Xu Meijing participated in the Miss Chinese Singapore Competition in 1992 and won the "Miss Friendship" and "Miss Most Photogenic" titles and made her debut. But in fact, unlike many youth idols, Xu Meijing simply moves people with her songs. Her influence on fans comes from singing her works one by one.
Therefore, when such a singer makes fans disillusioned because of a performance, people can't help but think of a song that Xu Meijing sang herself - "Regret".
Concert became a meet-and-greet to steal the concept or deceive
Review of Xu Meijing’s performance in Nanjing. Of the more than two hours of performance, only about half an hour of Xu Meijing’s performance was performed by herself; the other half hour was led by band members The entire audience performed Xu Meijing's masterpieces, including classics such as "Regret" and "Moonlight in the City", while Xu Meijing herself only accompanied her on the side of the stage; must-sing songs such as "Sunshine Always After the Storm" were given to the audience to sing in chorus . In addition to this, the agent and the audience interacted and chatted for an hour. Because the singer's solo performance was too short, the fans at the venue called for "refunds", and the manager responded with "You're dreaming" on the spot, which further aggravated the conflict on and off the stage.
Strictly speaking, Xu Meijing's performance in Nanjing this time is called "'Dream' Xu Meijing Meet and Greet Concert", not a concert. I don’t know if this is intentional by the organizers or if there are other reasons. Because from the perspective of the performance market, there is a fundamental difference between a singer's meeting with fans and a singer's personal concert.
Concerts, generally known as meet-and-greets, are usually exchange meetings held by singers before and after the release of their albums, similar to fan meetings - some are free of charge, and some also sell tickets, but the ticket prices are not very high. The content of the meet-and-greet is mainly interactive communication between singers and fans, and there will also be live performances of works. However, meetings like this kind of fan club are generally not very large in scale, with dozens to hundreds of people being common. Bands are also often the simplest set-ups, sometimes with just one keyboardist or guitarist.
This time, the "'Dream' Xu Meijing Meeting Concert" was held at Nanjing Wutaishan Gymnasium, a venue with a capacity of 10,000 people. Ticket prices include four levels: 380, 680, 980, and 1,280 yuan. We use Liang Jingru’s concert in Shenzhen on May 25 as a reference: the pricing of Liang Jingru’s concert is 599, 899, 1299 and 1599 yuan respectively. Although it is a bit higher than Xu Meijing's concert, the two are very close. Xu Meijing's concert this time will also feature a full orchestra, including a professional harmony group, and the organizer has promised in advance that a minimum of 15 songs will be performed (other people may participate). Therefore, in terms of venue level, number of tracks, stage preparation, and especially ticket pricing, this is a standard concert.
In other words, it was originally supposed to be a concert. In the end, it didn't turn out to be a decent concert, which can only be said to be the organizer's problem. If this is a "meet-and-greet concert" to secretly change the concept, one would have to speculate that the original intention of the performance was to consume feelings, and it might even be suspected of deliberate deception.
Concerts also have pros and cons. How to avoid low-quality concerts
Going to concerts on weekends has become a way of life for many young people. There are so many concerts in the entire performance market, how to choose?
First of all, of course, you have to choose the singer you like. Don’t blindly follow the people around you or even be misled by some marketing. Choosing a singer that suits you is always the most important thing - tickets are really not cheap these days. Secondly, you still need to look for a reliable performance company, which at least has guarantees and after-sales service. If you encounter a problem, it can be solved as soon as possible.Then there is another very important point, that is, the audience also needs to have some knowledge about watching concerts in order to better appreciate the concert.
In fact, whether the quality of the concert is high or not can be predicted from the "title" before seeing it.
Generally speaking, singers usually "title" their large-scale concerts in two ways: one is like the ongoing Li Ronghao concert. The theme of this tour is "Across the World", which is also his latest concert. The name of the album. After releasing an album, it is also a common practice in the international music scene to hold a tour with the same name as the album. These singers often use the works of the new album as the main body, plus previous classic works. This type of concert is a live demonstration of the singer's current musical expression.
The other one is like the current "Jacky Cheung 60+ Concert" and Eason Chan's "Fearanddreams World Tour Concert". They all set up a separate concept for a concert and complete the selection of tracks on this basis. This kind of large-scale tour often uses the same stage, lighting settings and band configuration, but slightly changes the track list according to the different cities where the performance is performed. In recent years, when some singers and bands hold concerts that span several years, or even two or three years, due to the further upgrade of the stage, they often add labels such as upgraded version or 2.0 to the original tour name to explain This is both a continuation of the original tour and an upgrade. A concert with an independent concept like
is completed by the singer and the team with the attitude of producing a complete work, so the quality is definitely guaranteed. Because what they are doing is not a one-time transaction, but a long-term business, which avoids the possibility of making a profit and leaving.
Looking back at this "'Dream' Xu Meijing Meet and Greet Concert", it is undoubtedly a motley crew and guerrilla in the performance market. This is not to say that this kind of concert that is not a tour and lacks an independent concept is necessarily bad, but it is very risky. After all, if a team prepares high-standard stage design and equipment just for a concert or a concert without long-term planning, it will incur higher costs than a tour. Therefore, this also prevents the organizers from spending more manpower and material resources on this single performance, and basically uses fast-moving consumer goods to produce it.
However, even for fast-moving consumer goods, at least more than a dozen songs should be sung by singers, so that fans can activate their youthful memories in live singing and satisfy their own feelings. A situation like Xu Meijing's performance in Nanjing this time is really a bit excessive.
Most of the youth born in the 1980s have a song called Xu Meijing
Although when it comes to Singapore's national treasure singers, people first think of Kit Chan, but when it comes to influence in the mainland, Xu Meijing is undoubtedly the Singaporean singer who has sung more songs.
In 1994, Xu Meijing made her official debut in Singapore with the song "Ming Zhi". Her singing soon caught the attention of the famous musician Li Zongsheng, who even made a special trip to Singapore to sign this potential rising star first. However, based on her trust in her mentor and producer Chen Jiaming, Xu Meijing finally signed a contract with "Shanghua Records" in Taiwan in 1996, and because the latter used the more international channels of "PolyGram Records", she was allowed to The song finally became popular throughout the Chinese world.
In more than four years from 1996 to 2000, Xu Meijing successively released albums such as "Regret", "We Are Home at Night", "Spread", "Good Meijing", "Happy Guilty" and "Static". Her sometimes sad and sometimes bright, sometimes depressing and sometimes inspirational singing voice has also healed the hearts of many people through works such as "Regret", "Moonlight in the City", "Sunshine Always After the Storm", "Border 1999" and other works.
Due to the large number of singing works released in a short period of time, Xu Meijing has also been accepted by the Hong Kong music scene, and even created Cantonese songs for her including "Allure", becoming one of the few from non-Cantonese speaking areas to be able to release Cantonese in Hong Kong Album singer.However, because the last album "Static" was not successful in music transformation, especially the lack of popular hits compared to the past, resulting in poor sales; in addition, "Shanghua International" was sold by Taiwan's "Shanghai International" in 2000. After the "Universal Music" merger and acquisition, the contracts of its artists were re-signed. After the "Static" album, Xu Meijing neither renewed her contract nor signed a new contract, thus effectively bidding farewell to the music scene.
Most of the news about Xu Meijing that came after that was negative news. It is precisely because the gap between the peak and the trough is so strong that many fans have more sympathy for Xu Meijing. Even if she has not made a new work for many years, they are still willing to wait for such an opportunity for her to come back. Therefore, when Xu Meijing came back to hold a concert in Nanjing in 2019, and when she performed on the same stage with Li Yuchun in the "I Want to Sing with You" program this year, many fans came to support her.
However, whether this meeting or concert in 2024 ended up like this, it can only be said to be a huge regret.
picture source/Shenzhen Archaic Culture official Weibo
