1986

A Night to Come Closer

THE audience became   twinkling little stars   for the superstar Leslie Cheung   in his Christmas concert    at the Hongkong Coliseum.

While the charming Leslie sang on stage, fans never stopped waving electric candles all around the coliseum while the laser light flashed around wonderfully.

The concert was not merely a night of Leslie's fantastic singing but also a night when we actually came closer to him.

When Leslie emerged on the star-shaped stage with the song Only Because of You, he impressed people no longer as the cute big boy, but as a mature gentleman full of the charm of a prince.

Although Leslie said that he was not good at speaking, he still talked a lot so that people would get to know more about this great friend.

"I seldom speak a lot, I just don't speak well. So I always sing instead," he said. Yet the warmth of fans broke his silence and Leslie expressed his thanks from the bottom of his heart.

 "I love you!", he said. And the expression was followed by the song Love Me More. Surely fans will not love him more, but love him most.

But who is his most beloved?

 "I have my idols too, but let me tell you in their songs," this was followed by the well-known melody of Lam's Who is the Most Beloved. George Lam was his favourite.

"So who is the most beloved lady, just wait," this was followed by the song Affinity by Paula Tsui, so you know what that meant.   Leslie could not miss saying something about Michael Lai, his tutor and godfather. Humorous Leslie called Michael the fat Gar-field while Michael called Leslie a big monkey.

After this conversation, a series of slow tempo hits and fast tempo numbers from the super idol drove all crazy. There were fans dancing on their seats, clapping hands, some even leaning over the hand rail in order to be closer to Leslie.

The fans became even more crazy when the beautiful dancers danced with their idol, the lucky dancers could stand so close while they had to sit quietly.  

The appearance of Leslie's special guest might be useful not only to add colour to the show, but also as a way to calm the fans down.

Eliza Chan was the guest for the first night, together they sang the song Afraid of Not Meeting Again which was a popular love song of the year. Anita Mui and Connie Mak were guests for different nights.

Love was the theme of another part of Leslie's performance, through a number of songs he told us his own love experience. To Leslie, it all started with The Love Fire.   Poor Leslie, how could fans bear to see him lost in love, so they just shouted double hard to show their care and love.

"Thank you!" was the heart-throbbing response from Leslie. He considered singing the new song You All Share My Heart while he was singing the hit Who Shares My Heart.

The concert ended rather early at 10 pm. The two-hour gathering with Leslie was of course not enough. So generous Leslie came out again to sing the pop song Stand Up.

Fans were not yet satisfied, a second encore was not objected to by Leslie, this time even more generous.

"OK! Just tell me what songs you want." Fans called out not less than 10 numbers. "Wah, I have to sing till the morning then. Luckily, Michael Lai had made a medley for me," he said.

The special thing was that Leslie ran around the coliseum to shake hands with fans during the medley. Girls went crazy, embracing and kissing Leslie, he nearly fell into their seats several times.

After the medley no one wanted to leave, a third encore brought Leslie in pink suit singing the song Striving Hard. That ended the concert in deep sensation.

South China Morning Post