When an international pop star is due to hold a concert in a country, most people, especially fans, would typically be excited.
But that wasn’t entirely the case for Mandopop star Jay Chou, who will be having a concert at a stadium in Malaysia soon.
His upcoming show has apparently resulted in a seat shortage for a highly-anticipated semi-final football match between Malaysia and Thailand. Fans have been very vocal about their displeasure, sparking responses from the country’s leaders.
Now, Chou himself has addressed the matter, stating that he would be fine with postponing his concert. However, he’s unsure if the Malaysian football association and venue management will be open to the idea.
After defeating Singapore 4-1, the Malaysian football team will be facing Thailand in the semi-finals of the ASEAN Football Federation Cup (AFF) today (7 Jan).
The match will take place at Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia.
Despite having a capacity of over 87,000, only 59,000 tickets were available for the match.
The reason for the limitation turned out to be the upcoming Jay Chou concert on 15 Jan. Apparently, 21,000 seats had to be cordoned off to make way for a stage installation.
Source: @hannahyeoh on Twitter
Unhappy about the situation, football fans took to social media to ask the Taiwanese star to postpone or cancel his concert.
Source: @jaychou on Instagram
On Thursday (5 Jan), Malaysia’s Minister for Youth & Sports took to Twitter to provide some additional context to the situation.
She explained that Chou and his team had booked the venue for the concert four years ago, on 13 Mar 2019.
On the other hand, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) only booked the stadium on 18 Aug 2022.
According to Ms Yeoh, the stage installation involved 500 local and 185 foreign crew members.
The work, which had been delayed for 2.5 days by the AFF match, reportedly required 14 days for them to complete.
The setup is evidently a complex one, reportedly comprising “200 speakers and 800 lights”.
On Friday (6 Jan), Chou took to Instagram to address the situation.
In an Instagram story addressing Malaysian football fans, the 43-year-old said he understands how much the game means to them. Therefore, he won’t mind postponing the concert.
However, he stressed that the most important thing is whether FAM and the venue organisers would be agreeable to the arrangement.
Chou stressed that he merely wants to sing for his fans and hopes everyone will be happy after attending his concert.
Source: @jaychou on Instagram
For now, the authorities have acceded to fans’ requests to install large screens that’ll broadcast the matches ‘live’ for public viewing.
The screens will be at 14 locations across the country, so more people can enjoy the match.
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Featured image adapted from @jaychou on Instagram and @hannahyeoh on Twitter.
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