Sodagreen picks Hong Kong as first stop for upcoming world tour

Taiwanese band Sodagreen held their press conference in Hong Kong and revealed the reason why the city will be the first stop in their upcoming world tour.

Words by Imagine TV Network

Fielding questions about why Sodagreen (蘇打綠) chose Hong Kong for their only press conference for the tour instead of Taiwan, Wu Tsing-Fong (吳青峯), lead vocalist of the band, remarked that the city holds a special place in their hearts. 

Elaborating, Wu shared that Hong Kong was the first city outside of Taiwan that they performed in, and said they received affirmation for their music from the fans.

As an added benefit for their Hong Kong fans, on 11 January 2014, the band also held an hour-long 'live' performance at Olympian City in West Kowloon.

The upcoming AIR world tour (空氣中的視聽與幻覺世界巡迴演唱會) will see the band depart on a 10-city tour in countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Mainland China. The 10-city tour is also a throwback to the band celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and the first concert is slated to be held in April this year.

A spokesperson from AMC Live Group, the organizer for the band's tour, shared that the band will hold two concerts in each city during the seven-month-long tour.

Sharing his thoughts about the band's 10-year journey, band leader A-Fu (何景揚) said he feels very lucky to have had the same six members in the band and electric guitarist Liu Jia-Kai (劉家凱) agreed, adding that he has given one-third of his life to the band.

For someone who did not harbor dreams of becoming a singer or forming a band, Wu commented that how everything developed had gone beyond his imagination and on a philosophical level, he felt he had gained a lot from the band's growth. The singer also added that the existence of the band led him to believe in the power of fate.

The oldest member of the band, drummer A-wei (史俊威), said he cherished the time the band had together but does not find a decade to be neither long nor short. The only female member in the group, bassist Xie Xin-Yi (謝馨儀) called their decade together a time of "learning from experience" and shared that many moments from these 10 years are kept in her heart.

Violist and keyboardist A-Gong (龔鈺祺) said that he views the decade as one where the band went through milestone moments together, referencing the band being the first artiste from an independent label to perform at Taipei Arena. They join the list of other big-name artistes like Taiwanese singers A-mei, Jay Chou, Jolin Tsai, S.H.E, and foreign artistes like Super Junior, Ayumi Hamasaki, Backstreet Boys, and Jacky Cheung who have held concerts at the multi-purpose venue which has a seating capacity of up to 15,000.

During the press conference, Adrian Leong, CEO of AMC Live Group, shared that he is grateful for the opportunity to organize the band's music tour and said that the standard he set for himself is not merely to pull off a successful series of concerts. He emphasized that fans of the band will not be neglected and said that special effort will be made for fans to be part of the show.

Asked if the band are keen to break their previous sales record in Hong Kong by selling out within 30 minutes, Wu joked and said that he hoped to make a new record of 29 minutes. Later, on a more serious note, he added that what eventually matters is for the band to make good music.