Taiwanese singer A-mei (???) concluded the 12-night Taipei leg of her ASMR World Tour on Saturday night with an emotional thank-you speech to her fans and staff.
In tears, Asia’s Mandopop queen admitted during the speech as part of her curtain bow that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this being her first return to the venue in seven years, and persistent complaints that she and her team received from neighborhood residents had accumulated into a lot of stress for her.
“Even though there were obstacles along the way, which at times were somewhat ludicrous, I still don’t regret returning to Taipei Arena,” A-mei said.
While Taiwan’s COVID-19 cases were relatively low before late March, the outbreak began worsening from that point which meant A-mei had to open her first show on April 1 in the midst of rising cases.
Since then, her show has been plagued with accusations of being a possible source of cases dispersed around the country as several concertgoers later tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to their hometowns.
As the tour marked her first return to the arena for the first time since 2015, when residents in the area complained of noise pollution and panic-inducing vibrations during her “Utopia World Tour” concerts, A-mei and her team took extra precautions so that the same gripes would not be repeated.
While these precautions included reinforcing the singer’s performance stage, ensuring that the shows ended before 10:30 p.m., and A-mei replacing her live performance catchphrase “let’s bounce” with reminders such as “do not jump,” residents of the area still took to the internet and local media to voice the same complaints from 2015.
The singer’s fans, on the other hand, were also upset that the efforts of their idol had been received not with recognition, but with continued grievances, and that they themselves were asked to refrain from enjoying the shows too physically.
In response, the singer took to using humor to comfort her fans at Saturday’s show while assuring them that it will not be her last appearance at the venue. “I will not forget every one of your masked faces,” she said.
A-mei’s ASMR World Tour began with her 12-night “residency” at Taipei Arena, which started on April 1 and ended with Saturday’s show.
Prior to Saturday’s show, the singer’s publicity agent and concert producer Isaac Chen (???) said that the tour could come to Kaohsiung by the end of the year.
The Mandopop queen addressed Chen’s announcement in her speech as well, stating, “Wherever you guys (fans) are, that is where my concerts will be.”
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel