Jay Chou offers to postpone Malaysia concert over Asian Football Federation tournament

Jay Chou has offered to postpone his upcoming Malaysia concert as concerns over the use of Bukit Jalil National Stadium continue due to the ongoing Asian Football Federation (AFF) tournament.

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Chou’s January 15 concert has become a subject of controversy due to the Harimau Malaya national football team’s progress in the Asian Football Federation tournament. Concerns arose over the recently-played first leg semi-finals match between Malaysia and Thailand this past Saturday (January 7) as only 59,000 tickets were available despite the stadium’s capacity of 87,411.

The ticket shortage was due to the stage structure for Chou’s January 15 concert, which is currently being installed, blocking approximately 21,000 seats in stadium.

In a series of now-expired Instagram Stories posted on January 6 (via Malay Mail), the Mandopop star told Malaysian football fans, “Malaysian football fans, I know how important football is to you. I can postpone my concert, it’s not a problem.”

“But the most important thing is, you should be asking the football association or the venue management whether they allow me to postpone the concert. I don’t have a problem with it as long as I can sing to my fans,” he concluded.

The match would eventually progress with no further alterations. However, should the football team progress in the final of the tournament by winning the second leg of the Malaysia and Thailand match set to be held tonight (January 10), the final may be held at the Bukit Jalil stadium on January 16, the day after Chou’s concert.

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman told Timesport (via New Straits Times) on January 8 that should the team proceed to the finals, the association will immediately contact the stadium management over the issue. “If possible, we want to keep Bukit Jalil as our venue if we reach the final, but that would require assurances from the stadium (officials) and huge manpower support to work immediately after the concert,” he said, adding that no arrangements had been made.

However, the secretary-general acknowledged that it would be impossible to remove all the concert structures within 24 hours, with the FAM currently looking at a 50,000 capacity for the finals.

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has also weighed in on the issue with a tweet that clarified that Chou’s team had made their stadium booking on March 13 in 2019, while the FAM booked the venue on August 18 last year, further revealing that Chou’s team had delayed their setup by several days to accommodate the January 7 match.

Makluman
1)Booking stadium konsert Jay Chou World Tour dibuat 13 Mac 2019 manakala AFF 2022 oleh FAM dibuat 18 Ogos 2022.

2)Konsert perlu 14 hari pasang pentas oleh 500 krew+185 krew antarabangsa, 45 jentera berat, 200 speaker & 800 lampu. Mereka dah delay 2.5hari bagi ruang AFF pic.twitter.com/45lV5dZLu5

— Hannah Yeoh (@hannahyeoh) January 5, 2023

Yeoh called both events of “international standard”, telling the New Straits Times that either event cannot simply be cancelled.

NME has reached out to the organisers of Jay Chou’s Malaysian concert for comment regarding the possibility of postponing the show.

The post Jay Chou offers to postpone Malaysia concert over Asian Football Federation tournament appeared first on NME.