festival succeeds with its inaugural event next weekend - and that looks likely, with almost all of the 12,000 tickets pre-sold - it may provide an answer to the question of what kind of large-scale Chinese pop music festival is right for Hong Kong.
Summer music festivals are the norm throughout the world. Japan, South Korea, mainland China and Taiwan all have events that can draw up to 40,000 fans for a weekend of music. Even in Singapore and Malaysia, festivals are popping up that can attract 10,000 or more.
While Hong Kong's home-grown Clockenflap festival attracts thousands of alternative music fans towards the end of each year, the city has never played host to a large-scale Chinese music festival. Shen Kwan-yuan, a 30-year veteran of Taiwan's music industry and the founder of Spring Wave, hopes to change that.
Spring Wave is one of a half-dozen major Taiwanese music festivals and is arguably the leader when it comes to Chinese pop. Since 2006, it has attracted about 20,000 fans a year in southern Taiwan, outdoing even the older, more famous Spring Scream, which is held at the same time.
In Taiwan, the event is known for its star power, expensive stage set-ups and party-like atmosphere. Headliners have typically achieved celebrity status and have won plenty of music industry awards. They can play their own instruments and are inclined towards a rock sound. The roster of past acts includes bands Mayday and Sodagreen and singers Wu Bai, Crowd Lu and Fish Leong.
Spring Wave expanded this year, and Hong Kong and Singapore are its first franchise events. The Singapore debut in May showcased six Mando-pop stars and attracted about 5,000 fans.
This Saturday in Hong Kong, Taiwanese artists Cheer Chen, A-Yue, MC Hotdog, Jam Hsiao and Jia Jia will join Khalil Fong on a huge outdoor stage in the West Kowloon Cultural District.
