CotaiArena September 19

Taiwan’s tourism authorities made a wise decision in hiring popular boy band Fahrenheit as their spokesmen. In one year the lads have helped trigger a remarkable 15 per cent increase in visitors to the island.

The “boys” are actually in their late 20s but they captivate gaggles of young female fans. Each member of the band represents a temperature on the Fahrenheit scale (with each separated by 18 degrees), reflecting their personalities and the four seasons. Calvin Chen is said to personify spring while Jiro Wang is summer, Wu Chun autumn, and Aaron Yan winter.

Regardless of the quartet’s supposed personal qualities, they’ll collectively be turning up the heat at Macau’s CotaiArena on September 19 for their Fantasy World Tour Live. The tour kicked off in Hong Kong last year and the band has since been to Singapore, Malaysia, Beijing, and Shanghai.

Their blend of R&B, pure pop, and light hip hop has sparked a rapid rise to fame, with their first album selling an impressive 80,000 copies in Taiwan within the first month of release. They have garnered plenty of awards too, including the HITO Music Awards best male group prize in 2007.

Musical accolades aside, most audience members are more interested in their dancing and their ability to wear tight shirts. And let’s not forget their acting repertoire. Fahrenheit members, especially Wu, are extremely popular around Asia for their roles in Taiwanese dramas such as Tokyo Juliet and Romantic Princess. As such, a concert highlight will be their solo acts, with each member performing a “space fighter” role and a series of dangerous stunts – hopefully without a shirt on.

Natalie Wong