There are few joys as pure as seeing your favourite band perform live. Even better, how about seeing them in the open air alongside 40,000 other rabid fans, smack in the middle of Hong Kong Island? All this is possible if we could just get Hong Kong Stadium to open up for more music concerts.

It’s been a while. Not since Sam Hui belted out his Cantopop hits at a concert in 2007 has a mega-scale music event been staged at the largest outdoor multipurpose venue in Hong Kong. The big stumbling block is noise, specifically the music and cheers that would pour into the surrounding residential neighbourhoods at Broadwood Road and Eastern Hospital Road.

“The sound level from the non-sports events is required to be closely monitored to ensure that it will not cause nuisance to nearby residents,” an LCSD spokesperson told TOHK. Noise complaints appear to have ended Hong Kong Stadium’s potential to be the Wembley of the Far East.

Yet it stands to reason that if we can put on the Rugby Sevens, arguably the most raucous annual public outing on the city’s calendar, then the occasional stadium concert is worth staging, especially if it draws the likes of sure-fire crowd pleasers such as Radiohead and U2.

We could begin by designating a limited number of days and times for music performances, mindful of the need to permit the pitch to recover for sporting events. And what well-established recording artist wouldn’t be intrigued by the chance to perform up close to our dynamic city?

Currently Hong Kong Stadium bundles together a boatload of event services, suggesting the time is ripe for expanding its use. A hirer gets provided an event manager, security services, ushering, technical services as they relate to lighting, floodlighting and the PA system, and first-aid services.

We shouldn’t have to settle for filing into the sterile spaceships that AsiaWorld-Expo and the Convention Centre eerily remind us of. And since the LCSD says there are currently no plans to demolish Hong Kong Stadium, let’s get cracking and bring music back to the open air, where it belongs.

Bong Miquiabas

Read the features:
Establish an art cinema on Hong Kong Island
Host mega-gigs at Hong Kong Stadium
Put a rooftop garden on top of the Museum of Art
Parks that are more fun than restrictive
Finish the TST construction works
Relax noise ordinances in bar areas
Build a super club
Ban evening traffic from Lan Kwai Fong