Hong Kong boy band Mirror has pulled out of Japan’s Summer Sonic festival, organizers /confirm/ied, while investigations continue into last week’s horrific incident that severely injured two dancers on stage during a live concert in their hometown.
Summer Sonic announced on Friday that the 12-piece group has canceled the performance at the festival’s Tokyo Pacific Stage, originally scheduled for Aug. 20, “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
“We sincerely apologize to all of you and hope to have the opportunity to participate again,” a comment from Mirror cited in Summer Sonic’s statement.
The news follows a tragic incident on July 28, when a giant LED screen hanging above the stage fell and struck 27-year-old dancer “Mo” Lee Kai-yin in the head during Mirror’s concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Another dancer, Chang Tsz-fung, 29, was also seriously injured while trying to move the heavy screen away from Lee.
The concert, which was the fourth of a 12-concert series, was suspended right away and the two dancers were rushed to the hospital. Lee still remains in the hospital in critical condition, while Chang has been transferred to another facility to recover from his injuries.
The remaining eight shows of the concert series organized by PCCW’s Music Nation and MakerVille have been canceled.
Meanwhile, local authorities revealed on Friday the preliminary findings of the inquiry into the stage incident, which was the most serious since the government-run Hong Kong Coliseum opened in 1983 and established itself as the Mecca of Canto-pop.
Hong Kong’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s assistant director Lee Tsz-chun, who leads the government task force, said metal fatigue of one of the suspension cords was “highly likely to be the cause” for the cable snap, but more tests and further investigations are needed before reaching a final conclusion. Production companies involved in the concert have released statements trying to distance themselves from the incident.
Members of Mirror remained silent for days, sparking a rumor that the group might disband. But in recent days, the musicians have emerged one after another on social media to assure fans that they will stay together and pray for the dancers injured on stage, as well as another dancer, Zisac, who was injured during rehearsal.
Among them, Anson Lo (“Ossan’s Love (Hong Kong)”), who was on stage with Lee and Chang while the screen fell and has been a long-time friend of Lee, posted on Friday apologizing for his radio silence and thanking fans for their continued support. He said he has been trying to calm himself down and digest what happened, while praying for the recovery of the injured dancers, and hoping for a miracle to happen. Lo also assured fans that he will make a comeback.
The band’s manager, Ahfa Wong, a veteran TV and concert producer — who stepped in on the third night to take control of the Mirror show following a series of accidents that week — also posted on her social media for the first time since the incident. She declared her support for the injured dancers, stating that she and the band continue to persevere, citing lyrics from one of the band’s songs, “One and All.”
The gig at Summer Sonic would have been Mirror’s first overseas venture outside of Hong Kong since they were formed in 2018 following the PCCW’s ViuTV reality show “King Maker.”
Mirror rose to super stardom following the 2019 Hong Kong protests and during the COVID pandemic, earning a large following locally and overseas among a growing Hong Kong diaspora.
Their popularity has often been credited as a revival of the Canto-pop genre, which saw its golden age in the 1980s and ’90s during the heyday of Hong Kong’s entertainment industry, but subsequently declined from mid-2000s onwards. Their “MIRROR.WEARE” concert series at the Coliseum was the group’s debut at the city’s pop culture landmark.
