Hacken Lee Almost 2 Hours Late For Concert; Audience Member Steps In, Sings Nearly 20 Songs

Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee probably didn’t expect getting to his concert to be this dramatic.

The 58-year-old was scheduled to perform at a multi-artiste concert in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, on Sep 26, but a series of travel mishaps saw him arrive almost two hours late.

And who ended up keeping the 30,000-strong crowd entertained while everyone waited?

A local singer who had actually bought a ticket to watch Hacken perform.

According to reports, Hacken was originally scheduled to close the Hear Yourself concert at the Baotou Olympic Sports Centre at 10pm.

His flight, however, was diverted to Taiyuan in Shanxi due to a hailstorm. As if that wasn’t suay enough, the electric vehicle taking him to Baotou then ran out of battery along the way.

Hacken eventually had to take a taxi, travelling almost 600km to Baotou. His entire journey reportedly took more than 18 hours.

By then, the other performers, including Taiwanese singers Chyi Chin, Zheng Zhihua, and Meng Tingwei, had already finished their sets.

With Hacken nowhere in sight, the concert director urgently pulled local singer Hou Lang, who had bought a ticket to see Hacken, onstage to fill the gap.

There was just one problem: He had no rehearsal, no teleprompter and no idea he would be performing that night.

So he simply sang “whatever came to mind”.

Despite it being his first time performing solo in front of 30,000 people, Hou Lang reportedly belted out nearly 20 songs and held the fort for close to two hours.

Talk about being thrown into the deep end.

His impromptu performance won him plenty of praise online, with netizens marvelling that there are indeed “hidden talents among ordinary people”.

Hou Lang later said he was proud that he could help keep the show going.

And getting to share a stage with his idol? Definitely a bonus.

“It was my honour to share the stage with my idol [Hacken Lee]. After the performance, he told me he was very grateful. We hugged for at least 10 seconds,” he said.

Hacken finally took the stage at around 12.20am, with some 80 per cent of the audience reportedly staying to wait for him.

He repeatedly bowed to apologise for the delay, and revealed with a wry smile that he had neither eaten nor gone to the toilet since 5pm.

Originally scheduled to perform four songs, Hacken added two more to thank fans for sticking around, singing hits like ‘Flower Protector’ and ‘Red Sun’.

And despite his exhausting journey, reports said he still sounded “as steady as a CD”.

The concert finally wrapped after 1am.