Chinese singer Hou Lang came to the rescue at an all-star concert in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, on Sept 26 when Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee was delayed by a series of travel disruptions.
Hou Lang, who was among the audience, was asked by the organiser to step in for Lee, who had yet to arrive at the venue.
Despite having no teleprompter or prior preparation, Hou Lang reportedly kept the crowd entertained for nearly two hours, performing close to 20 songs.
Lee, 58, eventually arrived at the venue after a journey that reportedly took more than 18 hours, taking the stage at around 12.30am – almost two hours later than scheduled.
According to Singapore news portal 8days, Hou Lang said he was honoured to share the stage with Lee, whom he considers his idol.
He also revealed that the Cantopop star thanked him after the performance, adding: “We hugged for at least 10 seconds.”
The Standard Hong Kong reported that Lee left Hong Kong at 6am and was scheduled to fly from Shenzhen to Xuzhou before connecting to Hohhot.
However, bad weather forced his flight to make an emergency landing in Shanxi.
By around 5pm, Lee had switched to road transport, but the electric vehicle arranged by organisers reportedly ran out of power en route.
He subsequently abandoned the vehicle and continued to Baotou by taxi.
When he finally took the stage, Lee repeatedly bowed and apologised to the audience, saying he had not eaten or taken a bathroom break since 5pm.
Although he was originally scheduled to perform four songs, the singer added two more as a thank you to fans who had patiently waited for his arrival.
