"Called out while eating barbecue, 30,000 went wild"... Unknown singer who held the stage for two hours saw his life turn around

Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee's performance delayed due to bad weather
"Unknown singer Hou Lang" takes the stage instead and belts out 20 songs
After the show, his social media followers surge from 10,000 to 420,000

A little-known Chinese singer who performed an impromptu set for two hours after Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee’s concert was delayed won praise from the audience. In the two weeks after the concert, his social media following surged from fewer than 10,000 to 420,000.

Singer Hou Lang gave an impromptu performance for about two hours in front of 30,000 audience members waiting for Hacken Lee. Screenshot from SCMP.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on October 12, a concert featuring several singers was held in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, on September 26.

Lee was scheduled to perform the final set at around 7:30 p.m. that day, but his plane made an emergency landing in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, due to bad weather. Lee and his colleagues then set off for the venue by car, but their journey was further delayed when the electric vehicle’s battery ran out of charge.

Initially, the organizers bought time by delaying the start of the concert by 30 minutes and extending the performances by other acts. But after Lee contacted them to say he would have difficulty arriving before around midnight, they came up with an additional plan. The concert director asked Lee’s friend, singer Hou Lang, to perform for the 30,000 audience members waiting for him. Hou, who is from Guangdong Province, was eating barbecue with friends at a restaurant when he received the call.

Hou was just a minute away from the venue. He took a taxi and went onstage at 10 p.m. in casual clothes. Without a rehearsal or a teleprompter, he sang around 20 songs in a row, performing almost nonstop for nearly two hours.

Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee apologizes to the audience after arriving late at the venue. Screenshot from SCMP.

Lee did not arrive at the venue until 12:20 a.m. on September 27. He bowed several times to apologize to the audience and performed six of his signature songs, more than originally planned. After the concert, he hugged Hou for more than 10 seconds to express his gratitude.

Hou said Lee had been his idol for a long time. He recalled working as a stage setup intern at a concert company in Shenzhen in 2010, when he got to take a photo with Lee. The Baotou concertgoers enjoyed Hou’s performance, and almost no one left the venue.

In the two weeks after the concert, Hou’s social media following surged from fewer than 10,000 to 420,000. Tickets for his solo concert in Luzhou, Sichuan Province, also sold out, and his Baotou concert scheduled for October 23 was reportedly sold out as well.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.