Hong Kong boy band Mirror will not attend the Summer Sonic music festival in Japan due to “unforeseen circumstances”, organizers said on Friday.
The announcement ends days of speculation over whether the Canto-pop boy band would appear at the rock festival — which would’ve been their first overseas performance since their formation in 2018 — after a horrific accident at their concert last week injured two dancers.
A huge video screen fell on the middle of the stage in the Hong Kong Coliseum during the performance of one of their dance songs, hitting the two dancers. One of them is still reportedly in critical condition, but his vital signs are stable.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Summer Sonic quoted the band as saying, “MIRROR will be unable to take part in this year’s SUMMER SONIC.”
Organizers also quoted Mirror as saying that they “sincerely apologize” for missing out on the festival and hope to be part of it in the future.
The festival said it will announce an updated timetable of performances on its website later.
Mirror also shared the post as a story on their official Instagram account.
The boy band was originally scheduled to perform at the festival on Aug. 20 in Tokyo, riding off the buzz of their 12-day concert series in Hong Kong from July 25 to Aug. 6.
However, their concert series was cut short after the accident on the fourth day.
Meanwhile, a government-led task force looking into the accident met for the second time on Friday.
Lee Tsz-chun, an assistant director at the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, who leads the task force told reporters after the meeting that its experts had used a microscope to examine the fault of a cable that once held up the video screen.
He added it was very likely that the cable snapped due to metal fatigue.
But Lee said more tests need to be done before they make a final conclusion, adding they cannot rule out any possibility now.
After days of absence from public events and social media, Mirror members began to update their Instagram accounts the last few days, seemingly to dispel rumors of their disbandment and allay concerns about their mental health.
Band member Edan Lui, who was on stage when the accident happened, said, “I have received a lot of care in the past few days. Thank you everyone. Rest assured that I am fine.”
He added, ”Now I just hope that the injured will recover quickly and I just want [them] to be all right. God, please help us🙏🏻.”
“Remain positive and pray,” said Ian Chan.
“Won’t give up, we won’t give up. [We] will get back on our feet and face everything together,” said Keung To.
Band leader Lokman Yeung said the members will take care of each other, adding others need not worry about them.
“At this moment, I hope everyone gathers their well wishes for Mo, Fung and Zisac for a speedy recovery,” he said, referring to the two injured during the show as well as another dancer who was injured shortly before the concert series began.
“We are one and all,” said Jeremy Lee, quoting a lyric from their hit ballad “One and All”.
“We will continue to walk this path together regardless of how difficult it is. Let’s continue to pray,” he added.
“Believe in yourself and everything is possible. Never say never,” said Frankie Chan.
Besides Mo, who is currently in critical condition, the 22 dancers who performed at the concert, as well as Zisac, the dancer who was injured prior to the concert, also recently issued a joint statement asking the public not to believe in comments not made by the dancers directly nor take part in so-called crowdfunding efforts for the injured dancers.
The dancers also said that they are in it together with Mirror and told the public not to put the blame on any performer.
Mirror’s artiste management company MakerVille’s CEO Lo Ting-fai, the band’s manager Ahfa Wong, the producer of the concert “Fran9” Francis Lam and dancers involved in the shows have also been called to the police’s Kowloon West Regional Headquarters these few days to help with investigations.
