Shanghai is home to this year's Super Girl champion Shang Wenjie and that's where the 2006 Super Girl Concert Tour began yesterday -- with the top 10 and last year's winner Li Yuchun, Shanghai Daily reports.
The long-awaited 2006 Super Girl Concert Tour started in Shanghai with a single concert at the Shanghai Grand Stage. One fan bought 900 VIP tickets for about US$50,800.
Since the conclusion of the 2006 competition on September 30 fans have been wondering about the Super Girls.
Last week the first album featuring the 10 finalists was released. Then the concert tour was confirmed. All the 10 finalists performed, including champion Shang Wenjie, second-placed Tan Weiwei, third positioned Liu Liyang and fourth Ai Mengmeng.
Liu recently injured her legs while filming a commercial but she still participated in the rehearsal and sang three songs in the concert.
This year's winners, Shang, Tan and Liu, each performed three songs. The rest of the finalists sang two songs.
Last year Shanghai was the first stop on the Super Girl concert tour although none of the top three finalists is from Shanghai.
This year's champion, Shang, was an office worker before the competition and has many local fans so it's no surprise the tour would begin again in Shanghai. The other stops have not yet been decided.
The Shanghai Grand Stage can seat about 10,000 people. The concert has 1,800 VIP tickets each costing 580 yuan (US$63.55). All of them were sold out in one day.
Nearly half of them were bought by just one fan who paid about 400,000 yuan. Even the organizers were shocked. "It's the first time in many years that one person purchased so many tickets at one time," said one of organizers.
This crazed fan is one of the "Sesames"…the nickname for Shang's fans. She said she just couldn't wait for the head count of "Sesames" who want to buy VIP tickets and she'd share the tickets with other fans.
Shang is known for her experience in the competition and persistent spirit. She failed in the first round in Hangzhou, neighboring Zhejiang Province and was rated 20th in Sichuan.
However, with a strong will and self-confidence Shang didn't hesitate to try again this year in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. Admired as a true grassroots idol this time Shang went all the way to become the champion with more than five million votes by text messages.
(Shanghai Daily November 13, 2006)
