From the kick off of the thrilling 2018/19 horseracing season and a comedic parody of Harry Potter to musical acts like The Killers and Jessie J, here’s a round-up of the hottest September events to pencil into your calendar.
2018/19 Racing Season
2 Sept
Once again, all bets are off as the city’s 2018/19 racing season opens at Sha Tin Racecourse, the first of 88 fixtures, together worth a record total of HK$1.22 billion. This season will consist of 47 day meets and 41 night fixtures at one of Hong Kong’s two iconic tracks – Happy Valley and Sha Tin – with the finale scheduled for 14th July next year. Head to Happy Valley on Wednesday nights – with the first race starting at 7:15pm – to enjoy all the excitement of a truly world-class venue.
Happy Valley Racecourse, Wong Nai Chung Rd, Happy Valley; Sha Tin Racecourse, Sha Tin. racing.hkjc.com
Beyond the Barricade
4-9 Sept
Fans of West End and Broadway musicals are in for a treat this month as the critically-acclaimed Beyond the Barricade boldly serenades its way into Hong Kong. With much of its cast fresh from the West End production of Les Misérables, this rollercoaster of a show features all the best bits from Evita, Hamilton, Mamma Mia! and sundry others, concluding with an epic finale freshly filched from Les Misérables. All in all, it’s a splendid opportunity to sing along to all of musical theatre’s best refrains, without the need to keep up with the plot or endure the more ploddy numbers.
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, 1 Gloucester Rd, Wan Chai. HK$395-695. hkticketing.com
HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair
4-8 Sept
The HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair, together with the concurrent Salon de TE will once again be welcoming more than 830 exhibitors from all across the world, including, for the first time, representatives from Poland and South Africa. The Salon de TE, for its part, gathers 150 prestigious watch brands and designer collections in five themed zones, with the World Brand Piazza expected to be this year’s highlight, all packed with limited editions and rare timepieces. This is one event it would be way too embarrassing to be late for.
Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre 1 Expo Drive, Wanchai, hktdc.com
Potted Potter – The Unauthorized Harry Potter Experience, a Parody by Jeff and Dan
11-16 Sept
Back by popular demand (and courtesy of the Hogwarts Express), Potted Potter steams back into Hong Kong this month, with its wizard performers magically combining all seven Harry Potter books into 70 comical minutes. The hilarious show features all your favourite characters, a fire-breathing dragon and a live-action game of Quidditch. For hardcore Harry fans, this show is a must-see, and even if you don’t know the difference between a Hufflepuff and a Horcrux, it could still work its spell on you.
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, 1 Gloucester Rd, Wan Chai. HK$395-595. hkticketing.com
The Killers
19 Sept
Having sold more than 25 million albums worldwide and headlined pretty much every festival there is, The Killers – the Nevada band that even out-rocks its home state’s rockiest Rocky – are back in Hong Kong this month and ready to deliver its distinctive brand of heartfelt heartland rock, including such latter-day classics as Mr Brightside and Human, as well as all the latest tracts from Wonderful Wonderful, its most recent Billboard-topping release. Arguably one of the few genuinely exciting Western bands to visit our city in 2018, it’s the evening out that the city’s rock-starved residents have been pining for.
AsiaWorld-Expo, Airport Expo Blvd, Chek Lap Kok. HK$888. hkticketing.com
Jessie J – The R.O.S.E Tour
22 Sept
After taking the world by storm with her mega-hit Price Tag, London-based singer-songwriter Jessie J is set to wow Hong Kong audiences as she brings her latest tour to the city this month. After graduating from penning hits for the likes of Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake, her own ascension to true pop princess status came courtesy of Who You Are, her platinum-selling debut. Seven years down the line, she’s back with R.O.S.E (Realisations, Obsessions, Sex and Empowerment) though earlier classics such as Bang Bang and Not My Ex are also sure to get an airing.
AsiaWorld-Expo, Airport Expo Blvd, Chek Lap Kok. HK$888. hkticketing.com
Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance
23-25 Sept
It just wouldn’t be the Mid-Autumn Festival without at least one performance of the ever-thrilling Fire Dragon Dance. This spectacular terpsichorean tradition marks the end of the Tai Hang plague back in 1880, with the pestilence sent packing by a volley of firecrackers. And what better way to remember the occasion than via the services of a 67-metre-long dragon, studded with thousands of burning incense sticks, that weaves its way through Causeway Bay for the best part of a week?
Locations vary, taihangfiredragon.hk
Mid-Autumn Festival and Lantern Carnival
24 Sept
Hong Kong’s Mid-Autumn Festival is, famously, a distinctly modern riff on a centuries-old harvest ritual, one that was once marked by the solemn sacrificing of fresh food to your apparently voracious forebears. Today, it is associated more with mooncakes, shiny lanterns and papier-mâché dragons. Still observed on the eighth full moon of the lunar calendar, the city will again be bedecked with magic lanterns, while the annual carnival will see seemingly compulsory high-kicking kung fu antics, acrobatics, clairvoyants and the odd riddle or two. Cheer up. It’s only once a year.
Locations vary, discoverhongkong.com
Shakespeare’s Globe
25-30 Sept
Shakespeare’s Globe is returning to Hong Kong this month with a company of eight actors performing three of the Bard’s most enduring works – Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew. For the first time ever, audiences will even have the opportunity to vote for the play they would most like to see as the Audience Choice performance. Whether you’re a die-hard Shakespeare aficionado or new to the works of Master Will, you know where to be (or not to be) when this talented troop once again gives life to his ageless genius.
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, 1 Gloucester Rd, Wan Chai. HK$395-795. hkticketing.com