Chinese veteran rock-'n'-roll singer Xu Wei is due to present a grand vocal concert at the Beijing Worker's Stadium on Aug. 13.

Xu will perform some classic songs written by himself such as "Blue Lotus," "Perfect Life" and "Present."

Hailed as the "music poet" of the Chinese mainland, Xu held a small-scale concert in downtown Beijing last December.

Only about 400 lucky music lovers had the chance to see their idol face to face.

Since too many of his fans wanted to go to the concert at that time, scalpers even sold tickets at the price of 1,000 yuan (US$121).

Xu's concert this year was actually due to be held earlier this month, but conflicted with a nationwide promotional tour for his new album, "Every Minute is Fresh."

In order to make every moment on the stage perfect, Xu asked sponsors to delay the concert so he could have more time to prepare and not let his fans down.

A native of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, he won the top prize at a local guitar competition when he was 17.

He became popular with many music fans all over the country when his first album, "Elsewhere," was released in 2000.

(Shenzhen Daily July 5, 2005)