“Gene told me there was a band playing at Caritas Centre; he said it was a big hair rock band and I wasn’t all that interested,” recalls Chan, who was already starting a side hustle as a manager that would eventually evolve into Kinn’s Productions. At the time, he was managing a folk band called Siu Dou or “Little Island”.

“Siu Dou were planning a concert as well but they weren’t that confident they could sell enough tickets so they wanted Beyond to make a guest appearance,” says Chan.

“I felt the style didn’t match because Beyond was a rock group and Siu Dou played folk music but they assured me it would work. They told me Beyond had a few hundred loyal fans, which was quite a strong following before the age of social media.”

That was the first time Chan came into contact with what would become one of the most influential bands Hong Kong produced – but at the time, he confesses he did not understand their music. He remembers frontman Wong Ka-kui, bassist Wong Ka-keung and guitarist Paul Wong all had long hair; the only exception was drummer Yip Sai-wing.

“They were all on stage in leather outfits and playing really loud music,” he says. “I don’t know if it was the energy of the crowd but suddenly I heard a voice in my head that said, ‘These guys will be really famous one day’. So I went backstage and asked to represent them. The rest is history.”

Beyond went on to win awards at the 1988 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation and 1989 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. Their album Party of Fate, which included one of their anthems, “Glorious Years”, went triple platinum in 1990.

Wong Ka-kui died as a result of an accident on the set of a Japanese game show 30 years ago on June 30, at the age of 31.

The remaining three members played as a trio after Wong’s death, with Wong’s brother Ka-keung taking over lead vocals. They released two albums and performed a dozen or so concerts around the world until they announced their disbandment in 2005 to pursue solo projects.

While the band’s popularity was cut short by the death of their frontman and songwriter, Chan’s concert to commemorate them sold out within a day.

During the June 12 concert, Chan, Paul Wong and Lau will appear on stage while Yip will make a live video call. Lau wrote the lyrics to the band’s most iconic songs, including “Great Wall”, “Lovers” and “The Earth”.

The bands will each cover two of Beyond’s hits as well as an unreleased tune written by Wong. The bands received the demo recorded by Wong before his death and were given the task of writing the lyrics and arranging the music themselves.

“We were Beyond fans before we were a band,” explains Air Tub frontman Kenny Ngai. “We used a lot of Beyond’s elements when arranging the music. We decided as a group to include a lot of rock elements in it to stay true to Ka-kui’s style.

“We named the song “Truth” because Ka-kui was a seeker of truth; he never settled and insisted on pursuing his dreams.”

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Beyond were active for just a decade and reached mainstream popularity for about half of that, but their imprint on Hong Kong’s music scene has endured.

“You might be curious how a band that didn’t have dozens of chart-toppers or won a multitude of awards would still be popular after almost two decades of inactivity,” reflects Chan.

“It’s because no other band sang about the struggles and disillusionment of youth like Beyond did and people are still connecting with that.”