Iconic Taiwanese Boyband F4 Makes An Unconventional Reunion

When the slated reunion of Taiwanese pop group F4 on China’s Jiangsu TV’s “1001 Night Festival” broadcast was announced earlier this week, there was a palpable wave of excitement among longtime fans. The quartet composed of Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Vic Chou and Ken Chu was formed and signed to Sony Music Taiwan after they starred together in the 2001 Taiwanese hit drama Meteor Garden which erupted in popularity across Asia. However, the proposed “reunion” during the October 30 concert on Jiangsu TV turned out a little different from what many fans had expected.

The “1001 Night Festival” concert hosted both live audiences in China and thousands of viewers tuning in via live stream from around the world to catch the boyband behind award-winning Mandopop albums like Meteor Rain and Fantasy 4ever. While the four members seemed to appear onstage together during the live stream, only the Los Angeles-born Vanness Wu (wearing a green jacket) was actually singing live at the venue. For the online broadcast, his bandmates’ pre-recorded performances were projected virtually like holograms to “share” the same stage as him.

This stirred considerable confusion among viewers tuning in to the live stream, commenting that Wu’s bandmates looked “2D” or “CGI-ed.” Pictures posted on social media by audiences at the venue watching the concert live confirmed that only Wu was present physically on the stage. Wu also walked the event’s red carpet alone. Such a unique arrangement was most likely due to Covid-19 border restrictions which prevented Yan, Chou and Ken from travelling to the event — though Wu was already in China.

Nonetheless, the virtual reunion marked a special moment for F4, as well as the group’s followers: this was F4’s first public appearance “together” since 2013 — which coincidentally also took place on a Jiangsu TV program. Since then, they have continued to grow in their acting careers. For example, Jerry Yan starred in this year’s Chinese series Count Your Lucky Stars alongside actress Shen Yue. Over the last decade, Vanness Wu has starred in Ip Man 4 (2019) alongside Donnie Yen as well as in Taiwanese drama series Autumn’s Concerto. Autumn’s Concerto constantly broke records for domestic viewership ratings when it was shown from 2009 to 2010.

Additionally, F4 band member Vic Chou won the Best Actor prize at the 2013 Golden Bell Awards (Taiwan’s awards competition for television production) for his performance in Home. Ken Chu also featured in Taiwanese shows like Momo Love and Poor Prince.