This rolling story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. Thousands of excited Coldplay fans have gathered at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Sports Park hours before the first of the band’s four concerts in the city this week. Concertgoers flocked to Kai Tak Stadium on Tuesday to get their hands on merchandise and soak up the atmosphere ahead of the first full show by an international act at the venue. Many posed for photos in front of the stadium, while some fans distributed merchandise such as temporary tattoos, keychains and postcards. The stadium is the centrepiece of the city’s new HK$30 billion (US$3.85 billion) sports park which was officially opened last month. Last September, Coldplay announced it would be heading to the city for three shows in its “Music of the Spheres” world tour, with tickets sold out within minutes. It added a fourth concert in November. Complaints from fans surfaced last month as they were forced to queue for a long time to exchange misprinted tickets issued by Cityline. The incident prompted the city’s tourism chief to demand the company offer an apology and an explanation. Fuelling up Concertgoers are banned from bringing outside food and drinks into the stadium. Inside the venue, food stands are selling hot dogs, burgers and drinks, with the band expected to take the stage in about half an hour. Elyanna, Marf get show started The first performance of the night begins just after 6pm with Elyanna, a 23-year-old Palestinian-Chilean singer, who joined the tour at the band’s Abu-Dhabi stop. She has also previously performed with Coldplay, featuring on their track “We Pray”. The second opening act is Marife Yau Yin-tung, also known as Marf, from Hong Kong girl group Collar. The stadium is only partially filled, but the 22-year-old gets the crowd hyped up with her latest single “To’pA’ti”, and “*~Silencio…shh”. Convenience the key Hong Kong couple Agnes and Xesc say their tickets include a room at the Dorsett Kai Tak hotel right next to the stadium. Including their tickets and the hotel room for a night, they say they plan to spend HK$8,000 to HK$10,000. “[It is] convenient but I don’t know for the rest of the year, I don’t think I’d like to [book a room when watching other shows] there,” Xesc says. Scalpers targeted Police say they have conducted an operation to crack down on scalping at the sports park on Tuesday evening. “A Hong Kong man sold two tickets for the Coldplay concert costing HK$1,699 each to a plain-clothes police officer,” a police spokesman says. “The tickets were sold for HK$2,399. The police officer then revealed his identity.” Police say their investigation has found that the man bought two tickets from Cityline and hoped to turn a profit by selling them at a higher price. “The tickets have been confiscated by the organiser and deemed invalid,” the spokesman says. “Police will later issue a summons to charge him with ‘unauthorised sale of admission tickets in excess of the amount set by the organiser of the event’.” Queues at security check At around 6.35pm, queues at the stadium’s security checkpoints begin to form with staff directing the crowd to stations with less people. There are around 20 checkpoints in operation, according to the Post’s observations. While the flow of people is steady, dozens are still gathering in the outdoor area. Many are stopping for photos with the illuminated stadium as a backdrop. Surprised by food options Couple Surbhi and Abijith, both 33 years old, say they have “loaded themselves up” with food at home as they thought there would be no restaurants nearby. The pilots say some of their friends who went to the Sevens rugby tournament told them that there was limited food at the stadium. “We didn’t know the stadium has so many places for eating out,” Surbhi says. “If we knew, we could have actually planned to meet our friends at one of the bars, if there was something on our tickets or some kind of advertisement.” They add that they might go for drinks nearby after the show. It was all mellow … for now Tourist Qin Siqi, 23, who has taken two days off work to fly in from mainland China’s Hainan province, says she is excited to see the band play in the new stadium. But she says the atmosphere before the show is more lacklustre than she expected. She takes time to pose with a home-made banner outside the stadium, although she says she hoped to find more spots for taking photos. “There’s no official backdrop and there is no music playing from the speakers,” she says. She also says her hotel stay, at HK$1,000 per night in To Kwa Wan, is pricey, but watching Coldplay perform is worth it. Another mainland fan, who only gives his name as Russell, says he has just one request. “I really hope they open the roof of the stadium so we can see the fireworks,” the 26-year-old says. “If not, then the atmosphere won’t be right.” The Jiangxi province native took an overnight train to Shenzhen before heading to Hong Kong. He says he hopes the band will perform his favourite song, Charlie Brown. ‘Really exciting’ Israeli tourists Raz and Maayan, both 23 years old, say they happened to book their four-day trip to Hong Kong before finding out about the concert. “[This is] our first time to watch Coldplay. Really excited about the arena and Coldplay,” Raz says. “We know their songs for all our lives. It’s really exciting”. They say they ordered the tickets to be delivered to their hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, an arrangement they are satisfied with. But they have no specific plans to visit restaurants or shops near the stadium as they already ate near their hotel. Jesse Wu, 30, who arrived in Hong Kong from Guangzhou on Tuesday, is also excited about seeing the band for the first time. “When they opened the show in Singapore and Bangkok, I did not have time to travel to those places,” he says. He praises the transport arrangements near the stadium as convenient, as well as the shops and facilities nearby. “On the mainland, large-scale concerts are commonly held in the countryside, definitely not in the city centre,” he says. Wu says he made a banner for others, adding he hopes to make friends with fellow fans on the night. “We may be able to attend other Coldplay concerts or participate in other activities,” he says. Some bottles allowed Concertgoers are allowed to enter with plastic or silicone reusable bottles, or cups. But the items must be empty and have a maximum capacity of 600 millilitres (20.3 fluid ounces). The bottles must also come without lids. Disposable plastic, glass or thermal bottles, as well as those bigger than 600ml, are prohibited.