And to combat speculation, all ticket sales will be via Urbtix early next month with prices at HK$980, HK$680 and HK$480. There will not be any pre-sales for holders of certain credit cards.

So it is believed about 90 percent of tickets will go in public sales.

The 18-show concert will be marketed as Fear and Dreams - the same name intended for a 25-show package in 2019 - which was canceled due to widespread protests in Hong Kong.

Fans of Chan have been dreaming of their idol making a return.

And some welcomed word of the restrictions on ticket sales, saying it should be easier for regular fans to have the chance of getting a ticket, though one reckoned that when the Urbtix sales start "the ticketing website server is going to break down immediately."

But some called for the concerts to be boycotted, recalling Chan's part in a Xinjiang cotton controversy last March when his company went on the attack against Adidas and others for saying they would not use products from Xinjiang because of Beijing's treatment of the Uygur population.

But Chan's popularity endures. He held an online live concert in partnership with TikTok last month, which recorded over 100 million views.

On Sunday Chan also released a video of a live session of his song Warrior of the Darkness on his Weibo account. The song was a collaboration with the video game League of Legends in 2021.

The clip topped the trending topic ranking on the platform within 30 minutes.

He also appeared recently as a guest singer in Cantopop singer Terrence Lam's concert.

And on July 28 at midnight, right after Chan's 48th birthday on July 27, he posted a selfie on his Instagram page and thanked fans for their love and support.

The selfie was his first post in over a year since he cut ties with Adidas - he was a brand ambassador - amid the Xinjiang cotton trouble.