Harry Connick, Jr.’s Shanghai flop

FILE: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

In a likely response to the famous Björk incident, the Chinese government is exercising stricter control on performances by foreign musicians. The first victim? Noted Tibetan separatist Jazz singer Harry Connick, Jr.

America’s favorite adult-contemporary crooner showed up to do a show in Shanghai Sunday and had to change his planned set to match an old list someone had “mistakenly submitted” to the government for approval:

Authorities insisted he play the songs on that list, even though his band did not have the music for them.

“Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was not able to give my fans in China the show I intended,” Connick said in a statement.

So, Connick’s band mostly stood around on stage while he played a mellow set on the piano.

YouTube also shows an odd exchange in which Connick asks the audience what that big, tall financial center in town is called and they all yell at him “Jin Mao!” It would be a little like Amy Winehouse coming to New York and asking what the big statue holding the torch is.