Incredible moment Melbourne busker joins superstar Jay Chou on stage at Rod Laver Arena

A Bourke Street Mall busker joined ‘king of Mandopop’ Jay Chou onstage for a “life changing” performance after a bizarre encounter in the CBD.

Melbourne busker Mark Balas with ‘King of Mandopop’ Jay Chou. Picture: Supplied

Melbourne busker Mark Balas has joined the ‘King of Mandopop’, Jay Chou, on stage over two nights at Rod Laver Arena.

In a turn of events ripped from the pages of a movie script, Balas, 25, was performing Chou’s songs in fluent Chinese in the Bourke Street Mall late last year.

Chou, a singer/songwriter, musician, actor, director and producer, was in Melbourne filming his J-Style Trip documentary travel series when he and his team came across Balas mid-performance outside the old Melbourne post office.

Melbourne busker Mark Balas with Jay Chou in the Bourke Street Mall. Picture: Supplied

Mark Balas performing on stage at Rod Laver Arena with Jay Chou. Picture: Instagram

The encounter is included in series two of the J-Style Trip and so impressed was Chou with Balas’s rendition of his songs he invited him to join him on stage when he returned to Australian as part of his 2024 ‘Carnival’ world tour.

Chou’s tour arrived in Melbourne last weekend with the Taiwanese superstar playing two sold out shows at Rod Laver Arena.

Balas joined Chou on stage each night, singing Chou’s hit Rice Field on Saturday and Silence on night two. He performed the songs in Chinese as he had done previously while busking.

Balas, from Coburg, said it was “an incredible privilege” to sing with his idol, Chou.

Melbourne busker Mark Balas meets Jay Chou as seen on Netflix. Picture: Supplied

“I was very honoured to have been part of it. I can’t express enough the gratitude I have towards being on such a huge stage and being able to perform alongside someone as inspirational as Jay,” Balas said.

“When the time was approaching to go on stage at Rod Laver Arena I was really nervous, I didn’t know how I was going to feel – was I going to throw up? – but I thought ‘I want to cherish this moment’, and this is what I love to do.

“He has inspired me with his work, he inspires me as a person. I still can’t believe this has happened.”

Balas studied Mandarin Chinese at university, developing a love for the language and culture of the country.

Melbourne busker Mark Balas performs on stage with Jay Chou. Picture: Instagram

Although trained in accounting, music is his first love and he started busking in 2022 to get used to performing in public.

Many of the songs he performed were in Chinese and by Asian artists at they attracted a lot of attention from people passing through the CBD.

It also helped him hone his language skills.

Balas still performs in Swanston Street and the Bourke Street Mall, while also working on his music craft and being employed in a finance role.

In 2023 Balas appeared on Australian Idol singing a Chinese/Spanish version of Cyndi Lauper’s hit Time After Time, but did not make it past the first round.