CONCERT REVIEW: Harry Styles - Finally Watching Live a Grammy Album of the Year Award Winner

 I am not really a One Direction fan but Harry Styles is the third member of the boy group that I have seen live.  First was Niall Horan, then Louis Tomlinson last year, and then Harry last week.

I was a big fan of his Fine Line album and was disappointed when it missed a Grammy Album of the Year nomination.  However, it won Best Pop Performance.  Although his latest album won Album of the Year, it's not quite my favorite but I can understand why the voters gravitated to it as it had several outstanding songs and I was very fortunate to have finally seen the live version of the album as Harry Styles performed most of them in his current tour Love on Tour.

One weird aspect about touring today is that the audience already knows your setlist, and because of social media, fans already 'know' what is going to happen and what to expect during the show.  There is no more element of surprise.  That is a reality we have to live with now, now that cellphones and gadgets are quite handy in recording live performances.

However, it is still possible to enjoy the live performances of the artist, and since I did not watch any Youtube video of his concert, I thoroughly enjoyed his show.  His voice was in top form and although, as my niece pointed out, that he sometimes resorts to singing some of his songs a key lower, that is understandable, since he still has a very loooonnngg tour ahead - and he has to preserve and take care of his voice.

It is commendable though how he went all out in Sign O' the Times and several other songs.  

Another plus for Harry is his incredible rapport with the audience.  He really knows how to  work the crowd.  He is not shy or hesitant in showing his love for the audience.  You can really sense that he is quite grateful that he is given this opportunity to entertain his fans with his songs.

Harry also has an interesting relationship with his fans, urging them to show themselves in their most outrageous clothes, so that night, a lot of the women were donning boa feathers and wore really sexy clothes.  Even for the men, some wore a skirt and the overall color scheme for everyone was the colors of the rainbow.  It was great to watch the sea of colors.  

We arrived at the venue at 11AM and the show was still at 8PM.  However, the crowd of fans were very nice and well-behaved that there were no problems in the queueing.  I also met a lot of new friends among the fans.  We all had a common shared love for Harry's music.

Till the next concert tour then!

CONCERT REVIEW: David Foster and Friends - A Glorious Night of Wonderful Voices and A Continuous Parade of Hits

 

I first encountered David Foster's music in high school through his hit instrumental song the 'Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire' which peaked at the Billboard Top 20.  Incidentally, it was the song that opened his show last night.  

I had already seen him live 8 years ago at the Araneta Coliseum which featured Charice when she was still a woman.  Fast forward to last night, David retains the concept of his show which showcases the best vocal talents he has discovered these past few years which included Pia Toscano and Daniel Emmett.

To say that the show was an aural spectacle is an understatement.  Everyone in the show, from his wife, Katharine McPhee, to local superstars Martin Nievera and Morissette, to the aforementioned two singers, gave fabulous renditions of all of David Foster's hit.  They not only gave justice to each of the songs, their performances were spot on note-wise.  

David is also a consummate storyteller so he regaled the audience with the back story of the songs he wrote especially his 'hate' for the Top Gun hit, Take My Breath Away.  Better to watch the remaining five shows to find out why LOL

His wife, Katharine McPhee was also a revelation.  She has had a minor hit in the US, my favorite 'Over It', but during the show, she showed the range that she can do - from a Broadway track, to a country song, to Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You'.  She was also funny and quite disarming with her storytelling.

What I can guarantee is that it is an entertaining show and their voices and performance will take your breath away.  Definitely worth the ticket price!

PHILIPPINE ARENA CONCERT EXPERIENCE: Have a Lot of Patience Going Home

Trapped in the parking lot 11PM

We finally 'escaped' the traffic mix by 12:15AM

Patience is the key LOL

 We were very excited to watch Harry Styles at the Philippine Arena tonight. We thought the trip there would be a hassle considering the volume of people watching the show so we arrived there at 11:30 AM.  Yes!  A full 8 1/2 hours BEFORE the show.

Anyhow, it was not the going there that was the problem. It was the going home experience.  The concert finished at 9:45PM and it took Laura and I another hour of going around the arena and doing our picture taking before we decided to go to the parking area at 11PM.

The vehicles in the arena were not moving anymore at that time.  I don't really know why it was taking so much time to leave the arena.  I just thought that the sheer volume of the cars in the area caused this incredible bottleneck of cars wanting to leave the venue.

I decided to sleep in our van since I was also very tired from watching the show.  I woke up around 12 midnight and I noticed that we were slowly moving out of the venue already.  That sped things up and by 12:15AM, we were already at the toll gates going home to Manila.

The trip home took thirty minutes and by 12:45AM, we were home already.  

This blog post is just to warn everyone watching a show at the Philippine Arena to either leave just as the concert finishes - so they can immediately avoid the traffic and the rush going home - or to lay back and relax at the wide arena grounds for about an hour or two till the traffic starts to move.

It's really a waste of gasoline to be idling for more than an hour and the ill effects it gives to the environment.

I just wish the traffic leaving the arena could be fixed so that it wouldn't take that long to go home.

We were actually forewarned already that the trip home would be 2-3 hours.  They were telling the truth.

TONY'S CONCERT REVIEW: Avril Lavigne - Here's To Never Growing Up

Up to the last minute, I was debating pa whether to watch Avril again kasi nga I did not like her latest self-titled album very much.  Also, it was only 2 years ago when she last came here to perform and that show was really memorable and a lot of fun!

I guess marriage has toned down Avril's rebellious nature a bit and it shows in her music, although she tries her best to play up her rebel persona.  Pero di na masyado bagay kasi nga late 20s na sya and married na.

However, she still knows how to put on a show and there was a decent number of people last night, mostly teenage girls.  I think though that her voice was not up to par last night.  There were some songs that she didn't quite nail, like she was an octave lower here and there, especially in I'm With You!  Anyway, the audience didn't probably notice since they were too busy singing along with her - like me!

I guess her extensive library of discography allowed her to choose songs way back from the very beginning.  I enjoyed the portion where her husband, Chad Kroeger comes out to sing Let Me Go with her.  My favorite songs that she sang included Losing Grip, My Happy Ending and Don't Tell Me.  Sadly, I couldn't jump up and down to Sk8tr Boi anymore but I still tried to be as energetic as I can in her other songs.  a

Jason Dy's Breakthrough Concert in Pictures - Opening Set

Concert Review: Celine Dion's Masterful Performance in Her Manila Shows

It used to be that we had to go abroad just to watch our favorite performers but times are a-changing as many top acts now see Manila as a viable stop during their concert tours.

Ten years ago, during her Taking Chances tour, Celine did a show at the Venetian Macau and it was the first time we saw her live - and although the largely Chinese audience was very polite and not very outwardly demonstrative - Celine gave a show-stopping performance.

It was also surreal watching the mainland Chinese audience dressed to the nines, with women wearing mink fur coats and top to bottom branded clothes, kulang na lang pati panty nakalagay Gucci.

Oh well, it was also a well-heeled crowd last night, the second of her two shows here in Manila. You never get tired of watching Celine because she's such a seasoned performer, she knows how to talk to the audience and segue into songs with such ease.

And there's her voice! While many of her contemporaries have let go - and did not really take care of their gift - Celine has certainly taken care of hers!

Even in her less famous songs like 'Falling Into You' and 'Think Twice' the way she sang it is like you're in her own recording studio and not in a huge concert arena!

Some new singers now I can barely hear them from the din of their bands, but with Celine, no problem!

There were so many highlights from last night's show. She even danced a bit to 'Falling Into You'. I'm sure Laura liked 'Beauty and the Beast' and her version is far more superior to the one Ariana did, live or otherwise.

She did all her big hits - "It's All Coming Back to Me', 'To Love You More', 'Because You Loved Me', but there are still many other good songs of hers which I hope she would do during her Las Vegas residency because her discography is so deep.

Songs like 'Water from the Moon', 'Where Does My Heart Beat Now'. 'Nothing's Broken But My Heart', 'The Last to Know', her duet with Barbra Streisand, 'Only One Road', 'If You Asked Me To', she can do another show with an entirely different setlist! But that's for the future and maybe a few tweets to her would make her consider performing those songs.

Concert Review: Odette Quesada's Hopeless Romantic Show Unleashes a Flood of High School Memories

Nostalgia-based live shows are big tickets nowadays as my generation is slowly ageing and pining for our lost youth.  Frankly, I really don't mind spending money on artists who shaped my generation's music because they give back a positive vibe and a lot of wonderful memories of our past.

Enter Odette Quesada, whose two-day show here in Manila was sold out.  I bet if she did a third day, that would be sold out too!  She is a revered figure of our youth because of the immense popularity of the songs that she wrote and sang.  She further cemented her achievements when she married another prolific songwriter, Bodjie Layug - and their life together formed one of the threads of stories in her heartfelt concert.

Just as Odette described it, the show was like you were singing for your tito or tita in your own living room - the vibe was relaxed, the setting was cozy and intimate, and everybody was ready to sing along.

I did not sing along though, not because I did not want to, or because I did not know the lyrics, I just did not want my poor seatmates to hear a frog croaking - and destroy the whole show for them!  As in intimate concerts like this, one should leave the singing to the professionals LOL

It was a beautiful show and I learned of the magnitude of Odette and her husband's contribution to OPM.  They were practically Mr. and Mrs. OPM in the 80s and 90s.  Singing their song was like a badge of honor, a tatak that you have arrived, or that you were a singer of a certain caliber, that you deserve to sing their songs.

Guests Fe de los Reyes, Kuh Ledesma, Martin Nievera, Arman Ferrer (this boy sounds very promising!) and our National Artist Maestro Ryan, brought their own stories to the show, showing facets of the songwriter, Odette, that only her peers could have known.

Surprisingly, Odette's songs are particularly simple, there are no high-falutin words in it, no high birit notes that would tax one's lung power in order to to sing them - and I guess those are the reasons why her songs have endeared themselves to millions of young people of my generation.

Her song "Farewell" alone has become the graduation anthem of many generations of high school graduating classes.  It is in the heartfelt lyrics and the simplicity of the arrangement that allows anyone, not only the ones with Regine V.'s range, to sing them - and sing them with feelings.

I sing "Friend of Mine" every time I am in a karaoke, and if that song is there.  It always brings tears in my eyes although I have to choke to hide it.  She sang it towards the end of her show and I was trying my best not to sing along with her. I did not want my frog-sounding voice to interfere with the beautiful video I was taking of her rendition, where she played it on the piano.

That part alone was worth the ticket price already. It's a moment I will treasure in my computer's memory till the day I die. Charot!

I do hope she mounts another series of shows.  All my friends who saw my social media posts were aghast because they did not know she was having a show, kasi nga because of the hectic Christmas season.

I reassured them, with the sold out shows, I am sure she and her producers and director, Rowell Santiago, are already planning to do another series of shows.  Frankly, I wouldn't mind watching it again! And, a show in Cebu or Davao, I'm sure, would do very well, too!