I was very disappointed that I was not able to get seat passes, nor any meet and greet passes. By 5pm, I was still at the hospital because I had a minor surgery to perform. Nevertheless, once that procedure's over, the papers signed and the patient was ok in recovery, I rushed off to catch
Elliott Yamin's mall tour at the Glorietta Activity Center. I simply just had to.
Luckily, the traffic was light and there was still a good place for me to stand and get a good view of the stage. Once Elliott came out and did his thing, he ruled the bare stage (he only had three musicians behind him). This guy exudes genuine kindness and humility in the way he talks and acts. Very admirable indeed. His smile is very friendly and sincere. And his voice, it sounds even stronger, more soulful, and more confident than when he was my favorite contestant on American Idol 5.
It was a very generous mall show, a veritable concert in itself. A full hour of great soulful singing, acoustic to boot, all really worth all the extra effort to get there. He opened his set with
"Find A Way". Then he segued into
"Train Wreck". Next was
"Movin' On", which is one of the first songs he wrote himself and he said this one got him his record deal. He then sang
"I'm the Man" (said to be a special request of Philippine fans, so they had to come up with an acoustic arrangement, which sounded great by the way).
His next song was
"One Word", which he says will be his next single release. This was followed by
"In Love With You Forever" and
"Take My Breath Away." After this, he stood but from his stool and dedicated his next song to the audience who made the next song his first real hit. Audience went wild with the realization that
"Wait For You" was up next! It was beautifully sung, as expected.
It was the perfect set up for the next song,
"A Song For You". He told the story of his once being a singer in the shower, and this song was one of those he imagined singing. He then took this song and auditioned in AI with it, and the rest, as they say, was history. Wow, after his spiel when he opened his mouth sing, this song alone was truly worth it all. It was perfectly sung and delivered. Taking my cue from one of Elliott's own songs, there was only one word to describe his rendition of "A Song For You"---amazing!
He was sweating so much throughout the show. He left the stage so suddenly at one point, I was afraid it might be associated with his diabetes. Fortunately, he came back out and continued to sing great. For his encore (he had removed his outer shirt at this point was just wearing a plain white t-shirt), he rendered
"Free". He sang it so sincerely that the audience felt its message sung to each of us individually.
This show was really great. The little detail that it is FREE makes it even more remarkable! In fact it was more worth to pay for this show than some of the clunky concerts I have paid for and seen in the past (hello Tiffany or Chicago). I believe we are seeing a star on the rise. I really hope his career momentum is sustained after this auspicious debut. Thank you to the Ayala Mall Group that we did not have to wait for Elliott Yamin for a long time ...
