This is already the second to the last day of their entire run that we saw tonight. But for some reason, it still feels a bit rough and unpolished. The book was quite funny, irreverent at certain points, and flirting with rated R territory (I had my 8 year old daughter with me!), but yes, it is funny (when it is intelligible). The music is quite pleasant pop. But nothing really that got me humming when I got out of the theater. I do want to find a copy of the soundtrack and listen to the music and the words better.

Could the problem be the actors? They seem to be very new in the theater world to carry an entire play (albeit being one-act, and only lasting an hour). You know they worked very hard, but somehow it fell short a bit for me.

The actors who played Matthew and Luke are quite good and in fact look like real boy band guys. Their dance moves and posturings are boy-band authentic. The guy who played Matthew (PJ Valerio), in particular, projects to the hilt like a real boy-band face-man. His best song was "Something About You," which was about sexual abstinence. The ending line is quite naughty and hilarious.

The guy who played Luke (Reuben Yu) was the best dancer of them all, very athletic in a Marky-Mark sort of way. His singing voice is also very strong, as he gets to deliver on the highest notes. His gangsta-style delivery of lines can be quite unintelligibly corny at times, though. Cool though.

The other three don't really look like boy-band members, so it strains the credibility. The guy who played Abraham (Chevy Mercado) was a very good singer but his acting, dancing and overall projection was really very awkward.

The guy who played Mark (Red Concepcion) is also a very good singer. His solo number "Epiphany" is the funniest song there in my opinion. However, is he really supposed to look so blatantly gay? The way the song's lyrics go, this guy Mark should still be in the closet, isn't he? While I think the actor who played him went too much over the top with his gay flamboyance, his delivery of the word "lust" in one serious scene is just too memorably funny.

The one that marred my total enjoyment of this musical so much for me is the guy who played Juan (Reb Atadero). He simply is not funny at all. Everything he did, be it acting or singing, his awful accent or just his mere standing on stage, was so awkward and even painful to watch. The scene where Juan had to run around screaming on stage bawling his eyes out was so long and simply too uncomfortable and unfunny. Might just be the way the character was written, though.

Overall, it was just OK for me. Just ay't, as Randy Jackson would say. This was clearly for the teens and 20s set, it seems. Those in this demographic in the audience this night really seemed to have enjoyed so much. I do not want to concede, however, that I am already to old for this musical. Hahaha! I do really want to get my hands on a soundtrack album to appreciate it more.

This is Colbie's performance of "Realize", her second single release. It also has her trademark laidback vocals and guitar work.

First of all, I am not really a fan of Jazz, the Blues or Big Band music, yet Elaine and I watched Harry Connick Jr. at the PICC tonight. I was not exactly planning to watch this concert. This artist had no bonafide "hits" for me to look forward to. However, I came by these two precious Right Flat section tickets by a literal luck of a draw (thanks to Sunday Inquirer Magazine). The tickets said 8pm, but much of the audience came in after 830 already. Still when Harry Connick and his band came out and started the concert there were several empty seats all over.

I was really struck by Mr. Connick's amazing piano playing which I totally did not know about him. His singing voice was very rich and dramatic as well. I am just so sorry that I did not know probably less than half of the songs they were performing, which largely diminished my overall appreciation. I could only recognize standards like "Hello Dollly", "Jambalaya" (Harry is from New Orleans), "Iko Iko," and "Yes We Can Can." He has some beautiful and bluesy ballads like "When Someone Really Loves You" and "When Your Lover Has Gone." But the audience really comes alive when Harry stands from his piano and dances around onstage. His featured musicians (some of whom have been playing with him for the past 18 years) were excellent players of the tenor, alto and baritone sax, trumpet and trombone, all of whom got their due solo spots.

But another thing that makes this concert memorable and lively is the COMEDY! This guy Harry was really so funny and IRREVERENT. He got away with controversial jokes about Manila not having pretty women (OK, only beautiful), and that Filipinos having no rhythm (because some audience member were clapping out of time) because of his charming delivery.

Then he announced that he thought "Halo Halo" (a local mixed treats sweet dessert topped by ice) was "NASTY"! I never heard that said before. It was so hilarious when he was describing all the individual ingredients (funny descriptions of ube and nata de coco) until he reached the corn and red beans, and declared "I do not want vegetables in my snow cone!" Hahaha!

Then he spent a long segment talking about and actually challenging himself to eat "Balut" (days-old duck egg) for the first time onstage! He even called a lucky girl from the audience to instruct him on the proper procedure. He did go through with it though, and he called it "GROSS"! Hahaha! Audience loved it! Then he settled down to play a bluesy number on the piano, he let out a major burp! Hahaha! Quite the joker this Harry.

In the later part of the concert (after the Balut segment) when Harry removed his tie and blazer and folded up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt, he really cut loose in his piano playing and dancing. In his last last song "Come By Me", he even turned his back to the audience, lifted his shirt tails and began gyrating and shaking his booty across the stage to the delight of the women there! LOL!

Overall, the music style is not really for me, but there is no denying the great musicianship in this concert. The show was made more enjoyable by Harry's quirky sense of humor (no wonder he got that featured role in "Will and Grace"). He certainly charmed the audience with genuine friendliness and sparkling personality.

Colbie Caillat is so laid back an artist you could imagine just playing her guitar for you on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

This Trinoma mall show last March 12, 2008 was very short. This show even had a front act Julianne, which made me think that the main artist might not really sing much. Julianne was actually quite good, singing "English(wo)man in New York", then her hits "Tulak ng Dibdib" and "Grateful".

Colbie came in with no fanfare, just wearing a pastel yellow cotton blouse and jeans. She immediately went into "The Little Things". Then the audience came alive only with her second hit "Realize". After this however, she sang an unfamiliar monotonous song "Turn Your Light Down Low", then another album track "Battle" which was fortunately more tuneful.

Ms. Caillat has a very smooth and soothing singing voice. But if you have heard her debut album "Coco", you knew it was going to be these variations on the same few notes. It sounded even more repetitive when heard live. I cannot imagine what a full-length concert can offer with such slim pickings.

Then it was already "Bubbly", which was all the audience was waiting for. This is really a good catchy pop song, up to now. No wonder it still holds the #1 slot on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart for the 11th week now!

She sang another song "Magic" after her breakout hit, but some people were already on their feet, leaving the activity center by then.

This is the final song of the memorable Maroon 5 concert last March 5, 2008 at the Araneta Coliseum. The light show towards the end, together with the elaborate guitar playing, made this number an awesome and lasting impression of the entire concert.

This video is not that clear and even shaky as the camera was in my hard as we were grooving to the music (naks!). The song and vocals are clear enough, though, to get a sense of how it actually felt to be there.

Here is the link to my review of the concert: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/journal/item/187

"Makes Me Wonder," of course, is the first song off Maroon 5's second album "It Won't Be Soon Before Long", and it is their first #1 hit song on the Billboard Hot 100. It is really no wonder why this very catchy song went all the way to the top! It actually set the record jump to #1 when it did that from #64 in May of 2007.

This is the smashing number that opened this memorable concert.

Link to my review of the concert itself: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/journal/item/187

Since things were only getting started here, this might be the only video I have that isn't swaying around too much. Hahaha! Too bad the zoom on my camera isn't too good, so you can barely see Adam and the guys, but the sound quality seems clear enough.

I had so much difficulty getting tickets to this much-awaited concert.  I had to rely on some imagination to get them, and the risk paid off!  Got some great seats for me and my wife right across the stage.

Maybe because the tickets were hard to come by, the seats also filled up very slowly.  By 8pm, our row was still empty except for us.  It was past 830 when the lights were dimmed and the concert of the year (so far) was underway!

The set started very strongly with "If I Never See Your Face Again."  Immediately following this lively song was their Number 1 hit "Makes Me Wonder".  Then barely had we recovered when Adam unexpectedly segued into my favorite of the first album "Harder to Breathe"!  Very exciting!  I had hoped he would sing this song later into the concert, but here it was!

Adam had a very strange speaking voice, very high-pitched, almost mousy.  But for some reason, it really fits into their songs very well.  Some less familiar songs followed: "The Sun," "Can't Stop," "Secret," and "Shiver."  But these were no less well-executed.  The last was a really driving hard rock song with heavy guitar work from the guys.  My ears went numb there.

The next song was again immediately recognizable with its opening note:  "Wake Up Call".  Followed by the familiar chords of "Sunday Morning."  The audience really went wild with this.  But it was just a warm-up for the next song.

"Won't Go Home Without You" was my most favorite hit of M5, and, as it turned out, my absolute favorite number of the whole night.  The audience participation bit usually makes me cringe for some artists, but this for this song, the audience fit right in, with Adam doing harmony.  This was the highlight of the whole night for me.

"This Love" followed and turned out to be the end of the regular set.  Very good beginning, but somewhere in between some discordance between the instrumentals and Adam's vocals ruined this song for me.  But I guess that did not matter in the bigger picture.

For the encore, they performed three songs.  First,  they did the upbeat "Little of Your Time." Then they went for their biggest love song "She will be Loved" (which Adam prefaced with the perfunctory Tagalog "Mahal kita").

Finally, Adam introduced "Sweetest Goodbye" which started so quietly and ended with a wild light and guitar show.  Very strong ending number!

Awesome live concert this was!  It was quite short, only one and a half hours I think.  But still, I felt it was one of the best I have seen in the recent years.  It was expensive but well worth every centavo.

Maroon 5 is composed of Adam Levine, James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Maden, and Matt Flynn.

I thought I would not make it to the Araneta Coliseum. I had classes tonight at UST. Luckily, 3 reporters were absent, so we were dismissed early. And, despite a rally at Welcome Rotonda (smaller version of the main Makati rally), the traffic was light up to Cubao. Despite these pieces of luck and the front act, I was still late for about five songs! Unfortunately for me, the very first song he sang was "So Sick" and the third was "Sexy Love".

When I caught up with the concert as I found my companions in the crowd, Ne-Yo was going through the audience sing-along with a series of songs which he wrote for other artists, like Mario's "I Wanna Love You", Rihanna's "Unfaithful" and of course, Beyonce's "Irreplaceable". He only sang a snippet of his duet "Hate That I Love You," which I am sure disappointed the crowd.

After that he sang his latest hit "Go On Girl" which was really a great song. He then went through a series of songs from his last album "Because of You": "Can We Chill", "Make It Work", "Say It". While Ne-Yo's beats were all grooving, the visual treat was provided by his va-va-voom back-up dancers who were shaking their booties like the proverbial girls in rap videos come to life. They were wearing either backless blouses, or skin tight tights, or cleavage and belly-button revealing outfits!

His main set seemed to have ended quite suddenly with "Because of You." After what felt like an interminable wait, Ne-Yo obliged with an encore number of "When You're Mad." And then that was really the end of the concert, when he greeted the audience with his "Mahal ko kayong lahat!" as written on a piece of paper handed to him by the stage hand.

He was a good singer. His songs were good. But maybe for me, he has a quite generic look, not distinct enough. It's probably just me, but I think I would not recognize his picture when set side by side with Chris Brown, Ray-J, Trey Songz, Mario or any of the current crop of R&B songsters. Anyway, this was a good concert while it lasted. But I do not think it will have a lasting impression on me.

This is another challenging soulful song that only Taylor Hicks can deliver with conviction. In this song, he even channels on Marvin Gaye and Lionel Richie as he weaves through this intricate maze of a song.

Taylor Hicks introduced this song as his first single from his self-titled post-American Idol album. I do not remember this song being released on local radio here. But anyhow, the song is a good one, and his performance here is very good indeed.

This is the link to my detailed review of that concert at Trinoma Mall last December 20, 2007: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/journal/item/147

Towards the end of his "Taking It To The Street", Taylor Hicks brings out for the first time his trusty harmonica and plays to the delight of the audience. You can hear the collective whoop that the audience gave when he started to play!

This is the link to my detailed review of that concert at Trinoma Mall last December 20, 2007: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/journal/item/147

I find this to be the best number Taylor Hicks did during his mall show last Dec. 20, 2007 at the Trinoma Mall. He channels Ray Charles here, which previously earned him the funny monicker "Grey Charles", hahaha. This song was written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance originally for Ray Charles. This is that perfect blues style that fits Taylor to a T.

This is the link to my review of that particular show: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/journal/item/147

This is of course Taylor Hicks' "coronation song" when he won the American Idol Season 5 crown, as he sang it at his concert at Trinoma Mall last December 20, 2007.

He introduced this song by saying that this is the song he sang with the Asian Idols. Strangely, Mau Marcelo was quoted that she was excited to sing with Taylor because he looks like Richard Gomez. Huh?

Another point of interest about this song is that Elliott Yamin actually revealed that he also had recorded this particular song when he was in the final three of AI5. In an interview with EW.com, Elliott says that when he was eliminated, that recording was too. I wonder how Elliot would have taken on this song?

Here is the link to my detailed review of this concert: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/journal/item/147

Ayala Malls brings to town another American Idol just months after giving us the amazing Elliott Yamin.  This time, it no ther than the champion of Season 5 (same season as Elliott), Taylor Hicks.  He is well remembered and loved as the grey-haired blues singer from Alabama, who was unbelievably only 29 years old at the time of his AI stint. Up to now, I still find it hard to believe that he isn't older than that!

Honestly, I was pulling for Elliott that season.  But Hicks captured the hearts of the AI audience by being unique in his singing and dancing style, as well as his demeanor.  After the winning the coveted AI crown, however, it seemed difficult to market Taylor's type of music to the young pop music crowd.  After his coronation song "Do I Make You Proud" went to Number 1, he had no other single of note on the Hot 100.  Even his album became obscure soon after debuting at the top of the Billboard 200.  However, no way am I going to miss this opportunity to catch him in action.  I am so sure a LIVE Taylor Hicks concert will be a more memorable experience than his CD.

During the Elliott show I watched (my review here), by 630pm, the Glorietta 4 Activity Center was already full, and even the standing room around the stage were already very crowded.  In contrast, tonight at the Trinoma Mall, there seem to be less people as there were still a lot of seats left empty at that same time.  It was only full past 7pm when the show was beginning. 

Taylor Hicks came out rocking and rolling with "Runaround".  Now I had a copy of his album when it came out last Christmas, but I barely remember any song from it, sorry.  Good thing he introduced each song, so I can identify it here.  This was followed by "Heart and Soul" and a Bill Withers cover (the title of which I did not catch) which were both good and rollickin', though they were unfamiliar with me. 

The concert momentum began to pick up with more pop sounding songs with hooks like "Just to Feel That Way" and "The Maze".  One of the show's highlights was a Ray Charles sounding blues number called "The Right Place" (video).  Taylor was really in his element is these blues songs.

The next songs were all very familiar to me already.  In his American Idol song, "Taking it to the Streets", Taylor brings out and plays his harmonica (video).  This was very much awaited by the audience as they roared in approval. 

After that, he went right into his Number 1 single "Do I Make You Proud?" (video).  This was his most recognizable and "sing-along"-able as can be judged by the audience participation.  He followed this with "Heaven Knows"  which was familiar since I believe it was released on radio for a while.  This was an extended version, as he also plays his harmonica, and goes into all his "Soul Patrol" dance moves. 

As his final song, he starts with a blues version of "White Christmas," in inimatble Hicks style.  Then somewhere in the middle though, he speeds the tempo up into a rock-a-billy version to fit his dancing and harmonica.  Great way to wrap things up.

It was a fun and very satisfying concert overall.  He seems like a great guy, though he did not really talk to audience personally too much.  He actually threw his harmonica into the audience as a gift!  There were autographed copies of his first CD for sale at the venue, which were lapped up by the Taylor diehards despite being priced at P600 each.  There was a meet and greet after show, to which I did not have tickets again.  Next time, I should really jockey for position at the concierge at 10 in the morning.  No more cool Mr. Nice Guy, hahaha!  Especially if they are bringing over Katherine McPhee...

This is the finale number of the Beyonce Experience. This is the best number in the concert, in my opinion, because this is where she connects most with her audience. This is her biggest hit as a solo artist, and understandably so.


This is the link to my review of the concert last November 7, 2007: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/journal/item/126/The_Beyonce_Experience_The_Fort_November_7_2007