James Morrison : The Awakening Tour in Manila

Took some time off to catch the James Morrison concert last night.

Although admittedly not as familiar with his discography as my concert buddies, I did manage to listen to his latest album long enough to get the impression that it was a form of affirmation, if not a total celebration of sorts. Certain tracks sounded like a tribute, a veritable list of people and things that made this particular artist who he is today. The Awakening is arguably more upbeat than Morrison's previous offerings---I, for one, am amazed by the uncanny marriage of this singer's signature rasp and the Motown influence in his third album.

With a setlist of funky tunes intermingled with soulful ballads, this British singer-songwriter performed with a whole lot of swag, jumping and strutting on stage, infecting the crowd with his euphoric energy. The whole concert experience felt like a laid-back party with a take em' to church vibe and Morrison, the anointed preacher. With a unique gravelly voice (which I can only describe as one in dire need of a lozenge, but in a good way), this guy was a sight to behold as he unleashed his inner dance monkey before a crowd of onlookers who had no choice but to reciprocate his verve.

People probably came in droves wanting to hear sentimental hits like You Give Me Something and Broken Strings and let me just say that he didn't disappoint. He likewise sold his new material, singing up tempo songs like Beautiful Life and Slave to the Music whilst dialing things down a notch with heartfelt compositions like In My Dreams, I Won't Let You Go and  Say Something Now, all done with apparent ease and pride. 

There are performers who would often draw energy from the crowd but this one generated his own; he channeled it to everyone inside the Big Dome. This one had a light in him that made you stop wondering whether or not he took more than a swig of spiked Kool-aid, he had an energy and a force that can make you throw your hands in the air and say, "I'll have whatever he's having."

He was obviously having a good time that night and so were we. 

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Concert picture courtesy of Inquirer Entertainment

I initially planned to use a different picture for this blog post, but the picture that came with the Inquirer article pretty much captured the feeling of seeing Morrison work his groove.

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Snow Patrol: Fallen Empires Tour in Manila

Light up, light up.... I'll be right beside you dear.

After having half the city submerged in flood water barely two days ago and experiencing torrential rains for almost a week, the sun finally came out today like a beacon calling to all Snow Patrol fans to come out and rejoice, for the concert would push through as scheduled.

Rain or shine, I already made up my mind to go. I initially planned to attend the block screening of The Bourne Legacy at the Mall of Asia but ended up missing it because of the bad weather so the only highlight of the week was this concert, which---in all honesty was something that I've been looking forward to for two...three months now. Luckily, the rain let up long enough to make the roads passable to light vehicles, so off I went to the concert venue to witness an awesome show and more importantly, listen to some good music.

Okay, so maybe some people consider Snow Patrol quite mawkish and maybe not everyone has heard of the band and their music (even though they've had at least one or two songs featured in Grey's Anatomy and just about any CW series), but at least, in my mind, they're not as big and cloying as Coldplay, nor as heavily criticized or ridiculed. Underrated and inconspicuous, that's what they are, but you would not have thought of that seeing the number of people who turned out at their concert earlier tonight.

There was a shared feeling of excitement as the crowd listened to the remix of Berlin and watched seven LCD panels deliver colorful visuals timed to the music. By the time the band hit the stage with tracks like Hands Open, Take Back the City and Crack the Shutters, the crowd was on its feet. People were cheering, clapping, singing in unison and the sheer energy brought by the audience was equally matched by frontman Gary Lightbody, who conducted the event like a seasoned performer. He kept the people engaged, made small talk and even introduced songs between sets as expected of a singer/songwriter in an old school band.

The band sounded great, the lighting design was top notch and the images projected onscreen complemented the music. I had no doubt that people went home happy to hear a great selection of songs from the band's discography.

Crowd favorites such as Chasing Cars, Run, Chocolate and You're All I Have were performed with just about the same reverence and fondness as recent material from their latest album. I had a kick listening to the melancholy vibe of New York and Make This Go on Forever, the irreverent beat of Fallen Empires, and the fading grandiosity of This isn't Everything You Are. There's something to be said about the simplicity that one can find in Snow Patrol's music---the steady repetition of words and phrases in their lyrics, and the almost timeless appeal of hooks and bridges in every song melody that triggers an emotion or memory, that makes a person sing one's heart out. Lightbody's voice has a raw yet sincere quality to it; there's a quiet desperation in it that people can easily relate to without necessarily being burdened or oppressed by its weight because the songs that he sings are never without hope. Sentimental, yes, even to a fault. But there's hope and promise behind every tune and there's hardly any bitterness no matter how sad its origin. Of course, it also helps to mix things up a little by experimenting with different beats and dabbling into techno/electronica music.

As an encore, the band played Lifening which was a wistful, sentimental song that speaks of happiness that can be found in the simplest of things. To cap off the night, Just Say Yes was performed amidst blue-white flashing lights and the distinct, Irish way in which Lightbody sang the line, "Please take my heart..." to an already smitten crowd. It was a superb concert, the best one I've seen so far this year.         

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 As usual, I can't be expected to take any pictures.
 Concert photo by Imaginary Ordinary 

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Save Me, San Francisco : Train Live in Manila

We've had a lot of foreign artists over this year and though my sisters and I made a number of plans to catch some of them perform, we never really managed to watch anything because of our conflicting schedules. Most of the concerts were scheduled on a Sunday or a weekday---which meant braving traffic if you're coming from the other side of the metro and/or rearranging your work itinerary just to get to the venue in time for the concert, which in turn meant that you would really, really have to like the artist or group that's performing to go through all that trouble. I didn't think I'd get to watch Train on their second visit to Manila but luckily, one of  my friends decided to make a night out of it, so I ditched my students (scheduled a make-up class, actually) and made a beeline for the coliseum after a boring day at the office.

I half expected the place to be full, maybe not filled to the rafters like the Jason Mraz concert, but I at least hoped for a decent turnout so that concert promoters can get the band to come back and perform in the future. There was a sizable crowd at the Araneta coliseum, it wasn't empty but it wasn't full, but given that everyone's in a mad dash to keep their expenditures in check for the holiday season, I kind of understand  why the Filipino audience couldn't have given this band a better reception.

Anyway, I felt like I needed a break so what better way to reward myself than to watch one of my favorite adult-contemporary rock bands in concert?

If memory serves me right, I was a sophomore in college when Meet Virginia hit the airwaves but it wasn't until Drops of Jupiter came out in 2001 that I truly became a fan. To this day, my favorite Train album would still have to be My Private Nation, with Save Me, San Francisco coming in at a close second.

I find Train's music easy to listen to and sing along with, and while not being insanely popular as other artists before Hey, Soul Sister became a huge hit, songs like Calling All Angels and When I Look to the Sky tend to stay with you and resonate. I've been keeping my fingers crossed for a comeback ever since their single Ordinary was featured in the Spiderman 2 soundtrack, and though never in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that their ticket to mainstream success would come in the form of a sickeningly foppish jingle, I guess I should still count myself lucky that they're out and about.

The concert was supposed to start at 8 p.m. but front act, 6-cyclemind, came on stage about a half hour late and didn't finish their set until a few minutes before 9 p.m. After that, we heard a train whistle/horn and Train opened the show with Parachute, followed by If it's Love---a love song dedicated to their loyal fans. The band then proceeded to play hit songs from their previous albums such as Calling All Angels, Meet Virginia, Get to Me and She's On Fire before launching into a Journey song with one lucky girl, who's obviously no stranger to singing such a karaoke staple.

Being my first Train concert, I really had no idea what to expect, so it was a pleasant surprise for me to see Pat Monahan and the band go out of their way to interact with audience members. I had a lot of fun watching the second batch of Manila Trainettes compete for a signed guitar and pretty much turned green with envy when the frontman jumped into the crowd and mingled with those in VIP and patron seats while singing Marry Me. At this point, my friend looked really disappointed, being someone who loved to document every event with a video or picture, but there was no helping it, since we were stuck with Upper Box A seats.

I tried to console her with the fact that the band sounded great from where we were seated, for it's a fact that one of the many downsides to having front row seats is that you don't get to appreciate the full sound of the band. I'm compelled to sour-grape a little, sure, but usually when you're situated near the stage, one of the instruments end up sounding louder than the others or the lead singer's voice get drowned out by the accompanying sound.

Since this was the Manila leg of a tour to promote their fifth album, Train played a bevy of songs which included the title track, Save Me, San Francisco, the Coke jingle, Shake Up Christmas, as well as Hey Soul Sister, I Got You and as mentioned earlier, Marry Me (though not in that particular order). For their encore performance, Train treated the crowd to Words and of course, the now classic, Drops of Jupiter---and with that, the concert was over. It lasted a little over an hour, which is why my friend's sole complaint was that she wished they threw in a few more songs, made the concert last a little longer.

Overall, I must say that I had fun at this concert. So much fun that I came up with a couple of resolutions; the first being that I should endeavor to get better seats for their next concert and the second would be to get more people to see them perform.

We might not have been near enough to get a decent picture but the music alone was worth the price of admission.

P.S. Being the stingy, fickle person that I am, it goes without saying that the above resolutions are contingent upon whether or not I'll dig their 6th album. Hopefully by then, Pat would've gotten himself a haircut and/or had enough time to run a comb through his hair.

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Concert pictures taken by Kris Rocha for Dayly Entertainment.

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The Frazzled Troubadour

Here's the thing, I don't really get out much nowadays with work and my part-time job teaching, so on the rare occasion that I do manage to catch a concert, watch a play or attend a ballet, I only go out of my way to see something that I'm inexplicably drawn to, really interested in or feel strongly about. So when I heard that Manila was going to be the first stop of Jason Mraz's "A Grateful Journey Tour", I immediately marked the date on my calendar and rushed to buy reserved seats [the cheapest kind, mind you]; all prepared for a night where I'll just let myself be swept away by the music, like driftwood caught in a rolling wave. Lol x).

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