And so, I found out I had tickets to the Then & Now concert last Friday, May 14th. I wasn't expecting to watch but I just had this feeling that the concert would take a long time to finish, considering there's 9 acts and well, I'm not sure how long each setlist would be.
My friend and I went inside the venue at around 8pm after eating dinner. Once inside, we realized there's not much people around! Oh well, we just thought that the concert goers would arrive late. And they did arrive late. We were just early because I was a bit excited to watch V Factory. I love any type of boyband! Teehee. When I arrived, someone was doing a sound check.
At around 8:15, the concert started. There was a Filipino front act [Help! What was his name?]. He sang around 5 songs, two I remember: "My Love" by Westlife and another one by Spice Girls.
There was another 30 minute wait until the MYX VJs came out. I remember it was VJ Janine and a guy from MYX. I'm sorry, I forgot his name! They tried to get the crowd pumped. But failed, eventually. I can sense that most of the crowd is now restless at the time, and are not amused at having to wait standing up for more than 45 minutes when the concert was supposed to start at 8. They introduced the first act, V Factory.
V Factory came out. There were only four members, as one of them [Wesley] had to stay behind in the States and record an episode of Glee. Yes, the tv episode we all love: Glee. The first song, "Fade" was terrible due to the sound system. They were using a minus one and most of them were signalling that the technicians increase the volume of the backing track. They did, but the microphones were the ones that were having troubles now: you know the pitchy sound you hear whenever there was feedback coming from a microphone? The one that hurts your ears and your head so badly that you want to scream? That's it. Ugh.
Overall, the band was okay.. they were starting out so their choreography and their harmony were not in sync yet. But they were gorgeous guys anyway! And I think they'll go a long way =) They sang three songs, "Fade", "Get Up" and "Love Struck". I loved "Love Struck"
Funny part about their set: Asher forgot to introduce Jared in the band. hahaha.
And can I just squeal and be a fangirl? I think Nicky T is gorgeous. Okay. End of fangirliness.
TQ was next. Okay, there was a little waiting after V Factory and I'm not a huge fan of rap. But I do remember him from the song, "Westside". As I said to my friend, "so high school." Anyway, he sang some snippets of a few of his songs, commemorating other rappers he collaborated with. I'm not familiar with those aside from Westside, so I can't really comment. There were a lot of fans who were singing along with him.
After TQ's set came PM Dawn.
I don't really know anything about him so I sat down since my legs are killing me! However, he did sing one song that I'm familiar with, "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" I knew it since the Backstreet Boys covered it! LOL. Anyway, it sounded very different from the BSB version that I know but nevertheless, it was quite entertaining. He paid tribute to Francis M too, and he was wearing one of the shirts Francis M designed. Awww. I love that.
Baby Bash was next. I thought they were a group but it turns out they were only two persons that comprise the band. The other member wasn't able to come to Manila for some reason. I wasn't a big fan of their music so I sat down again, trying to rest my legs every moment that I can. No videos nor photos from him too.
One of my favourite acts to perform was next: Diana King. She is very, very popular because her song, "I Say A Little Prayer" was also in one of the most popular movies of the 1990s, "My Best Friend's Wedding. " I remember she sang "Shy Guy" and "Lies" and of course, "I Say A Little Prayer."
She also said that she should have gone to Manila 15 years ago! Oh well. 15 years ago, the concert tickets might have been more expensive and she might have been able to sing more songs from her album compared to the Then and Now concert. Pet Peeve: the start of her set, we couldn't hear anything! No background music, no microphone - ugh. Again, the sound system sucks! Good thing they managed to resolve it in the middle of the song, but still, we weren't able to completely hear Diana as she sang some high notes in our song.
Then, Frankie J came out. Hmmm... at first, I didn't know him -- okay, I can imagine you guys groaning and saying what a complete music noob I am, but remember I LOVE boybands/pop/pop rock/alternative/rock and well, I am not into RnB. And I do have this "sickness" where I can't remember an artist, the song title, but do remember the song when I hear it. He sang "Don't Wanna Try" and I'm like "oooh.. so that's him. "
I can't remember much from his set though. The tiredness is kicking in. My friends enjoyed him perform though, good for them. I'd ask them for more input on Frankie J's performance!
Then the announcement came for JoJo. I thought All4One would come out next but to my surprise, it wasn't! It was nearly 12mn when JoJo came out!
I'll edit this post as I go along, but for now, my review for the other artists would have to wait. I have to post photos and videos too! =)
Photos by ficklefan and diego
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