Cocert Blitz

I've seen two concerts this week: Simple Plan and New Found Glory (last Monday) and Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet (last night). Both concerts were held at Araneta Colossium.

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I do not claim to be a fan of Simple Plan and New Found Glory. I only know a few of their songs. I know "Perfect" by Simple Plan and the remake of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" by New Found Glory. I thought that it would be interesting to see them play so I went with my brothers and cousin.

When I went in, NFG was playing already. People seemed to enjoy and there were lots of them standing up at below the stage, rockin and taking pictures of their rock idols. I actually liked their music and I found myself stomping my feet to the beat of their punk tunes. A lot of people (including by brothers) were jumping around. NFGs bassist, a huge man, was jumping around on stage without a shirt on. I think people enjoyed seeing a big topless white guy making an ass of himself on stage. They also invited a guy from the audience to play the guitar with them, much to the delight of the audience. I think I saw that guy wet his pants on stage.

After NFG, Simple Plan, the main act, performed. They were fun to watch too. I knew some of their songs but I didn't know that they were the ones who sang it. I sang along to "Perfect" which I also liked listening to. I even have an mp3 of the song. Kids watching the concert were screaming their lungs off. I didn't jump but I stomped my feet and head banged a little bit till I felt a bit of a headache.

I enjoyed their music also but I must say that I think I liked NFG better. I like punk music and I'd like to think that I'm a bit of a punk too.

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I started listening to Spandau Ballet when I was in 5th grade. They were'nt really that big for me because at that time, I was more interested in playing with my toys that listening to music, but they were the ones I'd like to listen to once in awhile. My dad had their tape and I played it every so often. I listen to them again in college though I can't say that I was a big fan. I just liked their music.

I started appreciating them when I started working. I started listening to them again and surprisingly, memorized some of their songs. I particularly liked "Highly Strung" and "Lifeline" and who can forget "Through the Barricades".

Yesterday, a friend called me and said that he had extra tickets for the Tony Hadley concert. Tony Hadley was the vocalist of Spandau and he had came here with the band's original drummer. So we took the tickets and even gave one extra to my officemate who's a huge 80's fan.

The front acts for the cocert was the band in PCSO (ikaw ang kandungan nga mga may kailangan . . . or something like that) commercial and the Sabado Boys (Jimmy Bondoc, Top Suzara, Paolo Santos, etc). The crowd discovered that Bondoc was a real funny guy and could give the Pork Chop Duo a run for their money. The show started around 30 mins after the front acts. I even shouted "DURAN DURAN!" while people were clapping their hands signaling for the show to start. To my surprise, people started laughing when I shouted. Jan said "sige, mag-pabibo ka . . ." half disgusted and embarrased with my corny antics.

Anyway the show started withe Hadley singing Spandau songs. The people loved it. I loved it. I was surpised to hear Jan shouting "whhoooo!" when she heard the intro of "True". They also played U2's "With or Without You" and Elvis' "Suspicious Minds". Then Hadley said he loved Duran Duran and started performing one of their songs (I forgot the title but its a song about a chick named Rio). My office made said "Narinig ka yata", but that was very doubtful. Someone also proposed to his fiance' during the concert in front of everyone to which Hadley said "Good job, mate! Well done!"

I enjoyed listening to Hadley. His voice sounded the same though he looked like he gained a lot of weight over the years. Over all, Jan and I enjoyed the show and I think all of the people there enjoyed too. I sang to most of the songs, even though I've forgotten most of the lyrics. My officemate exhausted his cel battery because he was taking videos of the whole concert using is camera phone. I tried taking some pics but because we were a bit far (lower box) I did't get good ones.

More concerts please! More FREE concerts, I mean, hehe!

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I bumped into my friend Aris the other day with his wife in Makati. The last time I saw him was at the Ad Congress in Subic last November, and the last time before that was around 8 years ago. He said that he was a reader of my blog and I'd like to thank him for having the time to read my posts.

Thanks man and good to see 'ya!

And to my regular readers, thanks for reading too!

:-)