Every generation, an artist is generously rewarded with opulent praise and loyal devotion from rabid teenage girls! Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Madonna, Britney Spears - they would be nothing without teenage girls. Now, add Justin Bieber to that list, and you have unleashed a force of adulation that only a natural disaster like a tsunami or a volcanic eruption can match - and duplicate that in every country in the world with teenage girls!
I just had to find out for myself as to why there was so much attraction to this Bieber boy. To an adult gay man, he just seems pretty ordinary. But don't say that to any teenage girl. They will tear me to pieces with their screams!
Anyhow, I did find out soon enough. I arrived in MOA at 4:30PM and there was already a very long queue snaking its way outside the venue. And believe me, it was a very, very, very long line - and this was under the sweltering heat of a May summer. What made it bearable was that the typhoon that hit us a few days back made the temperatures relatively cooler. But not the Bieber fever! I haven't seen so many teenage girls in my whole life since that Taylor Swift concert! And to think that the concert was still about 5 hours later! Such devotion!
So off I went to the gym and everyone I knew who saw me instantly knew why I was there! Yeah, Tony in MOA means there's a show later on - yeah, they're realizing that now. Of course, I had to downplay that a bit. A friend of mine texted, "Seriously? You're watching Justin Bieber?" - and of course, I did not tell Vic I was watching and the next day, when he called.......
MOA was in a state of pandemonium as there were as many people who did not have tickets who just stayed outside to watch. Kinda reminded me of Beyonce's concert years ago, where if you stayed in the right promontory in Bonifacio High Street, you could actually see the stage! Same thing here. The call center people of that building with Fitness First in the first floor had a free show - although I'm not sure how much they could hear with all that glass. I even saw people with banners who did not have tickets - and were just content to listen from the outside!
Anyhow, I know that concerts usually start at 9:00PM even though the tickets say 8:00PM. That's just how it is here. So I went to my designated place at around 8:45PM, and immediately, the countdown began at 15 minutes. Perfect timing! I deliberately missed the Poreotics dance segment since I was not into robotic dancing.
So how was the show? Well, if I were a 14-year old girl - I could've died that night with wonderful memories of Justin Bieber smiling upon me! For one thing, he is really cute! The big screens would show him in some angles which would highlight how cute he is! All the girls around me would say. "Gwapo, ang gwapo", over and over and over and over again! And he does look cute, and I am saying that as a gay man. I think it's in his eyes!
Another thing is, yeah, he's really just a boy. His frame, his voice - and his music - is just reflective of where he is in his life now - so I don't really get why critics of his music bash him. What would you expect a 17-year old boy sing about - divorce? broken hearts? adultery? Give the guy a break and let him enjoy his teenage years. As it is, when he sang Edwin McCain's "I'll Be", I felt he was singing to the wrong crowd, since I didn't see that many women of wedding age watching. Maybe his musical director should've chosen a more appropriate song.
Otherwise, he sang songs from his My World series of CDs (and there's so many versions of them!) He actually didn't even have to sing much that night. The chorus of teenage girls just happily sang along with him, song after song after song! And they knew every freaking lyric and inflection - such devotion and love!
So what sections of the show did I like very much? Well, I love his "Bigger" song, so I have that on video. The acoustic part of the show was ok, but acoustic does not really work well for big venues, and voice-wise, he doesn't really have the big voice to drown out a big venue like that and only 2 guitars can mask it. Then of course, the hits came after the acoustic part and this was where the crowd began to come alive - "Somebody to Love", "Never Say Never" and some songs I'm not sure of the titles of but sounded familiar. All this time, the girls were either singing along, or waving their hands, or shrieking I love you's.
I love his video montage when he was still a toddler! OMG, such an adorable boy!! Three years old and already that bubbly!! And he could play the drums and the guitar at maybe five or seven based on his frame! And the voice was already there. We even sang along to the toddler Justin doing A,B,C,D,E,F,G!!
Another notable thing is that Justin Bieber was surrounded by Filipino talent!! His back up singers - a group called Legacy - were Filipinos! One of his background dancers - also Filipino! So he really knows what we are capable of! And he was proud to announce that to everyone!
Anyhow, it was around 10:45 when he did his encore. And of course, it was that 'Baby' song. They did a cute skit before singing it, figuring what 'Baby' song it was. Maybe Justin wants to do some acting soon so a simple skit like this is preparation for it. Before the encore, his last song was "Pray" and he also did "That Should Be Me" and "Eenie Meenie" around there - and the crowd just sang along and danced with him.
Admittedly, I was very tired after the show. MOA is not really a very good place to watch a concert. It's hot outside and the crush of people is difficult. To think I was one of the taller ones in my section. The Dad beside me had to lift his daughter on his shoulder throughout the whole show! Such love! And I even saw a girl actually use her Ipad to get images and videos! O nga naman, no need to download na!
For some weird reason I did not see any celebrity. I saw and heard shrieks here and there but there were just so many people, I did not want to join in the crush of running after a local celebrity. For that night, Justin was enough.
I will look back to this day 25 years from now, when Justin becomes 42. I just hope all these girls would still adore him after all these years. Because the way they love Justin reminds me of how I love Madonna. Because after 25 years, I still love Madonna and her music. (I bought the 'Madonna' album in 1984, so it's actually 27 years already) I hope their hearts don't stray - and most importantly, I hope Justin Bieber is still making good music in 2036 as he is now.
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