Almost two years to the day, Ariana Grande performed again in Manila, but this year, to much stricter security checks, which caused us so much aggravation, but more on that story later.
T'was a pity that that suicide bomber in Manchester chose her show since 90% of her fans are female between 10-24 years old. It was really a young female crowd last night - and there were a few boyfriends in tow.
There were a few bekis who dressed up as Ariana, and the paminta bekis as well, but not in the numbers that you'd see in a Lady Gaga or a Madonna concert.
Instructively, she performed the Judy Garland (the queen of the queers of a certain age!) classic, 'Over the Rainbow' and had the AIDS sign mixed with her bunny signature insignia.
Overall though, I thought the show, and my friend Jennifer Chan Lorenzo also thinks so, needed a much better musical director.
The role of the musical director of a concert is very crucial, because he (or she) sets the pace of the show and a very good one can bring the show to a spectacular climax!
There was no spectacular climax last night.
It even took minutes before the crowd shouted "Ari, Ari, Ari" after she sang 'Into You', her last song, before she came out and did her encore song. There were high points but they were few and far between - and I think what was criminal, was to change the high energy of her hits - "Break Free", "One Last Time", "Problem" - and make them jazzy midtempo heavy bass R&B which did not quite put the crowd in a frenzy.
Zedd and the dance producers of those songs made them high tempo so that Ariana would have high energy songs to fire up her live shows. Sadly, that didn't happen last night.
Sayang, all the girls were dressed to party with their bunny headresses and their long hair extensions - and those beautiful eyelashes that highlighted their beautiful eyes!
I'm sure they wore those after leaving home. Their Dads would freak out if they would see their daughters in such skimpy and seductive clothes aka like their idol.
I did have my favorite moments in the show. The opening sequence was very cute, I love it and I love the blonde boys there as well!! Yum yum!! And the songs they chose there? Love them all! From Be Alright to Bad Decisions, and I forget the others, they were cool enough to warm up the crowd.
That section, I loved.
And it wasn't only till Love Me Harder and Into You that I did get fired up a bit but they weren't long enough to sustain any feeling of euphoria - something any concertgoer should get!
Ariana's nightingale voice was in great shape though and even if she said she was not feeling well, she did not look like it. She was a real trouper!
Yun lang, I hope her management gets a better live musical director.
She could've turned the whole MOA Arena into Valkyrie last night!
With all her hits? Easy piece-y!!
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