Belgian singer Stromae, tops my personal countdown for the second time, as Tous Les Memes, moves from #4 to #1 It's also the first French language song to top my countdown in 2014. Here are my ten favorite songs for the week ending February 21, 2014 - # Stromae - Tous Les Memes (#4) #2 Lady Antebellum - Compass (#7) #3 Vampire Weekend - Ya Hey (#6) #4 Avril Lavigne - Rock N Roll (NEW) #5 Stefano Langone - Yes to Love (#9) #6 Avril Lavigne - Here's to Never Growing Up (NEW) #7 Beyonce - XO (#5) #8 Kristen Bell / Santino Fontana - Love is an Open Door (#8) #9 Avril Lavigne / Chad Kroeger - Let Me Go (NEW) #10 Kristen Bell / Idina Menzel - Do You Want to Build A Snowman (#10)
Avril Lavigne gets her 25th top 10 hit in my personal countdown this week as Rock N Roll, debuts at #4. There was renewed interest in the song due to Avril's concert here last week. She also sang this song during her show.
Avril Lavigne gets her 24th top 10 hit in my personal countdown, as Here's to Never Growing Up, debuts this week at #6. The song has had a resurgence due to her concert here last week. She performed this song during her show here in Manila.
Let Me Go becomes Avril Lavigne's 23rd top 10 hit in my personal countdown and the first from Chad Kroeger. This week, the song debuts at #9. Avril and Chad performed this song during her Manila show.
Avril Lavigne has 24 top 10 hits in my personal countdown. Eight of them went all the way to #1.
2002 - Sk8ter Boi (#1) 2002 - I'm With You (#1) 2003 - Losing Grip (#1) 2003 - Anything But Ordinary (#1) 2004 - My Happy Ending (#1) 2004 - Don't Tell Me (#1) 2004 - Nobody's Home (#3) 2004 - Take Me Away (#3) 2004 - Together (#5) 2004 - How Does it Feel (#2) 2004 - Forgotten (#3) 2006 - Keep Holding On (#3) 2007 - When You're Gone (#1) 2007 - Hot (#1) 2007 - The Best Damn Thing (#2) 2007 - I Can Do Better (#3) 2011 - What the Hell (#2) 2011 - Smile (#2) 2011 - Push (#2) 2011 - Wish You Were Here (#2) 2011 - I Love You (#3) 2011 - Goodbye (#7)
2014 - Let Me Go (with Chad Kroeger) (#9) 2014 - Here's to Never Growing Up (#6) 2014 - Rock and Roll (#4)
A motley crew of Black Star fans (that's how Avril Lavigne calls her fans) brought this banner last night during her concert. Very outspoken displays of artists affection, especially as a big group of fans are rare during concerts. The last time I saw one was during Hanson's show here last year.
Avril is very lucky because she has this young fanbase that can follow her career as she gets older. At least, when she's 40 or 45 and she decides to have a nostalgia tour, her fans who will grow older with her will surely watch her shows, may pera pa rin ang lola!
My first concert for 2014 will be the fourth time I will be seeing Avril Lavigne live! I really enjoyed her show here in Manila two years ago! I haven't really heard her latest album yet, just the songs she has released. Anyway, I may have to listen to it this coming week. Here is her setlist for her show here in Manila on February 17, 2014.
It's like the Valentine's season still in my Top 10 list this week, as most of the top songs are love songs! Finally topping the list after a fantastic breakout a few weeks back is Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know. Newcomers to the list are Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen and the Filipina duo Krissy and Ericka.
Evanescence's Swimming Home continues to lord it over my personal countdown list this week.
Here are my top 10 favorite songs for the week ending March 2, 2012 -
#1 - Evanescence - Swimming Home (1) #2 - Blue - U Make Me Wanna (RE)
Because of their concerts last Saturday, Blue and A1's former #1 songs return to the top 10 f my personal weekly Top 10. U Make Me Wanna goes to #2 while A1's Same Old Brand New You enters at #3.
Due to their concert last Sunday, Evanescence captures the #1 spot for the fourth time in my personal countdown with Swimming Home, a new track from their self-titled album - and a song they also performed that night. Their former #1 songs were Bring Me To Life, My Immortal and Call Me When You're Sober Here are my top 10 favorite songs for the week ending February 24, 2012 - #1 - Swimming Home - Evanescence (NEW) #2 - Gotye and Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know (9) #3 - I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz (8) #4 - Katy Perry - Hummingbird Heartbeat (RE) #5 - Push - Avril Lavigne (2) #6 - Only Love - Melissa Etheridge (7) #7 - Evanescence - My Immortal (NEW) #8 - Natasha Bedingfield - A Little Too Much (#2) #9 - Christian Bautista - Beautiful to Me (NEW) #10 - Sitti - Sinong Mag-aakala (NEW)
Ok, ok, it took me sometime to like her latest work. Truth is, when I heard the first single, What The Hell, I turned away almost immediately and judged her whole album as middling. But thanks to the live show here last week, I gave her latest album a spin and voila, I discovered several gems which has really grown on me these past few weeks! They have even entered My Personal Top 10 list of the week! I am not surprised anymore why she released those songs, they were actually the strongest songs from the album. I guess some of the fans turned away a bit since there was less angst in this album - and for the first time - Avril is actually happy - and she sings about it here!
So here are my five favorite songs from her Goodbye Lullaby album -
#1 Push - still my favorite song from this album up to now. I guess because it's also the one that sounds closest lyrically to her previous hits.
#2 Smile - this song kinda grew on me, the moreso when I heard it live!
#3 I Love You - another song of hers which really grew on me! the more I listen to it, the more I like its positive vibe!
#4 Wish You Were Here - actually, this is the song I can most relate it - and Avril sings it so earnestly!
#5 What the Hell - the song I used to not like is in the list! Well, I realized later on how kooky and quirky this song was - not really a departure from what Avril has done in the past! Really, what the hell!!
Natasha Bedingfield gets her fifth #1 song in my personal countdown this week, as A Little Too Much zooms from #7 to #1. Her previous #1s include These Words, Unwritten, I Wanna Have Your Babies and Strip Me. Here are my top 10 favorite songs for the week ending February 17, 2012. #1 - Natasha Bedingfield - A Little Too Much (7) #2 - Push - Avril Lavigne (NEW) #3 - What the Hell - Avril Lavigne (NEW) #4 - Wish You Were Here - Avril Lavigne (NEW) #5 - Smile - Avril Lavigne (NEW) #6 - I Love You - Avril Lavigne (NEW) #7 - Only Love - Melissa Etheridge (NEW) #8 - I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz (NEW) #9 - Gotye and Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know (NEW)
Things started early, as Bush opened the show with Machinehead by 8:30PM. The coliseum was not as full as that of Avril's, maybe around 60%, but it's a respectable number considering how many shows there were to choose from this Valentine's season! I've always had a crush on Gavin Rossdale since before so it was great to finally see him perform live. Apparently, the band had already broken up but regrouped last year to record a new album and voila, they are now on tour! Which is just as well as you can see from the audience's reaction last night, that they still had fans.
I'm sure everyone's favorite moment was when Gavin went into the audience and got as high up as the Upper Box A crowd. He even passed a few rows before me but there were grills and it was impossible to leave the seat to get a better picture. Well, his going around the coliseum was certainly a surprise!
Well, the band played some songs which I wasn't familiar with but they included my favorite, The Chemicals Between Us. I only remember two hits from the band, Glycerine and Comedown, and they played both too, towards the end of their set.
After the Bush set, Evanescence followed 30 minutes later, opening their set with What You Want - one of my favorite songs from their new self-titled album. My most favorite though is Swimming Home, which they did with an accompanying cellist! They also did My Heart is Broken, Made of Stone, The Change, The Other Side, Lost in Paradise and Sick.
As expected, the crowd went wild when they did their hits, starting early with Going Under. Towards the end of the show, they also did Call Me When You'r Sober and Bring Me To Life, which the audience sang along with, unsurprisingly. The Evanescence set was further enhanced by the lights which changed constantly, so that the lighting of the band's name as their background would change as the show progressed, from dark blues, to green to yellow and even purple!
Well, they did an encore, with My Immortal and I choked in the middle of the song while singing along with them! I guess I remembered someone in my past life, knowing that this song used to be special to me - but that was more than 10 years ago already.
Amy Lee came out all dressed in black and you can really appreciate her effort since some of her songs have high notes, and sometimes, she wasn't successful in reaching it. As expected, when she spoke, her voice sounded raspy and gravel-ly, but she was very thankful for the experience of playing here and did not hesitate to egg the audience on to sing along with her.
After the show, I met up with my classmate from Spanish class, Marez, who came with her partner and his daughter and we posed for a picture. Too bad they didn't sell any shirts or merchandise. It would've been cool to have some!
This is already Avril Lavigne's third visit here in Manila and I've seen all her shows here. The first one was in March 2005 in the Fort, and I remember walking on rocky ground just to reach her concert venue. Then September 2008, she did her second show in Araneta, and this is her third one, also in Araneta, thank God!
I was really surprised by the crowd tonight! The place was like 80% full, and considering that the Araneta was booked solid for concerts the past few days, it just shows that Avril's fanbase here is really solid! Ferds and I both agreed that she had more people here in this show than in her previous show. Whether it was because of her latest album, Goodbye Lullabye, or that it was a Valentine's treat, well, we're not quite sure.
And how was the show? Well, I liked the Best Damn Tour more maybe because I loved many songs in her Best Damn Thing album. Her latest album really departed a lot from her usual lyrics and melodies. I guess being happy in one's songs can also alienate the fans - something that recent Grammy winner, Adele should take note. Love songs about heartbreak and unrequited love are more popular than happy love songs!
I checked the videos I took of the concert and the show was pretty ok and cool! Since the concert kinda ended perfuntorily, we felt bitin, especially that she eschewed Hot (which we both loved) and Losing Grip (for me) and Keep Holding On (for Ferds). Oh well, rock stars and their strange choices for their concert setlists!
Avril did not have to sing much last night. The audience pretty much did the singing for her!! Many of her fans really knew the lyrics of her songs - and it was pretty much a sing-along concert especially with her classics, I'm With You, My Happy Ending, Complicated and even her new hit, Wish You Were Here.
She also took away the choreography and some of the dancing for her hit Girlfriend thus making the show a bit one-dimensional. There was even no stage backdrop saying "The Black Star Tour", which would've been great for after concert photo-ops. Avril really kept it minimalist this time.
Although Ferds and I came late to the show, we still decided to go to the center and we were lucky enough to squeeze into that part of the audience. Gauging from the audience that night, these kids were really here early!! Incredible!
I won't be surprised if she comes back again here. The audience reaction tonight was hard to ignore! The audience's request for her to encore was actually the loudest I've heard, ever!! At least for a Manila concert! I just hope her next album leaves Sunnyville and goes back to her darker side and moods. I kinda miss the old Avril.
