My Ten Favorite Concerts of 2011

Well, Richard Marx's show last Friday was the last concert I'll be watching this year, so it's now time to unveil my ten favorite concerts or live gigs of 2011 -

#1 Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite Tour

#2 David Foster, Michael Bolton, Charice, Ashanti, Philip Bailey, Russell Watson

#3 Poom Prommachart Performs Rach at the Cultural Center of the Philippines

#4 David Archuleta

#5  Owl City

#6  Taylor Swift Speak Now Tour

#7  Switchfoot Hello Hurricane Tour

#8  Eevee, Ajka, Letter Day Story Mayric's Gig

#9  Pitbull

#10  Richard Marx

Well, I did not watch Bruno Mars since, at that time, I didn't quite like his music yet, but I am slowly warming up to him.  Ditto to The Script since the concert was sold out!  I also did not watch Miley Cyrus since I was not sure about how good her setlist was.  Ditto for The Black Eyed Peas and Libera since they both went head on with David Foster.

Otherwise, the other shows that quite didn't make it to the list above are Mike Posner, Train, Go West, Howard Jones, Human League, Belinda Carlisle, Westlife, Sugarfree, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber and Lee Deewyze.

Concert Review: David Foster and His Friends Dish out Real Entertainment

David Foster is not only a great producer, he also knows how to entertain a crowd - and he's not even a singer!  This is already my second time to see him.  The first time was July 2010, when he came here to Manila with Charice, Natalie Cole, Peter Cetera and some tenors - and it was a sold-out show!

Well, his second time around here was just as entertaining!  Russell Watson came out first and he certainly blew the audience away with his fantastic voice!  He is not yet very popular here in the Philippines but I know he's very popular in the UK. With him as the opening act, it ensured that everyone was in for a treat!  Russell's rendition of Nessun Dorma and Volaresimply blew everyone away!

Ashanti came in next. It's also my second time to see her as she came here earlier in this decade.  I didn't know that she had a beautiful voice!  I mean, all that layering of the vocals in most of her R&B songs just took away the real power of her voice. Tonight, she displayed it with gusto as she dealt with the high notes of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You. She also did a short performance of her own hits.

Philip Bailey was next and he had the crowd on his feet since the songs he and David picked for this show are some of local bar-dom's favorites - September is one of them.  Philip sang in falsetto most of the time, and although it didn't come out as powerful, maybe because of his age, his performance was also entertaining!

As a form of side entertainment, it has always been David's penchant for getting audience members to sing!  Last year, Pilita Corrales and Randy Santiago gamely sang for everyone. This year, Martin Nievera was there plus a host of very brave local singer-wannabees who were not afraid to sing in front of 11,000 people!

I really enjoyed the show for the beautiful voices, the relaxed pacing and David's wit and charm.  It was like he just ushered you into his living room and asked all these fantastic people to sing for you!  He said he'll be coming again next year.  You bet I'll be there!

David Foster Keeps His Hits Coming and Coming and Coming

David Foster's concert last night was probably the most fun the guy had in a long time, and he said it over and over again to all of us!  It was fun for us too since, aside from him, there were several hitmakers in their own right who made his show possible.  As he said, if only he can sing like those guys, he could do the show himself, but God had other plans for him

He actually opened the show with his instrumental version of the Love Theme to St. Elmo's Fire.  This song was very memorable for me since I was third year high school when this song came out and everytime I was feeling low or unhappy, this song was one of those things that would lift me up, maybe due to the beautiful way the strings were arranged. I actually prefer the instrumental version (which was the US hit) than the one where somebody sings a vocal.  He also does one more instrumental before he introduces the first act.
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The first group to perform were the Canadian Tenors and well, their voices were just ok and didn't really impress the very picky Pinoy audience.  I was surprised though that they sang Hallelujah. Almost everyone I like seems to have a version of this former UK #1 song!  Even Justin Timberlake has a version of the song!  Anyhow, I learned later on that Leonard Cohen wrote it so, no surprise there!

Natalie Cole came in next and her musicality shone through once again tonight.  When she sang 'Miss You Like Crazy', David got to experience for the first time (according to him), a whole coliseum sing along with the singer!  And that gave me goosebumps too since the venue had the ability to keep the sound intact so no wonder the performers love it!  She also does Unforgettable where she got to work with David, and her version tonight was really classy, as usual.

American Idol winner Ruben Studdard performed next and he's a very good vocalist, but I guess what he lacks is the connection with the fans, I mean, this guy really needs to have real fans if he wants a career, otherwise, he should just sing in a hotel.  His performance is flawless though and he's a deserving Idol winner.  I'm just surprised all those who voted for him didn't bother to follow up in building this poor guy's career.

In the next segment of the show, David went down to the audience and picked randomly, people in the audience and asked them to sing!  I'm sure it was nerve-wracking for everyone down there but anyhow, he picked five different people.  The first one sang 'Because You Loved Me' then he picked three girls who did a lively version of 'Pyramid'.  After that, the fun part begins.  When he goes to the right part of the audience, he sees the audience point to a guy in the front, and that guy happened to be Randy Santiago.  And Randy went upstage with David and he did Wildflower.  After that, David goes to the left part of the audience and the audience again were pointing to a woman, who turned out to be Pilita Corrales. And she did a fantastic version of 'Dahil Sa Iyo'!  This woman is a real national treasure and should be conferred National Artist.  Her version was accapela and I'm sure she was caught offguard when asked to sing, a real trouper.  Finally, David returns to the right side of the audience again, and spots Arnel Pineda, who joins him in the stage.  He asks Arnel to sing 'Hard Habit to Break' which Arnel does wonderfully. Right then and there, Peter Cetera comes out and surprises Arnel who kneels down and says 'I'm not worthy'.

Peter Cetera did mostly Chicago's hits and the crowd just sang along with him, song after song!  The song which David produced for him solo was 'Glory of Love' and that was his last song, before Charice came out.  He was just in awe of Charice's talent and tonight I realize why.  David Foster's songs, especially for the female vocalists, are virtual vocal gymnastics. It's like, if you don't have the voice, do not sing my songs.  Simple as that.  Any other singer who has to go through Charice's set tonight will have to have the pipes for it (and yes, many of our Filipina singers could actually do that - I'm thinking Regine, Lani, Dulce), so I know why we aren't surprised anymore.  And Charice hit her notes, perfectly, from All By Myself, to I Will Always Love You and To Love You More.  She was so comfortable onstage she was like a veteran, holding her own with some of those real veterans.  And David really wishes her well and had a lot of nice things to say about her.

The encore song was a mini-tribute to Michael Jackson and David confesses that he wished he cherished more his experiences with Michael since like most of us, he too was shocked that he left us so suddenly.  They then did a version of The Earth Song which was fitting really, since the end of the song is a rousing chorus! 

As the show was going on, I realized David had worked on three albums which won 'Album of the Year' honors in the Grammys! 1991 with Natalie Cole's Unforgettable, then 1994's The Bodyguard and then 1997 with Celine Dion's 'Falling Into You'.   Impressive!!