Best Nights Ever: On The Road Again Tour Manila 2015
It's all about having fun as the phenomenal British boy group, One Direction composing of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, sets feet on the Philippine concert stage for the first time the weekend of March, 21st and 22nd! Despite all the scandals, weed bond issues and (my) sadness due to my main Zayn Malik's stress diagnosis making him be signed off for the Manila (and Jakarta) leg and that he is headed back home to the United Kingdom, it was so much fun, more than one carrot (like me) would have ever expected.
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Disclaimers: I am a self-proclaimed carrot BUT, (1) I do buy legit stuff and official merchandise and even have visited the 1D World Manila store on few occasions; (2) I have read the official biography book and watched the film; (3) I know (adore, even) the songs, and (4) just recently, I went to their two-day concert in Manila.
Also, I am very much into Zayn Malik so I apologize in advance if I will be mentioning him a lot even when he is not even there on both nights. He is the deciding factor, actually, but then given the circumstances I still went because... why not?
I came to enjoy the music that I like (well, all of them looking so good is a bonus) and rock it all out with my friends of whom I have not seen for a long time. To top it off, mainly to accompany my cousin who is an avid fan for what as it turned out is one (or two) of her best nights ever.
This blog post is apparently drafted prior to the announcement of Zayn Malik officially leaving the group, of which I will be tackling on a (long) separate post.
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Refusing to watch fan-taken videos of their previous gigs on Youtube, I do not really know what to expect heading to the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds that Saturday. Oh, who am I kidding. Of course, I do. Let us make a quick rundown of the lads individually and my expectations (in no particular order):
Harry Styles.
The long-haired one. The most famous among my friends and probably among all the girls for his past relationships and A-list connections. The one my cousin really likes. Apparently if you have been listening to their albums, he has the most lines sang on most of the records. He is the Shane Filan of the group (referring to the boyband Westlife, the could be our 1D circa 90's to early 2000's. Hey wait what? I am only 23 years old, okay? Anyway.) What is so special about Harry that most people actually look forward to seeing him?
Liam Payne.
The daddy of the group. Public relations has always been his major thing. To be honest, he is my least liked member prior the gig because his singing style felt too conventional to me. Will my first impression of Payno change after the gig?
Louis Tomlinson.
The underdog. Most people say he has the weakest voice of the five. I kind of like his cracking, almost always jolly sounding voice, actually. But he is always at the sidelines. Will Louis the best friend be able to prove them wrong?
Niall Horan.
The talented but underrated member. I like him because he is the only reason 1D do not fall to the typical boyband category: he plays the guitar onstage and he has that very distinct singing voice / bass tone that I really like. But with the likes of Harry and Zayn, he is almost always overpowered. Will Niall get the exposure he deserves?
ZAYN MALIK.
The love of my life. (Kidding hahahahahahaha) The best vocal range. The Mark Feehily of the group.
It is probably the Asian root in him that has made him stand out, at least in my eyes. From the moment I saw him on the group photo, I am almost instantly attached. He is that one person I am most stoked to see and hear live only to be let down as he withdrew from the tour days before the Manila gig.
How are they going to manage it without Zayn? THE Zayn Malik of whom even the other members are admitting has the strongest vocals and has the most impressive range. Who are going to sing the solo high notes? What really has happened that has pulled the last string on Zayn?
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DAY 1
I have been to a lot of rock festivals with wilder and older crowds but hands down, this has been the most stressful ever. It is probably because the anticipation of seeing the lads for the first time; to the avids, after waiting for four long years they are finally seeing their babies albeit minus one; to the concert virgins with overly eager and easily angered parents/guardians (I swear I've never felt bad for the helpdesk officers until that moment). It was so humid that afternoon that they had to sprinkle us with water (I joked that it was spiked to keep us calm but fangirls don't do calm). But I could not care less, I am finally seeing them and will be able to sing along with them and hear those British accent that I like in the flesh. Lining up at around two, we were able to enter the venue before six. And then we are all set.
The energy was so high as the front act, DJ KC took the stage but we almost ran out of gas when it lasted longer than we can tolerate with all the anticipation of seeing the lads and all. And then minutes before nine, which is later than any of the previous gigs, it finally started!
They started the night with Clouds from the album Four and the crowd went totally nuts.
The first thing that I noticed was, "Wow, ang pogi pala ni Louis."
I knew he is goodlooking but my eyes are almost always set to Zayn before. Maybe it is actually a good thing that he is not here so I could focus on knowing the others?
Next to Zayn, I was most looking forward to seeing Niall because I am mesmerized by his talent and he did not disappoint. His voice is always on point. I also was not aware of this thing that he does during Better Than Words because I do not watch concert videos and I swear I would have gotten to him onstage and taken him home if we were not located real far. He is too much of a goofball to handle and I love it.
I lost count of the songs they have performed but as far as I have checked, they stayed true to the official setlist (playing Stockholm Syndrome instead of Happily) even without Zayn. We thought they may have to settle at least to some songs with less Zayn parts (but then I realised that next to Harry, he sang most of the parts, too, so let it come as it is. I know, the division of lines were never really fair.) in it but they were able to pull it through. Cleverly, if I may add. The Zayn verses are divided to the four but most of highlight solos, they are letting the crowd sing.
It drizzled at some point of the set but worrying about getting sick does not matter anymore. It was a fun night, after all.
Zayn was totally missed. There was a point where Niall had to call Harry to sit closer to him during Little Things because Harry is used to Zayn sitting in between them.
Zayn's name was not mentioned althroughout Day 1, not even once.
My favourite part of the gigs? The banters. Always the banters. Because to be honest, for me, aside from seeing them in the flesh, this is what I paid for. Hearing them talk about the songs that if I would just want to hear, I could have just plugged in my earphones at home, right?
And the lads keep on saying how this has been the hottest show they have ever been and I was like, is it really that hot and humid in the Philippines? But in a good way because by now you might have figured what has happened next. Yes, you guessed it right. Say hello to WET DIRECTION. ;-) Towards the end they were spilling, throwing waters to each other like children who's playing in the rain and it was such an adorable sight. Not until Harry's abs came almost visible as his shirt clung to his defined body and I swear I almost saw most of the girls jaw dropped as they were glued to their positions, that is to say that if they were not shreiking in delight.
Now I know what it is with the Harry Styles. He is full of charm and he knows how to play with it. He is a dork and he knows his way to the people's hearts.
"Manila, we fell in love with you tonight. We love you and we love you again." - Harry Styles
DAY 2
Because this time, my cousin is at the VIP section and we are just waiting for her at the sidelines and the apparent excitement of seeing the lads for the first time was lessened because we have seen them the other night, I was able to focus on really hearing them sing. While the first day was to party/dance/sing along, the second day was to drown myself with musicality.
While the first day was hot and humid, the second was filled with rain soaking the expectators who were inside the open grounds venue for as early as 11. We also noticed that the security and the entrance procedure is more organized. Also, probably because of the natural and even worse mishaps that they had to endure prior to seeing the group, the crowd has less energy than the previous night.
And this is when my every view of Liam Payne has changed. He is the most melodic of the four (counting Zayn out because you are not here, babe) and I felt bad for the vocal expectations that he and Harry has to live up if (and now that) Zayn would not be around. But that is not to say that he is not great because vocally, he is. Also, being the member with loads of PR in him, he is the most enjoyable during the banters. I also like how he sings random songs whenever the situation felt like it. He sang lines from Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars) and Hot In Here (Nelly) and with Harry he did I Will Survive. Every vocal runs that he did is just as impressive as how he amped the crowd with all his antics especially the reading-fansigns part where he made me laugh out loud with all his responses.
Fan sign: "I bet your hair isn't the only thing that is long."
Liam: "I should not have read that one. I should not have read that one. Shhh... The parents will kill us!!"
Fan sign: "Liam, I am your long lost daughter." (Which happened to be my friend's niece. Woo hoo! You go, Poela!)
Liam: "That scares me a little bit. I'll see you when you're 18."
Fan sign: "Please say 'nakakapagpabagabag' (bothersome, in english, eh?)
Liam: "Nakakapagbagagpa..nakakabagpa.." (it's okay, Daddy Payno, even the natives find it hard to say that)
Add Niall and you will definitely roll with laughter. The Niam action is so strong especially at that one time where Liam kissed Niall on the cheek.
They were more chatty and bubbly onstage than the previous night and they seemed to grow so fond of saying "Manila" that each of them say it amusingly on different tones every single time (and I think the videographer fell in love with Louis as he is mostly being shown on the screen, or is it just me that I notice him almost all of the time?)
Louis, the weak one according to critiques, nailed his every part especially the bridge part of Don't Forget Where You Belong. And I am most glad to see his trademark very happy smile on both nights (that, knowing the rumors of him splitting with his girlfriend and the snogging scandal he's been involved with) and sing, "so let's just laugh again" line in Through The Dark (in his very adorable accent) which is my most favourite Louis line ever.
Niall, you sweetheart. I do not know how to start, how to describe how perfectly awesome he is on live gigs. He can dance, goof around and play the guitar all at the same time and I have never been more impressed. Every Zayn line he sang he delivered it with so much passion and shone as bright as his luscious hair (excuse me for the flowery words, but really!!!) I love you.
I lost all my shit when Harry belted out one of Zayn's highlight solo in Strong and for the first time I felt like although nothing will ever compare to the real thing, I think I would choose Harreh more than anybody at that moment.
And in the end, I lost my voice. But I did not miss Zayn that much at all.
It was a quick trip for they arrived on Saturday and left right after the Sunday concert but to those who have waited and endured everything and have witnessed them perform in the flesh, it was all worth it. People who like them are being judged mostly because of being such youngsters and that the group hitting it really big mainstream could also mean that people may only just be conforming to the norms. But I do not care anymore. (even though I get teased endlessly at the office because I lost my voice and I had to use papers and e-mails to communicate at the status meeting for quite some days.)
They are fun to watch. They are real. And they are so much more.
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No concert photos because we are far from the stage and photos taken by my cousin on the second day are mostly blurred because I could only imagine her overwhelming feels during that moment. And we came for the music and the (midnight) memories, remember?
Thank you, carrot buddies! The concert experience would not have been that much fun without you. Also, to Gen for my constant company and updates during the concert with me texting her real time actions and she, updating me of Twitter stuff (as i am saving batteries and cannot go online a lot) and of what is to happen when it is yet to happen (because she has seen a lot of con vids haha) that was fun! Thank you to my newly found buddies at the queue while we waited for hours and to Ms. Rhiza Pascua of MMI for making these nights happen. It was not perfect, but it was indeed magical. All my love. x
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