By Pocholo Concepcion
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–All the chatting and nibbling stopped as women rushed forward with their cameras and men craned their necks for a better view of the good-looking Josh Groban, guest of honor at the inauguration of MTV Philippines’ new office at the Silver City Mall in Pasig City.

Groban, the 26-year-old American singing sensation whose expressive tenor and lyrical baritone has sold some 15 million records worldwide, is due to perform Wednesday night and Thursday night at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

Wednesday night’s show is strictly invitational. Those watching Thursday’s performance should be shelling out as much as P5,000 to P20,000 apiece.

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By Associated Press

HONG KONG–Beyonce is coming to China.

The American R&B star will perform in Shanghai on November 3 at the Grand Stage, according to an international tour schedule on her official website Monday.

The news came after Beyonce scrapped a planned performance in Muslim-majority Malaysia amid speculation that she objected to a strict dress code banning sexy attire, replacing the stop in Kuala Lumpur with Jakarta. Indonesia is also Muslim but has less stringent rules governing how performers dress and behave.

Chinese officials are also sensitive about the propriety of Western acts. They told the Rolling Stones not to sing some of their racier hits and canceled a performance by Beyonce’s boyfriend, rapper Jay-Z, after deeming his lyrics “vulgar.”

But Shanghai has also played host to Christina Aguilera, who caused a stir with the accompanying sexual imagery and bad-girl attitude from her 2002 album “Stripped.”

Beyonce kicks off her world tour Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, followed by stops in Cluj, Romania, Istanbul, Mumbai, Bangkok, Jakarta, Shanghai and the southern Chinese gambling enclave Macau, where she will perform at the new Venetian casino resort.

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

GADGET maker Oregon Scientific is literally scaling through great heights to promote its new waterproof camera.

The Portland-based manufacturer will sponsor Everest Rocks, touted as the first-ever rock concert to take place in Mount Everest. The company has formed a partnership with the Love Hope Strength Foundation as the concert’s official sponsor.

A fourteen-day trek up Mount Everest by 40 of the world’s top musicians and mountaineers, Everest Rocks will culminate with the first-ever rock concert to take place at Mount Everest’s Base Camp.

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By Pocholo Concepcion
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–On the first of its two-night concert at the Araneta Coliseum, Fall Out Boy (from left: Patrick Stump, Joe Trohman, Pete Wentz and Andy Hurley) played a short but sensational set — sending some 10,000 fans swooning and singing along from start to finish.

This was an audience that would have looked out of place in a rock concert. There were college and high school kids all right, but we weren’t prepared to see grade school children, too.

Surely they didn’t recognize the band’s opening gimmick — a canned recording of The Foundations’ “Build Me Up, Buttercup” blaring on the house speakers — which, we assumed, was FOB’s way of saying, “We’ve got loads of surprises coming your way!”

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By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

THERE is no better way to end it all than to have everyone in the audience scream our lungs out (And you can have it all/My empire of dirt). When he was done singing, perched on his keyboard in the middle of the stage, no one dared clamor for one more song. That would have ruined it all. Listening to Trent Reznor sing “Hurt” live was something else, really.

Here’s a video I took with my mobile of Nine Inch Nails performing “Terrible Lie” at Asia World Expo in Hong Kong.

Me and my fellow Nine Inch Nail-heads — including fellow journalist Jing Garcia from the Manila Times, who I never saw act as giddy before until finally seeing his idol; Raymund and Myrene of Sandwich; and Kris, lead singer for Fatal Posporos — soaked it all up.

In the end, burning some serious cash to go to Hong Kong and buy those concert tickets was well worth it. For NIN-heads, it was definitely something not to be missed. Unless you plan on burning more serious cash watching their gigs somewhere farther and more expensive than HK