TAGUIG CITY, Philippines — Thousands of Filipino fans spent their Sunday evening swinging their arms around and swaying to the live beats of American pop and R&B artists Chris Brown and Rihanna.
With critically acclaimed music that has reigned in global music charts, Rihanna and Brown held a joint concert to screaming fans at the Global City open field at The Fort.
The concert opened with dramatic lightshow and a countdown with Brown taking over the stage with an intense hip-hop dance and showmanship.
Making a dramatic entrance, Brown was suspended upside down in midair and was slowly lowered down to the stage, head first. Masked and dressed in black gear, Brown’s dancers immediately started dancing as a flash of light signaled the start of his set.
Here are fans raving about Rihanna and Brown’s concert.
MANILA, Philippines – Pop sensations Rihanna and Chris Brown arrived in Manila Saturday afternoon to prepare for a back-to-back concert at the Bonifacio Global City open field on Sunday.
Arriving on two separate flights, Rihanna and Brown were met by journalists gathered at the arrival area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and later by screaming fans.
Wearing black and carrying a black handbag and a video camera, Rihanna did not come with a large entourage. But screaming Filipino fans including airport personnel gave her a warm welcome.
Rihanna, 20, is one of the biggest pop stars in the music industry. Among her biggest hits are “Don’t Stop the Music,” “Take a bow” and “Umbrella.”
Meanwhile, Chris Brown who arrived with some friends flanking him is a year younger than Rihanna and has already won awards for his R&B songs, which includes “Kiss, Kiss” and “With You.”
The two pop stars had a seven-city concert tour in Australia and New Zealand. Based on the reception at the airport, both artists are already generating a lot of excitement among fans in the Philippines.
THEY’VE been sleeping for 6 years, but now Filipino iconic rock band Wolfgang returns with ‘The Black Christmas Project’ concert at the Eastwood City Central Plaza, Libis (near Ortigas Avenue) on Wednesday, December 10th at 7 p.m.
The highly anticipated awakening by the band — widely regarded as one the country’s ‘rock gods’ — is expected to showcase the band’s signature onslaught of thick ferocious sound.
They’ve known for precision riffs, emphatic beats, power-drenched vocals, colorful licks, driving ostinatos, occasionally jazz-styled bass lines and imaginative breaks merge with razor-sharp interplay of American-influenced hard rock, heavy metal, grunge and blues-rock music.
Basti Artadi, Manuel Legarda, Mon Legaspi are joined by Francis Aquino at the year’s ultimate year-ender.
“OK pa ba kayo dyan?” This was one of the very rare moments Ely Buendia spoke onstage (and this was midway through the first set). It would have been the perfect question to ask him: Was he still fine? His calm demeanor onstage all throughout the first 15 songs belied the unstable mental and physical state he was in. We didn’t know his mother just died 2 days ago and we did not know how extremely pressured they were to push through with the concert with just less than a week’s preparations.
Here’s the video of that night’s events:
Ten minutes before Lally Buendia (Ely’s sister) went onstage to announce that the show has to be cut short, our friend Di said she was feeling weird about something.
“Kinakabahan ako. Ewan ko basta kinakabahan ako,” she said over and over again that I almost strangled her. I jokingly told her she’s not going to get raped on our way back to Quezon City and to told her to stop. But to our great shock, the unthinkable happened — there are no more 2nd and 3rd sets. Ely had to be rushed to the hospital due to severe “emotional and physical stress.” Raimund took the stage first, his voice a bit shaky it sounded like he’s going to break down any minute. He handed the mic over to Buddy and Ely’s sister for the formal announcement that would break all of our hearts. It took a while for the disbelief to subside. We left the field after an hour of debate and “pagmumura.”
IN a heartfelt letter to fans posted on the Subsandwich mailing list, Raimund Marasigan assured fans that Ely Buendia was okay and thanked the fans for their concern.
He also hinted that he was ready to do another Eraserheads show.
Before anything. I just spoke to Day Cabuhat and she informed me that Ely’s condition is now stable and they’re very thankful for all your concern.
Thank you very much for coming t the show. We really felt the cheering and the singing and the love you all gave.
Thank you for understanding that the show had to be cut short.
Ely was in no condition (emotionally, physically) to play but he did. And he gave it his all which is more than we could ask from him. Given the circumstances he was in.
We all wish him well. We are all confident that he will recover soon.
I promise to give you another Eraserheads show as soon as possible.
Again thank you very much
Rayms
For those who missed the show, here are three of the songs they’ve played.
Eraserheads perform ‘Ligaya’
Eraserheads perform ‘Alapaap’
Eraserheads perform ‘Sembreak’
More words from Raimund and his new motto, which he posted on Subsandwich list:
After the first set i was so hyped. i went looking for buddy to check up on him cos his bass effects was malfunctioning.
I found him coming out of Ely’s tent and said Ely was rushed to the hospital.We were all stunned and after a quick production meeting and meeting with his family we had to announce that the concert had to be cut short.
We prepared 3 sets. The first was just a warm up. The remaining two was going to be the fun part.
There were more videos and light shows and pyro in store for everyone.
After getting fans family and friends safely out of the venue maps I headed over to Saguijo bar to meet Sandwich, Pedicab, Cmbio and some friends to hang.
After a few beers Buddy arrives so we decided to play the second set on borrowed equipment. Thanx to Mark Maya for the stix. We had a little help from ebe, kris, vin, aia and tani. by the time we were playing el bimbo Marcus shows up so he got to play also.
I guess we just did not want to go home to our posh hotel rooms all down and defeated. I’m thankful we have great friends to support us, cheer us up when we’re sad, pick us up when we’re down.
here’s my new motto: drum now ask questions later.
TAGUIG CITY, Philippines — Thousands of Filipino fans spent their Sunday evening swinging their arms around and swaying to the live beats of American pop and R&B artists Chris Brown and Rihanna.
