witsandnuts

That 5-minute countdown to concert kick-off…

I heard the heartbeatrun of the extreme fanatics. Alarming stomping. Head banging. Selfie sticks all around you would actually wish they were not invented. Arms suddenly became super and mega elastic. Taking a decent photo/video was so challenging.

While I seldom watch concerts of performers from the Philippines, we did not miss JaDine’s world tour since one (or two?) of our companions are biggest fans. It is a bonus that one of them even got a rehearsal pass courtesy of Mother Luck (i.e. after she joined a contest). In case you want to know, JaDine (James Reid + Nadine Lustre) is one of the hottest love teams in the Philippines.

This was not the first time James performed in the UAE. Few years ago, he came to Abu Dhabi as one of the guests to a popstar’s show and visited some of the schools to promote it. He was not that bankable yet. But look at him now. Basically, both of them rose to stardom due to the phenomenal television series On The Wings of Love. It is one of the few Tagalog series that I followed via TFC because of its light and stress relief appeal. I am glad they did not prolong the series and decided to end it gracefully. Unlike the common profit-engineering mechanism of extending the series to its detriment by coming up with a nonsense story.

While the concert administration was not as flawless as Ed Sheeran’s, Paul Mc Cartney’s (I realized that I have not blogged about his 2011 concert yet), Linkin Park’s, Eraserheads‘, Coldplay’s or One Direction’s, it was overall fun and impressive. The programme was entertaining particularly with the inclusion of their guests Tart Carlos (she’s hilarious!), Jay R (the first time we saw him was during a hotel breakfast when we were vacationing in Davao over 4 years ago) and Yeng Constantino (I look to forward to watching her perform solo again).

In consideration of the upcoming concerts in London and Milan, I am sharing only short clips from my phone of some of what I will consider as highlights. The audience was requested by the organizers not to post full videos (hence, our GoPro videos are for personal consumption only; use GoPro as much as possible as it makes a huge difference particularly in the audio quality) since the world tour follows the same format/programme.

It was a surprise that they did not strictly censor the sensual dance between the two of them. On the other hand, it was quite predictable that there was no ‘shirtless James’ (instead turned back while showcasing some upper skin) last Saturday night, probably in consideration of the cultural sensitivity in the UAE.

While I am still a little skeptical that James and Nadine are a real couple as they recently announced, I guess it does not matter anymore since they have an excellent chemistry as performers/actors. Speaking of excellence, this poet deserves a spotlight.

To that girl behind me who kept shouting, stomping, head banging and all sorts during the full 2 hours, I thought about you while driving back from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. I really hoped you still had your voice and stamina to face the coming days. Earlier I had wild thoughts of punching you. Soon, I recollected that I was once like you (i.e. in Eraserheads’ and Ed Sheeran’s concerts). Suddenly, I am happy to remember how crazy you were. Crazy happy.