My Elite Experience at Ed Sheeran's Dubai Concert

I had been looking forward to a long overdue massage at home last Thursday night; my shoulders and back needed it and my appointment had already been scheduled.  But just before lunch, my sister called saying that she was invited to watch Ed Sheeran’s concert that night and if I wanted to join her.  Hello?! Free tickets to watch the sold out concert of one of today’s popular and amazing musicians?  Of course I said yes, even though it meant I had to (very embarrassingly) cancel my massage session for the second time.

Lea Salonga at the Dubai Opera

Back in March, as soon as I heard the news that Lea Salonga was going to visit the Middle East and perform at the Dubai Opera, I knew I had to watch her live.  After all, watching her on stage was on my bucket list.  And besides, she's the Ms. Lea Salonga: two-time Disney Princess, Olivier and Theatre World Awardee, and the first Asian woman to win a Tony!  Add this to the fact that it would be the first time ever a Filipino would perform at the Dubai Opera. I simply couldn't pass the chance.

Which is why, even though they weren't cheap, I immediately bought tickets for Hubby and me with seats at the VIP area.  I decided that if we really wanted to enjoy the show, we should sit as close as possible for the best view.  And anyway, knowing the level and quality of how the original Kim of Miss Saigon performs, I knew it would be totally worth it.

Girls' Night Out at Anne Curtis' This Is It Dubai! Concert

It’s been a while since I went on a night out with girl friends so when one of the KFC mom’s asked if any of us were interested to watch Anne Curtis’ upcoming show, I was one of the first to say “Yes!” Never mind if I wasn’t much of a fan; I simply wanted to spend a night with other mommies and have a good time.

We bought the tickets from our friend, and since he also happens to live near our place, I was appointed to gather the payments and collect the tickets.

Sarah Geronimo’s Perfect 10 Concert in Dubai

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I was at Sarah Geronimo’s Perfect 10 concert last Monday night…by winning two tickets from Gulf News Tabloid!

Imagine, my second December to watch a concert courtesy of tickets that I won! (My first was last year.)  I couldn’t believe it myself. Here’s how it happened…

During our lunch break last Sunday, I was browsing my Twitter feed when I saw Tabloid’s contest. I casually mentioned it to my colleague who told me to join. However, since our KFC family was having its Christmas Party the next day, I was reluctant to do so. She kept insisting for me to enter; there was nothing to lose and I didn’t really think I would stand a chance, so I finally gave in. Just before 5pm, I heard my tablet give a notification alert…and when I checked, I saw this

Needless to say, I was shocked. It took a moment for me to realize what happened because the win was totally unexpected. Even when I gave my details to Tabloid! I still couldn’t believe it.

When it finally sunk in, I was torn between going to the concert or attending the Christmas party. Even on our way home when Hubby and I talked over it, I was still undecided. In the end, I chose Sarah. Sayang naman kasi, di ba? But instead of taking Hubby with me, I went with Yaya Jovy because I knew she would appreciate it more. And besides, it was her birthday in a few weeks so we used the concert treat as our gift to her.  Hubby on the other hand, attended the party with Caila and Sophie.

tickets in my hand

I admit I’m not really a Sarah G fan. I know she sings well, that she coached Lyca and Darren who were the top 2 winners of The Voice Kids, and I really liked her movies with John Lloyd, but that’s it.

However, when I saw how professional and great she performed at the concert, I became in awe of her. She could belt out high notes and sing low notes with ease...even while sitting down!

During each song, you could see that she gave her all and internalized the lyrics. She was so good! As in really, really, really good! And she could dance well too!

I also liked that she would share a few words to introduce most of the songs she would sing. It allowed us to know why they were significant to her. Naturally, she sang Celine Dion’s To Love You More, which was her winning piece on Star for a Night eleven years ago, and Forever’s Not Enough, her first hit single.

Her guests were Ronnie Liang and Top Suzara. They were pretty cool, going down so that even the fans who paid Regular tickets could see them up close and personal.

Ronnie even took a selfie!

Another thing I like about Sarah is that despite becoming famous and being a multi-awarded artist, she still remains humble and simple.

I know it’s a pity I missed the KFC party, but I’m so glad I gave it up for something else that was really Perfect 10.  Even if it meant rushing and cramming with the other concert-goers to ride the last metro train.

Yaya Jovy, me, and my colleague

Hmm...I wonder whose concert I'll win tickets to next year =)

*Pictures of Sarah G and her guests taken from The National, Pinas Music Zone, and Cube 8 Events

the erik santos-parokya ni edgar-eraserheads concert

A concert where Parokya ni Edgar and Eraserheads perform back to back is definitely one for the books. So of course I was absolutely thrilled when I won a couple of tickets to this rare event. Although we liked both groups, I was more of a PNE fan while Hubby favoured the E-Heads more. Still, it was a great opportunity to watch them live, so in the afternoon of the 27th of December, we headed to the Meydan Racecourse for our date.

It said on the tickets that the gates would open at 4pm, but we were only let in more than an hour later. Good thing the weather was still cool. While waiting, Hubby and I took pictures.

And since the RJs of Tag 91.1 were also hanging out in that area, we took pictures with them too.

Finally, the organizers started letting the people in. We first had to queue in separate lines (men and women) according to the area specified in our tickets, have our bags checked, and were each given concert paper wristbands.  Then we took pictures again.

We were getting pretty hungry by the time we entered the grounds, so we went to the NKD Pizza booth to order pizza and bottles of water for ourselves.

my date while waiting for our pizzas

 After we had our fill, we headed to the area which had the perfect view of the artists who would be performing…right in front of the stage!

We didn’t have to wait too long because a while later, Louie Da Costa, Maria Maldita, Chikay, and Bob Kebab came out and started entertaining the crowd with their conversations and jokes. And then shortly after that, Erik Santos came out. I’m not a fan of Erik’s, but that night I realized that he actually has a nice and powerful voice. Sorry naman; I don’t get to watch ASAP kasi. And in fairness, ang gwapo pala nya! Hahaha! Being a balladeer, he mostly sang love songs and a few upbeat ones as well. My favorites were Miss You Like Crazy and Sana Ngayong Pasko. Nakakakilig lang.

When Parokya ni Edgar performed on stage, that was my favourite part of the evening. Chito was really funny and accommodating, singing most of the songs that the crowd asked for. He sang Bagsakan by himself, the original of which was sung with Francis M. and Gloc 9, and he also gave in to a fan’s joking request and sang Elesi, which we all knew isn’t theirs. Hubby was disappointed that they didn’t sing Ang Parokya, but I guess they didn’t have enough time to sing all their hits. Anyway, I really liked that Chito was game and entertaining, talking to the crowd in between songs, making jokes while lightly referring to his recent scandal, and thanking his fans for all their support.

Of course, the Eraserheads were the final performers of the night…well, the last ones that we watched. Compared to PNE, they were able to sing more songs in the time they were given onstage. I guess the major reason why is Ely didn’t really talk that much to the crowd. They mostly sang and played their instruments. Suplado masyado, but I heard that he’s really like that. Oh well. Basta kami, nag-enjoy kahit papaano.

In between the three Filipino artists, MC Jin (an American Chinese rapper) and Lira (a South African singer) also took the stage and entertained the crowd. Lira sang mostly soul and jazz music; and although it’s not particularly my cup of tea, she was ok. I also don’t fancy rap songs, but surprisingly, I enjoyed MC Jin’s performance. He was pretty cool and most of the messages in his songs had sense and meaning; not just about cars and the beach and other trivial things. He mentioned that he had starred in 2 Fast 2 Furious with Paul Walker, and rapped some lines as a tribute. When his crew were giving away his CDs, I eagerly managed to get one of them. That’s another advantage of being in the front =)

And to top it off, I won another treat from Tag that night! Some time in between performances, the RJs were playing the Bring Me game, asking the crowd for different items. Chikay was sitting on the barrier about 2 people away from me when she asked for a picture of at least one Tag RJ. I immediately whipped out Tisay, opened the Gallery folder and quickly showed her the picture of me with them which we had taken earlier. Panalo agad! She jokingly commented that they didn’t look like RJs because they didn’t have enough make-up on and they looked haggard.

our loots

Falling in love again, jamming, singing, and winning…all in one night. What a great way to celebrate our December monthsary.

 

bagsakan by chito

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Sorry, I know I haven't been posting anything on this blog for almost a month now.  As usual, I've been pretty busy.  December means Christmas, which means lots of parties, events, and get-togethers, ergo no time to sit and gather my thoughts. 

But since the busiest month of the year is over and 2014 has begun, hopefully I'll be able to find time to blog again.

In the meantime, I just wanted to share this video I took during the High Impact A2 Festival.  I won tickets over the radio, remember?  The concert was so cool! I promise I'll tell you more about that night in a separate post.  But just to give you an idea of how amazing it was, take a look at this clip where Chito Miranda sang "Bagsakan" without Francis M. (naturally!) and Gloc 9.

Galing! Astig! Amazing!

eraserheads reunion concert in dubai

So as I mentioned in an earlier post, Hubby and I were one of the thousands of people who gathered at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre last Thursday to watch the Eraserheads Reunion Concert. Honestly, I’m not really a fan of the band. Sure I know some of their songs, but that’s it. Same thing with Hubby, although he knows more of their songs than me. And the only band member I know is Ely Buendia; naturally, he’s the singer kasi. So why did we bother to watch? Because we had FREE PASSES! Naturally, if someone offered you free passes to a reunion concert of the Philippines’ version of The Beatles, you’d go, right? What made it better was the passes were for the Platinum area...at the front!

reunion with nyoy

The Dubai Chapter of our high school batch got another chance to get together again last December 6...all because our very own batchmate Niño (aka Nyoy Volante) was in town for a show with the other Sessionistas. Unfortunately though, not everyone was able to make it. Sharon’s daughter was sick so she couldn’t come, Maan couldn’t make it as well, and Laarni was in the Philippines. Although we knew Nyoy would be coming, we didn’t know his itinerary; so except for buying tickets to the show, we didn’t know when we could have the mini-reunion. I received an SMS from him on the evening of the 5th and several messages later through FB, my batchmates and I agreed to meet up at the lobby of Asiana Hotel after the press conference on Thursday night.