Phoenix performs Tuesday night

MANILA, Philippines – After five studio albums and more than a decade of being active in the music scene, French alternative rock band Phoenix is finally here in the country to give its Filipino fans a heady dose of sprightly synth-pop ditties in a concert at the World Trade Center in Pasay City tonight (Tuesday).

“We’re very happy to play here. We have five albums now, but people [here] have never seen us,” the band’s soft-spoken frontman Thomas Mars told reporters at a press con Monday.

What took the band so long to visit Manila? “I don’t know,” Mars candidly said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “But we have come prepared.”

“We have been practicing for 12 years,” added guitarist Laurent “Branco” Brancowitz.

For Mars, the hearing fans sing along with the band—correct words or not–“is the best compliment.” “It’s a rare thing when it comes to our music because our lyrics are very strange,” explained Mars, who’s married to actress-director-screenwriter Sofia Coppola.

“My wife knows how to sing the [Philippine] national anthem. She learned it when she was five,” the vocalist said of Coppola, who was raised by a Filipino nanny.

The band—Mars, Brancowitz, Deck d’Arcy (bass, keyboards) and Christian Mazzalai (guitar) was formed in 1999 in Versailles, France and dropped its debut album, “United,” the following year. But it wasn’t until the release of Phoenix’s fourth album, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix,” in 2009 that the band started to seep into mainstream consciousness.

“Wolfgang,” which spawned such hit singles as “Lasso,” “1901” and “Lisztomania,” won best alternative music album at the 52nd Grammy Awards, and has sold over 700,00 copies worldwide as of April 2013. Phoenix is currently promoting its latest album, “Bankrupt!”

Meanwhile, Brancowitz revealed that he owns a music record of Filipino singer-songwriter Freddie Aguilar. “I loved the cover. A guy with long hair, dark shades…He looked cool,” related Brancowitz, perhaps referring to Aguilar’s 1978 album, “Anak.”

“We love music and good music is very rare. So we try to find it everywhere,” he added.

“Phoenix Live in Manila” is presented by Karpos Multimedia; tickets are available at all SM Ticket outlets.

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