How they stay on top of their game
GARY V: Eye-popping display of the creative use of technology Manila Genesis
Two recent concerts—one by a Filipino pop star, the other by a British rock legend—illustrated how these artists stay on top of their game at an age when others would rather take it easy.
Gary Valenciano
“On Higher Ground”
May 10, Music Museum
Gary V is 47 and people see him every Sunday singing and dancing his heart out on the ABS-CBN musical variety show
“ASAP.” How not to bore the audience when he holds a concert is a challenge that he never fails to rise up to.
“On Higher Ground,” an eight-night series of shows marking his 29th anniversary in the biz, was an eye-popping display of the creative use of technology that filled his love for enhancing his energy-fueled stage act.
Blank walls in the backdrop came to life with an interactive video setup that simulated people appearing in windows and singing along with the performers onstage, including one segment with four other Gary Vs harmonizing on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Opening act Quest and guest artists Juan Miguel Salvador and Julianne provided interesting sidelights, but Gary was relentless in his desire to outdo himself. He reprised his debut TV appearance in the 1980s with Al Jarreau’s “Love is Real,” excelling in vocal calisthenics and jazz-R&B inflections like he never aged.
Gary did some of his original hits in a slower yet more defined tempo, but it was during a medley of ’80s Top 40 classics with Salvador that he flew with wings spreading out as if to say, “The journey never ends.”
Morrissey
MORRISSEY: Lyrics with dramatic flourish Magic Liwanag
Live in Manila
May 13, World Trade Center
Morrissey, now 52 and no longer the skinny front man of The Smiths, appeared with the Philippine flag wrapped around his waist and singing poetry with razor-sharp guitar riffs in the background.
“It’s not rock ’n’ roll, alternative or pop,” he said in between the first few songs. “It’s opera!”
In a way he was telling the truth, because his lyrics—with The Smiths and as a solo act—had a Shakespearean elegance and dramatic flourish that made us listen more closely, even as his backup band played it loud.
“I am the son and the heir/Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar,” he intoned in the opening number, “How Soon is Now?”—which featured spacey keyboards and a reverberating giant bass drum.
An avalanche of ringing guitars cascaded on “Speedway,” keeping the crowd’s energy level up towards the middle of the show.
“But there is nothing I can do to make you mine,” Morrissey lamented on “Black Cloud,” his arms flailing and head shaking to stress the point.
In the end, everything was captured by a phrase that reflected what Morrissey has been articulating in his music all these years: “I am human and I need to be loved.”
