Don't Forget Manila

March 20, 2013

An amazing person with an extraordinary talent is set to perform live in Manila for the very first time. She is one of the most successful teen stars of my generation. I'm talking about the one and only Demi Lovato!! Filipino Lovatics had been praying every night for this day to come. Random Minds Productions didn't hesitate to answer all the demands of lovatics and immediately signed the contracts to bring Demi Lovato's tour in the Philippines.

Weeks before the said concert, Filipino Lovatics set an unexpected meet-up saying that we should buy concert tickets at the same time to have some concert buddies on March 20. I attended the first meet up and met Minnie, Jerome, Cha, Mabie, Sayeed and already a friend of mine Ana! An afternoon full of waitings, laughter, stories, plans for the concert, walkathons and craziness. I really had so much fun with all of them and I'm hoping that the feeling was mutual. hehe. Before going home we stayed for a while on gateway near the entrance of LRT station to wait for Mabie. There were these monitors everywhere showing all the events on Araneta Coliseum for the month of March and of course Demi's picture was included. Everytime Demi's picture was flashing my new friends were just clapping and screaming at the same time to show support to Demi. People were giving us an awkward look everytime they're doing that. haha. I wish we never had to leave. The following week was another meet-up for those people who didn't showed up on the first meet-up and this time a lot of members came. Too bad, I didn't have the chance to attend because of my stupid class. Their stories were making me jealous. :(

First batch: Cha, Ana, Me, Minnie, Jerome

First Batch: Cha, Mabie, Me, Ana, Sayeed, Jerome

March 20- I arrived at the Araneta Coliseum quite late because of my class. I don't know who to approach because they were all gone from the said meet-up place which was starbuck's araneta. I started roaming around and saw Ana. I immediately walks towards her to ask where are the others. I can really tell that she's kinda busy that time because she's looking for another person that she will share her ticket win with. So, what I did was just follow her and finally I saw the other Lovatics on the main entrance on araneta. They were all grouped together and they greeted me with a big smile. Though I don't know the others, I just pretended I already memorized their names because of facebook. haha.

Filipino Lovatics: Raymond, Jerome, Me, Sayeed, Ana, Recel, and ???

Since upper box B was a free seating team UBB started lining up on the entrance. I'm with Recell, Elaine, Lorena, and Sayeed. We still waited for a couple of hours to officially enter the coliseum. Pampangueno Lovatics just arrived on time before we enter the coliseum. Ralph and his company joined us on the line as we started moving towards the entrance. There was quite a little tension between me and my ticket hiding on my bag. I really thought I loss the ticket because I can't find it anywhere. My legs were shaking, my body started producing sweat, and my heart was pounding. haha. Good thing I searched from the scattered papers on my bag and found my precious ticket. wew. The machine accepted my ticket and we immediately ran upstairs to make another line for the upper box section. We choosed the 1st row seats on the right side of the coliseum near the curtains. As I see those red curtains, they were an opportunity for us to transfer to upper box A. We kept on looking on the other side to check if there were some guards within the area. One guard unfortunately caught us while still planning what to do. haha. We got back on our seats and have our plan revised. haha.

My precious ticket

The show has officially started. Khalil Ramos opened for the show and sang three songs for everybody. The lights were on and still we can't go on with our plan of transferring sections. haha.

It took a while before the concert has officially started, maybe around 30 mins. The band started to get on their positions and started playing the first song of the night! Demi came out with her super cute outfit and started singing Unbroken! The coliseum was filled with overflowing energy from the fans as they saw Demi Lovato in flesh for the very first time!!! Everybody was singing along with every words of the song. Her voice was so powerful and all the high notes were effortless. They immediately played my all-time favorite song of hers called Get Back. This was her very first successful released single as a solo artist. Followed by another favorite song (actually most of the songs were my favorites. haha) called Here We Go Again. At the end of the song, she grabbed her guitar and the band started playing La La Land. She still got those cute dance moves she kept doing with that song.

Demi Lovato

Before starting her next song, she greeted everybody and had a little speech: “This is my first time in the Philippines. So, I’m so excited to be here. It’s crazy even just to think that I have fans all the way from over here….. Thank you guys so much and I’m sorry that I have to live this far to get over here…… And I’m gonna make the best of it…. Even though I’m far away, I hope you guys DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME!”. The fans gone wild when they started playing Don’t Forget. One of the highlights of the night was when Demi asked everybody to sing the chorus of the song Don’t Forget and everybody was at the top of their lungs singing every words.

Next song was My Love Is like A Star. Her RNB style of singing was exceptional. She also did a cover of one of her favorites Miranda Lambert’s The House That Built in Me. Another scene that made a lot of fans admire her even more was when a stupid bouncer kept on asking fans to sit down on their sits even though they can’t really see Demi on stage. Demi proved that she always got our back no matter what. She called the attention of that bouncer and asked “what is he doing”? She immediately followed her sentence with: “My fans can stand up if they want to”. Fans inside Araneta were so surprised and they began to scream showing their admiration to Demi. This is just one of the reasons why we love her so much.

 

Fix A Heart was next on her setlist. Followed by Catch Me and she’s playing her guitar once again. At the end of the song, she took time to feel the unwavering energy of the fans. Before starting her next song, she asked everybody to put their glowsticks or anything that light up in the air. It almost made me cry because the view from the upper box B was just wonderful seeing all the lights from everybody. Then she started singing Lightweight. The song was just perfect with all the lights in the air.

Stars inside the coliseum

A piano was set up on stage and we already know what song was next on the setlist. Before starting the next song, she thanked everyone for all the endless support fans has been giving her all the time. She also shared her experience about bullying and how she stayed strong all throughout. She started singing Skyscraper and everybody was holding back their tears. This is the time where we decided to transfer sections. I was behind the curtains while waiting for the perfect timing to come out. When the lights dim for a while I came out from the curtains and joined the two girls enjoying the next song. haha. I pretended to be one of them and thanked God they didn’t complained. Her next song was another cover, this time a dance song of Chris Brown’s Turn up the Music.

At the end of the song she grabbed a bottle of water and had this crazy idea of splashing the water on everybody on the front row. Asking first the question: “Are you guys hot?”. haha. She told everybody that her album was coming out and her first single on the album was already released. She asked everybody to sing along with the song if they already know the words. She was talking about her song Heart Attack. I noticed Alex Gonzaga on the patron area and she was like an ordinary fan being crazy for Demi.

 

 Down to her last song of the night, the band started playing the intro of Remember December and Demi did her thing. Demi had another crazy idea of being sexy with a bouncer near the stage and everybody freaked out. We all don’t want the night to end up. She finished the song and took an exit on the right side of the stage. Fans were still waiting for the encore and we kept on shouting “we want more”. The band got back up on stage and played another song. Demi showed up and she was singing Give Your Heart a Break. She was so hyper and had no signs of being tired. She kept on dancing, jumping and smiling all throughout the song. We wished that the song would never end. But unfortunately it was only a 3 minutes 25 seconds song. She made her final THANK YOUs and bows. What really strike us? That’s when she said that SHE CAN’T WAIT TO COME BACK here in Manila. Ajsdhjksfhdjkbfjkdghf

What an amazing night indeed. Thank you so much Random Minds Production for making this event possible. And of course, to my beloved Lovatic friends who welcomed and joined me with this amazing experience. I can’t wait for the next event that I will share with all of you. See you guys again soon!!!