MANILA, Philippines—A benefit rock concert for storm victims brought sterling performances by Filipino and American artists to some 18,000 music fans.
Children as young as 5 years old, accompanied by their parents and older siblings, trooped to the SM Mall of Asia open-air grounds in Pasay City on Saturday night to watch a mixed lineup of bands and solo acts, in a gig billed as “Katy Perry Rocks for Relief.”
Proceeds of the concert would be turned over to the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) for distribution to victims of the recent calamities caused by Tropical Storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng.”
Concert promoter Francis Lumen, whose company All Youth Channels (which operates MTV Philippines and FM radio station U92) teamed up with the US-based Music Management International to mount the event, gave a P1-million check to PNRC secretary general Gwendolyn Pang on Friday as initial donation.
Perry, the statuesque singer-songwriter from Santa Barbara, California, whose quirky songs about self-conscious boyfriends (“Ur So Gay”) and flirting with the same sex (“I Kissed a Girl”) propelled her to the top of the Billboard pop chart, expressed surprise that she had a big following in the Philippines.
At one point in her performance, Perry picked an overzealous, teenaged male fan to dance with her onstage. The guy, apparently stunned that he was sharing the limelight with his idol, hyperventilated and almost lost his composure as Perry put on an act that included seducing him while singing “Hot and Cold”—a song about shaky relationships. At the song’s end, Perry crawled like a cat and kissed the guy on the lips.
Such unexpected stunts thrilled many in the crowd, but might have caused some discomfort among parents who had prepubescent kids in tow. A couple of young mothers in the VIP section winced as Perry asked those in the front rows how the male genital is called in Filipino after singing “Ur So Gay”—a song she wrote to mock a boyfriend and his metrosexual ways.
A metrosexual is a man attracted to women but who is also interested in fashion and his appearance.
Overall, however, Perry’s hour-long set was noteworthy for its high-energy, rock-and-roll sound, backed by a full band whose members were decked in all-white suits.
Perry, who resembled a pin-up girl of the 1950s in her two-piece satin underwear outfit topped by a feathery lei, played electric and acoustic guitars on certain songs while unleashing full-throated vocals that had undergone solid training in church where her parents served as preachers.
Earlier, the alternative rock group Mae (Multisensory Aesthetic Experience) from Norfolk, Virginia, opened the show which went on for three hours.
A Filipino singer on the bill, Jed Madela, said he felt out of place as a pop artist in a rock concert. But his performance, backed by veteran session musicians, belied his apprehensions as he floored the audience with note-perfect renditions of a Queen medley (“Love of My Life,” “We Are the Champions,” “We Will Rock You”) and Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.”
Madela was the first Pinoy to win all six major awards in a Hollywood-based international singing competition in 2005.
Arnel Pineda, too
His jaw-dropping set was followed by a fiery, five-song segment featuring Arnel Pineda, another globally recognized Filipino who is the new vocalist of the pop-rock band Journey.
Perhaps energized by Madela’s example, Pineda—accompanied by members of his former band Zoo and Journey cofounder and guitarist Neal Schon—blasted away with Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and four Journey originals, “Any Way You Want It,” “Faithfully,” “Separate Ways” and “Don’t Stop Believing.”
Pineda’s voice was in excellent shape—soaring with a tone so clear and bright which, in a manner, symbolized strength and hope for a country still recovering from its recent bout with disaster.
