AVICII IN MANILA 2013

So finally after selling all of my Avicii tickets, which I would like to say “thank you” too of course, it’s finally time to experience his music live!

The 23-year-old Swedish DJ and producer also known as Tim Bergling performed here in Manila last May 15th at the MOA Arena. It was originally dated April 4 but was postponed due to health reasons. This is Avicii’s second time to perform for his Manila fans as he first went here last December of 2011 at Republiq. 

• People started going in the arena past 10pm.

• First event with my red hair (and the huge eyebags, ugh!) :(

Have to fly to MOA Arena right after work that time. I asked my companion to go straight to the venue and not meet me up anymore, as I preferred to ride the MRT due to obvious reasons, while he’ll be bringing a car. Arrived at the venue quarter to 10pm (concert’s time is 8pm), but was very happy to learn that it didn’t start yet! We went inside already with Bassjackers’s Marlon Flohr spinning for the excited crowd! I know I was hoping to not miss Avicii’s entrance, but I didn’t expect Bassjackers to be quite awesome too! Bassjackers ended his set with Zedd’s “Clarity”. Although there have been some technical glitches, DJ Marlon of Bassjackers was able to pull it off and still made so many girls screaming and singing “If ouuuurrr loooovvve is tragedy….!”.  Filipino DJ Ace Ramos went on stage prior to Bassjackers to open the event.

DISCLAIMER: Don’t have much photos coz I haven’t receive it yet, he’s still in Boracay and I am so outdated with this post already.

• Marlon of Bassjackers (photo from http://www.divinemlee.com)

• Marlon of Bassjackers on orange top (photo from http://djjet.tumblr.com)

It’s past 11pm and there’s still no sign of Avicii, good thing he started his set halfway before midnight! He opened his set with “I Could Be The One”, a collaboration he made with Nicky Romero. You could only see his silhouette at the start of the song, until the white curtain behind the stage draw up and revealed him and the LED screen with his name on it. He was dancing while spinning the decks, reminded me of David Guetta’s awesome energy when he started his set with Titanium during his visit here last year.

• Avicii’s silhouette and logo behind the white curtain (photo from http://www.kristn.com)

Aside for “I Could Be The One”, Avicii played some house music hits like “Fade Into Darkness”, “Don’t You Worry Child”, “X You”, my favorite “Silhouettes”,  and the crowd favorite “Levels”. He also did remixes of Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch’s “Sweet Nothing”, Temper Traps’ “Fader” and “Sweet Disposition”, Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These), and Rihanna’s “Diamonds”. 

• Hi white boy! (photos from http://www.kristn.com)

I personally enjoyed Avicii’s LED graphics which absolutely add up to the whole EDM party experience. The moving roller coaster video on his background was mind blowing while the 3D Avicii headset visual’s definitely my favorite!

• (photo from http://www.raleene.com)

• Silhouette! (photo from http://www.raleene.com)

• (photo from http://www.divinemlee.com)

• (photo from http://www.iheartlesha.com)

• Avicii actually owns his own brand of headset. (photo from http://www.raleene.com)

• Roller coaster ‘high’ ride! (photos from http://www.kristn.com)

•  I can’t seem to find a better video of those roller coaster visuals!

Of course aside for the coolest LED visuals, are the equally beautiful lights!  

• Laser beams! (photo from http://www.divinemlee.com)

The concert ended almost 1:30am , and for the first time my feet didn’t hurt that much compared to other rave parties I’ve gone to. Admittedly, it is because I didn’t dance and rave as much as how i was on previous EDM concerts. 

Avicii also brought some new sounds, progressive all through out, which you should be thankful for when one of those become mainstream. You definitely heard it first and live among your peers!

Was hoping for more crowd interaction on his part though, I really really wanted to hear his voice and greet Manila, but was left partying with him as he raise his right hand and hold his headset or deck with the other. It was a cute sight though, seems like he was really enjoying the crowd after all!

• (photo from http://www.myxph.com)

• (photo from http://www.kristn.com)

• (photo from http://www.divinemlee.com)

Some personalities spotted in the event are Enrique Gil, the Becky Nights: Divine Lee (with boyfie Victor Basa), Matt Gozun, and Jake Galvez, Georgina Wilson, Tim Yap, IC Mendoza, Phoemela Barranda, Liz Uy, Raymond Gutierrez, etc.

Ultimately this young dj and producer still gave the youthful and stylish crowd a party experience they will never forget. And it didn’t end there, the unforgettable night continued at Republiq for the after party! 

Listening to Avicii’s Hypnotize (Who is the Swede Mix) as I finish this post… 

Happy mama’s day Nini, from Rani and the doggie :) For my fave gourmet chef, I Love You! 🐶 💗 #happymothersday #instadaily #dog #FrameMagic

• The Google doodle’s inspired by his title sequence for the movies (in order): Psycho, The man with the golden arm, Spartacus, West side story, Vertigo, North to northwest, Anatomy of a murderer, Ocean’s eleven, Around the world in 80 days. 

CLOSE UP SUMMER SOLSTICE 2013

Last Saturday, April 27th, Mall of Asia Concert Grounds transformed into a desert of party animals! Yes it’s a desert for animals willing to survive on standing and partying under the summer’s heat for half a day! 

Close Up was very generous enough to make history by holding the country’s very first 12-hour music festival featuring some of our rock bands and international dj’s, all for the Close Up Summer Solstice!  Literally summer solstice is actually a once in a year event where the Sun is at its highest and daylight is at its longest, the other one is winter solstice.

Close Up Summer Solstice also brought us closer to EDM, electronic dance music, and made us experience Belgium’s Tomorrowland, California’s Coachella and Singapore’s ZoukOut. Unexpectedly, that hot summer week was surprised by a heavy rain Saturday afternoon. I was in Katipunan that time to get the gold tickets from an online seller and all I can think about is how will the concert party go, considering that it’s 3pm already and it’ll start by 4pm.

But skies paved way to music heaven and rain stopped before the first performance. Security’s quite strict as they asked me to leave my umbrella, loose powder and perfume behind. Usual concerts would just disallow water bottles. Getting into the concert grounds is like attending a school fair, lots of sponsors’ booths / stalls around the area! Here are the fun activity booths to choose from:

My ever favorite Urbandub opened the event with “The Fight Is Over”, but crowd went wild with the very relevant “First of Summer” of course! I went kilig (as always) with Gab Alipe!

• (UP: HI LOVE! photo from http://blog.guestlist.ph/)

Next to perform was Spongecola. Yael Yuzon, the vocalist, went to the Gold section (so he was really near us) and so the crowd went wild!

Sandwich came next where the crowd all rocked to “Betamax”! It seems that their first few songs weren’t familiar to the party goers.

• (UP: photo from http://blog.guestlist.ph/)

After the three bands is the start of the real party, the rave, and the beat pumping music fest!

Roman and the Filipino DJ Flipside of Jump Smokers opened the club! Roman was also game enough to join the Gold section! Crowd went crazy when Harlem Shake was played, I wonder if there was a video of it? They also played their new hit “Manila Anthem”, sweet! 

• (UP: Filipino DJ Flipside - photo from http://blog.guestlist.ph/ ) 

Dev went next with “Bass Down Low”, quickly giving us that high energy! I really feel sexy whenever I sing the chorus of this song, haha! I like how she wore her shorts jumpsuit with sneakers! The only female representative was joined by two Filipino back-ups Alayna and Jessica. Dev left with “Like a G6”.

• (UP: photo from Close Up’s FB page)

Many were pretty excited when Cobra Starship came out. Although I didn’t had that same thrill, I was still game to jump up and down with their set! Definitely enjoyed “Good Girls Gone Bad” especially when huge Havaianas inflatable slippers were thrown to the crowd at the middle of the song.

I also like their remix with The Killers’ “Mr.Brightside” and The Wanted’s “Glad You Came”.

• (UP: photo from http://www.philippineconcerts.com/)

Italian DJ Alex Gaudino wasn’t able to start immediately due to technical delays. I’m not sure though if that’s the reason for his seems to be low energy at the start. He had few interactions with the crowd, I noticed too that the energy went down a little. But he was able to cheer us all up soon after and hoped that we all have a good time!

• (UP: photo from http://ph.omg.yahoo.com/)

My energy to dance went higher when Apster came in! He did a remix of Swedish House Mafia’s “Save The World Tonight”, Tiesto and Allure’s “Pair Of Dice” and Rihanna’s Diamond. But I started screaming like crazy when he did a remix for Zedd’s “Clarity”, man I just love that song! Apster’s set is definitely my favorite, he absolutely made me rave for, I dunno, 1-2 hours? You have to go back here soon!!

• (UP: photo from http://ph.omg.yahoo.com/)

Now comes the crowd’s favorite, 12am finally gave us Afrojack! His entrance gathered all spectators to come forward and prepared their camera devices. I love the Led graphics he used and I must say, he is really hot in person! That moment he introduced his set with “Bangduck”, I knew I’m in for 2-hours of awesomeness! He didn’t disappoint us by playing some of his great mixes like “Rock The House”, Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything”, one of my fave - Eva Collins’ “Take Over Control”, he also did a remix for Psy’s “Gangnam Style”, and his latest single with Chris Brown “As Your Friend”.

• (UP: photo from http://blog.guestlist.ph/ ) 

• (UP: HE’S JUST SO HOT! photo from http://ph.omg.yahoo.com/)

Admittedly, I wasn’t able to see Cedric Gervais’ intro, but i was able to hear it! Got so tired to the almost 12-hours partying that we decided to spend our drinks stub and eat at the back. We then stayed at the grounds’ back area where others picnicked as well. I ate shawarma, my forever favorite.

I was able to hear him play his famous “Molly”, his remix of Lana del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” and one of my likes “Cedanie”. We went back to the Gold’s section around 3:30am and was surprised because almost everyone from the Gold section left, the VIP and SVIP area still have a good number though. People asked for more when Cedric bid goodbye, he was nice enough to play one more mix. I agree with the rest that Cedric Gervais shouldn’t be the last on the line-up next time!

• (UP: CHARMING! photo from http://ph.omg.yahoo.com/)

Partying won’t be complete without the mix drinks of course, we bought P200 worth of a Vodka mix cup while we were in the crowd. Aside from that, you can also exchange your stub of P200 for 3 cups to the Captain Morgan booth and get a prize as well (got a cool flashlight!). Havaianas gave free cocktails on the other hand. Booze and beats, perfect combo! Many from the SVIP section went down tipsy (and drunk!), yup, including celebrities!

In fairness, that 12-hours of non stop music they were claiming? It’s legit! Performers came one after the other! Challenge accepted for me as i was able to party for half a day, from fresh looking to wasted, haha! Glad to be quite near the stage, I was on the extreme front of the Gold’s section, right behind the barriers.

I definitely had a blast raving, swaying, jumping, singing and basically dancing like there’s no tomorrow! 10 performances on one event? DEFINE SULIT!

Celebrities spotted on the event were Divine Lee, Victor Basa, BNO’s Sam YG & Slick Rick, Janine Tugonon (uuuy, who’s your target DJ? Kidding!), James & Phil Younghusband, Julia Barretto, Angelica Panganiban & John Lloyd Cruz, Bianca Manalo, Close Up models Nicole Anderson and Laureen Uy, and a whole lot more! 

Congratulations Close Up! Seriously, THANK YOU for letting us experience the very first half a day music fest here in the country & for bringing us closer to EDM superstars. Great job from the LED effects (although I think this is provided by the dj themselves?), the venue and booths, the affordable food & cocktail drinks, and up to the fireworks! Cheers for an epic party this summer! Make this an annual event please??

• (UP: photos from from http://blog.guestlist.ph/ ) 

THE DJ’S GOT US FALLING IN LOVE, not just once, BUT 7 TIMES THAT NIGHT! EARGASMS!! ♪♪

• (UP: photo from Close Up’s FB page)

hi!

selling it for 2400 each. you’re anonymous though, but how many do you need? 

email me at faorani@gmail.com if still interested :)

YES GUYS STILL SELLING AVICII UPPERBOX TIX HAPPENING ON MAY 15 AT THE MOA ARENA, EMAIL IF INTERESTED!:)

PULP SUMMER SLAM AND CLOSE-UP SUMMER SOLSTICE TOMORROW - APRIL 27th!

It’s a summer saturday music festival indeed! 

BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING

It was supposed to be a race to the finish line, but the finish line welcomed them with explosions. It was supposed to be an event for runners, but legs were amputated from the blast. I hope chaos and wars won’t be humanity’s cause of destruction.

Life’s race is unpredictable. Keep safe everyone.

(all raw photos I used for the collage were taken from the internet)

ow darla! <3

(Source: togifs)

• the script ‘13 #thescriptliveinmanila #easter #latepost #instacollage

THE SCRIPT LIVE IN MANILA ‘13

Okay so God gave me another chance of seeing one of today’s most loved band perform, after not being able to watch them last April of 2011. I am talking about the Irish trio band The Script, composed of Mark Sheehan (guitar & backing vocals), Glen Power (drums & backing vocals), and ugh the hotness Danny O’Donoghue (vocals, keyboard, guitar). 

Went back to Manila from my Holy Week vacay earlier than expected. Have to celebrate Easter giving myself the privilege of being part of this sold-out event! Here’s the thing, I don’t have tickets at that time yet, we just bought them less than an hour before the concert, and was pretty ecstatic knowing there are still left for purchase! 

The #3 World Tour is the second tour of The Script and they did it at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last March 31 of this year for the Manila leg. It is actually amazing how if not all, almost all of their released singles became a hit, not to mention becoming every broken hearted’s theme song. Who would not know ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’, ‘Breakeven’, ‘Nothing’, and now 2 favorites from the #3 album: ‘6 Degrees of Separation’ and ‘Hall of Fame’. I love them all plus ‘For The First Time’, ‘Before The Worst’ & ‘Talk You Down’. 

The place was absolutely jam-packed, the expected 10k attendees turned to over 14k, all singing with Danny that night… yup, count me in! They removed ‘If You Ever Come Back’ from the setlist, and I have no idea why. I waited for Hall of Fame and was surprised when they said goodbye, not knowing they will play it after the expected “MORE! MORE!” request. I just don’t know why I never get used to it after watching other artists save the best… for encore. Same as how I was almost disappointed when I thought Swedish House Mafia won’t play ‘Save The World Tonight’.

Manila wants to be unforgettable too in terms of encore, according to The Script’s twitter:

Tonight was the first time we ever went back on and did another encore after the encore!! Ever!! Thanks for a great show everyone!!! ;-) G

March 31, 2013

Also enjoyed Mark and Danny’s bottoms up before singing Nothing - the song that talks about, guess what, drunk calls.

(photo from Kevin Pableo’s fb page)

The Script also does this thing of taking a crazy themed photo of themselves on stage while performing on each places they’ve gone to for their world tour, which they upload on twitter on the same night. Since they performed in Manila last Easter Sunday, what better way to do it but having some easter bunnies to join the fun. Korea had a stand of a cartoon Psy on Gangnam Style with them.

(photo from The Script’s twitter account)

It’s really amazing seeing the VIP and patron seats all occupied, seeing the whole Araneta occupied actually. The only seats not taken were those behind the stage, duh? 

Singing with them live is amazing, being able to create songs that speak so much of how you feel and telling a story in 3-5mins. yet millions can relate to it, truly embodies their name - The Script.

(photo from Philippineconcerts’ page)

Yeah, you could be the greatest, you can be the best!;)

No, no, there ain’t no help, it’s every man for himself…

the best thing about going out for a vacation is that you don’t have that much time and access to the internet, making it quite different from your usual manila routine - esp.for those whose career depends on it. Hello there again manila and wifi… HAPPY EASTER!!:)

purple and white! #instadaily #purple #office @quirkypedia

selling upperbox tix for Avicii Live In Manila. cheaper than the original price. PM / Tumblr Ask or txt (Sun number) me if interested… Game!:) #avicii #tickets #moaarena #sell

UPDATE: AVICII LIVE IN MANILA IS MOVED TO MAY 15, 2013. 

All those who bought tickets from me, you can still use them on the said date :) Check https://www.facebook.com/REPUBLIQ.CLUB/posts/634600743232954 for more details!

Happening as I speak.

Lucky to have the chance to work with 3 of the speakers for the Digital Marketing in a BLINK conference. Never really thought that I’m working for and with 3 of the men to watch for on internet marketing. Got curious again how Itamar is on public!:)

Mike Villar has been a familiar name on the other hand. I remembered him being one of my first few friends on Facebook! And yeah, I’ve always considered him as one of those cool bloggers that not surprisingly even proclaimed himself as the “rising internet star”! Whatever happened to his blog anyway? 

Digital Marketing is really something that we should all look forward to. Learn more about it by attending the numerous IMMAP (Internet & Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines) conferences and digital marketing online courses they’re offering.

Discover the online world of advertising! ;)