The Mega Nostalgia

Sana'y wala nang wakas...

This day was fun! Man, I never thought I'd enjoy it but, surprisingly so, I did... I really did!Maybe because it was a grand trip down memory lane, or maybe because I was in the presence of the Megastar, or maybe because Christian gave standout performances...

or maybe because i was still hung up with the roller coaster ride?

The whole day is a roller coaster ride in itself. We were given complimentary tickets the night before by the beautiful people of Stages (salamat po!). So we decided to watch the Mega Valentine Concert. I was quite prepared to miss it coz, honestly speaking, i'm not much of a fan of a singing sharon cuneta. I love her acting in movies but not singing. I have to admit though that once upon a time i thought she was the best singer in the Philippines (at the time, whitney houston was the best singer in the world for me). Mom's influence is mainly to blame. I mean we used to go to every movie of mega shaui and was even there in one of The Sharon Cuneta Show's anniversaries at the Folk Arts (around the time she was hooked up with Richard Gomez, i think). Pero kasi, as you grow older, you realize that her voice is not exactly the best. Then when you grow even older, you notice that her singing style is not stupendous either. And so, for me, the brightness of the "singing Sharon Cuneta" waned.

So anyway, I decided to watch the concert. Free tix eh! i didn't care that i was near tangency to my budget line... that is, nearing break-even point. Or should that be "I'm broke" point? I don't really remember... i refuse to include bad words in my vocabulary. Too bad they tend to come up regularly, especially during the last days of a salary period.

I digress.

So I decide to watch the concert. And had low finances. very low. so i text yumyum to borrow some cab fare home just in case. lo and behold, she was in a worse situation than i was. hahahaha! I almost, at that point, surrendered and stayed home... but the pull of those tickets... so i still go to Araneta. In my wallet was a grand total of 210 buckeroos. i had to drop by the Podium in ortigas to fetch yum. Then we both went to the araneta (too bad it wasn't walking distance). When we got there we immediately texted jhune for our tix. We were told to go to the South Gate/ Artist's gate. I didn't know that it was directly across Fiesta Carnival. I watched with lustful eyes the fun the people were having aboard the roller coaster (a really small coaster ride that one). So when jhune came, this was after quite a while, i got in my devious mind that we will ride the coaster... we, meaning yum and i. me because i wanted to, yum because she has never ridden one... and was not entirely too thrilled with the idea. nevertheless, i prevailed. so we crossed the street, bought our tickets and rode the coaster! man, it was nice... nothing too scary unfortunately. it's quite small afterall.

So after we rode, we went to gateway to waste some time (since wasting money was no longer an option after the coaster ride). We started texting everybody when they'll arrive. that's when we knew that ms.m, elvie, cha, and shirley were no longer coming. Sayang ang tix! oh well. So balik na kami sa araneta to get some seats. we were shocked... there were a lot of vacant ones! this was a sharon cuneta concert, why are there vacant seats?? nevertheless, we went to look for the best one, which was practically at the opposite side of where we entered. Just as we sat, migs informed us that he was there at the entrance already, so that meant going out again. Thank god there was an exit close to where we were now sitting. so we went out and circled the whole araneta. We took the wrong side! we had to walk along the whole perimeter of the araneta just to locate where the ticket gate is. after migs entered, we realized that we were only an exit away if we took the right direction (there were 8 so you could just imagine how far we walked... for nothing).

After we were settled in our concrete seats, we chatted for a while. Then dan texted us that he was already there. We went to fetch him and bought food as well. Dan called some of his housemates to join us since we had so many excess tickets. Then we went back inside. Dan's folks came in after sometime and the endless wait ensued. It was already 9pm when the show started. Sharon sang a fast number which, i think, was not good. Thankfully, she switched to senti mode after that song. And valentines begun. Hits from the carpenters, manilow, etc. filled the air. When she had her duet with Ian, we were so pleased with ian's performance. Ang galing. Then Ian sang EYD. Sadly, not many people knew the song. Some on the other hand knew it but didn't know he sang it.

Then Sharon went back again. This time she recognized some of the people in the audience like faith cuneta whom she hasn't seen since faith's childhood. Then there was robin padilla who was seated so far from the stage. And i do mean far. he was actually one row away from the Gen Ad! He was later escorted down and had a short stint at the stage which made sharon laugh. Then sharon sang again. Called on Boyet de Leon to join her as her next guest. Bad idea, Mr. De Leon is a fine actor but a really bad singer. I mean, he has a nice enough voice but definitely not araneta material. You can barely comprehend the lyrics of the songs he sang. Buti na lang sharon came back with a bang by singing Wag mong sasabihin by kitchie. she even synched with her guitarist to look as if she was the one playing. she later admitted that she forgot her guitar lessons from her youth.

She then gave tribute to the Ultra victims by singing the prayer/you raise me up again with Christian Bautista. Galing ulit ni ian. Si sharon naman, ok din. Tapos solo ulit sya for some songs and called on kuh for a nice nice duet. ganda ng version nila ng wind beneath my wings. When sharon came back she was wearing a gown made by kuh herself. unfortunately, kuh didn't like the way sharon wore it.. di daw tama ang effect. so when she went back to do another duet with sharon, she brought with her some safety pins and adjusted the gown on sharon! on stage! after she was done, they called on boyet and ian again to do this pacute number with her and kuh. My golly! boyet was wearing banana-yellow coat and tie! akala ko talaga anytime eh lalabas si kiko matsing para habulin sya. yun pala, nasa theme yung suot nya kasi magkakulay si kuh tapos sharon changed to a gown that had yellow accents. pero naman talaga yung kay boyet! ang saklap... sing saklap ng pagkanta nya!

then they all sang closing songs na... upbeat ones. again, not so good. ewan, boring yung mga upbeats ni sharon eh. just before she bid adieu, she sang two of her classics, mainly bituing walang ningning and sana'y wala nang wakas. In fairness, i liked it ha! hahahaha! beautiful songs talaga.

when the show ended, dan, yum, and i went to the south gate to meet with ian. Yum and i were supposed to ride with him home. On our way there, however, we met Gino, Sir David, and Sam Concepcion (yey! been a while since i last saw that kid). Hellos were exchanged and we went on our way to ian's car. Tito ebert managed to get us in so that we can meet up with ian. Shin was also there so i said hi. Then usap usap with tita jo, kuya carlo, tito ebert (who, btw, lost his fone), ian, jhune, tita russel. After that, umalis na rin kami kasabay nina tito ebert. di na daw kami masasabay ni ian coz sharon invited everyone for dinner.

anyway, that ended the night kasi nag-uwian na kami. it was nice enough the concert. sharon is a lot better a performer than a singer. she made the araneta feel as if it's an intimate venue. sana lang di nag-guest si big bird... este si boyet pala. hahahaha!