There are moments in our lives that you just wouldn't want to end. In these moments, there’s a sense of freedom, where one becomes unhinged with the weights that carry him down. True happiness engulfs you. And when it ends, these moments then become memories; memories that'll be cherished forever.
Like every one else, I've had a lot of these moments in my life: my first plane ride, pretty much every minute of the 7xi Subic Field Trip, and the time when my first girlfriend said yes. Of course, these are merely a fraction (a VERY small one, at that) of all the great memories I have. Recently, I've added a new one to my vault of memories. It happened on May 14, 2013 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, the night when Jason Mraz serenaded Manila.
This is the third time that Mr. A-Z gets to perform in Manila, and I knew I wouldn't miss it for anything, especially after coming so close to watch his second concert in Manila last 2011. That was an acoustic concert with his right hand man and percussionist Toca Rivera, but the most recent concert was a special one because it was with his complete band! There's no way I was going to settle for anything less than a Patron or Lower Box seat (there's a 1k difference between the two). I originally decided on buying a Lower Box ticket since there's wasn't really much of a difference between it and the Patron seats, but they were, unfortunately, sold out. I was left with a choice to dish out 6k for Patron seats or not watch the concert at all. Then it dawned on me that I would seriously regret not watching this concert. "Make Memories" is one of my mantras, after all. With that thought, I made it official. I bought two Patron tickets for me and my sister, and IT WAS ON.
The Day Itself
We arrived in Araneta at about 7pm, a full hour before the concert begins. The last time I was in the Araneta Coliseum was the UAAP game between ADMU and NU, and that was in 2011. It came as a surprise for me then to see the newly renovated coliseum. It looked really classy and clean. I felt rather proud that we have a world-class arena such as this (sorry, I've never been inside the MOA Arena). After buying official Jason Mraz t-shirts (this almost emptied my wallet), we bought a slice of pizza and fries for our dinner, then took our seats. For me, it's a bliss every time I enter Araneta. Maybe it's because I always see it on TV, yet I've only been there at least five times. Anyway, we had seats at the elevated sides of the Patron area. They honestly weren't as bad as I expected! What's best about it is that when the concert began, there was no one blocking our view. The concert hasn't even began, but I immediately felt that the 6k was worth it. The stage looked amazing as well!
I'm actually holding a 150 peso glowstick in that picture. Yes, it's THAT expensive. My sister wanted both of us to have glowsticks, so add 300 pesos to my total expenses of the night. Bought the blue one, of course! OBF
At about 8pm, the lights dimmed and the crowd went wild! All of us were expecting the front act, Zendee (the random karaoke girl from that viral video), to appear...but everyone got a BIG surprise.
It was Jason Mraz himself! The screams of the ladies in the crowd were deafening! Jason got out of his way to introduce Zendee himself. You have to admire the humility of the guy. Massive respect to him. After a hug and a peck on the cheek from Jason, Zendee performed four songs (five, on my count). She was wonderful, in my opinion. It was great to see the rest of the crowd welcoming Zendee with open arms, and we gave her one of the biggest ovations of the night. It was inevitable now. We all knew Jason would take the stage soon enough, but because of technical difficulties (I think), we were made to wait for about thirty minutes or so. At 9pm, the lights were turned off. Only the lights from the different colored glowsticks were visible. Then, a barely visible figure took the stage. We were sure of it this time...
The crowd EXPLODED.
And out they came, one by one, with Jason being the last one to appear on stage. The feeling was simply incredible, and the guy I've been a fan of for more than 8 years was finally in front of my eyes. "Mabuhay!", and the crowd exploded once again. Jason was a natural comedian, and he made an effort to communicate with the crowd. He was a little weird cause of his relatively new "love, life, travel" persona, but oh man. He's a true musician. What we hear in the radio, that's exactly how he sounds like live. As much as I'd love to go into detail on every single song he performed, I think giving some comments on his setlist is enough. So here it is!
The World As I See It wasn't really memorable, and I think a more upbeat song like Make It Mine should have been used as the "intro" instead. Great song, nevertheless (If I remember correctly, he didn't play the whole song and immediately went to the next one...)
I loved Everything Is Sound! The song wasn't in the fake setlist they released a day before the concert, so I was a little disappointed. I love the song, and I loved it even more when I heard it live. Plus, I think I was the only one in the crowd who knew all the lyrics to the song, but it was cool hearing most of the crowd singing the chorus in harmony. The song really set the mood for the rest of the night.
And of course, everyone went nuts when Jason sang The Remedy. I think it's the song that drew the largest cheer from the crowd, and EVERYONE sang along. No kidding! Even the senior citizens near my seat were trying to sing along. Incredible performance with Jason hitting all the high notes easily. Like I said, it's as if I was only listening to the radio. That's how good it was.
The crowd EXPLODED.
And out they came, one by one, with Jason being the last one to appear on stage. The feeling was simply incredible, and the guy I've been a fan of for more than 8 years was finally in front of my eyes. "Mabuhay!", and the crowd exploded once again. Jason was a natural comedian, and he made an effort to communicate with the crowd. He was a little weird cause of his relatively new "love, life, travel" persona, but oh man. He's a true musician. What we hear in the radio, that's exactly how he sounds like live. As much as I'd love to go into detail on every single song he performed, I think giving some comments on his setlist is enough. So here it is!
The World As I See It wasn't really memorable, and I think a more upbeat song like Make It Mine should have been used as the "intro" instead. Great song, nevertheless (If I remember correctly, he didn't play the whole song and immediately went to the next one...)
I loved Everything Is Sound! The song wasn't in the fake setlist they released a day before the concert, so I was a little disappointed. I love the song, and I loved it even more when I heard it live. Plus, I think I was the only one in the crowd who knew all the lyrics to the song, but it was cool hearing most of the crowd singing the chorus in harmony. The song really set the mood for the rest of the night.
And of course, everyone went nuts when Jason sang The Remedy. I think it's the song that drew the largest cheer from the crowd, and EVERYONE sang along. No kidding! Even the senior citizens near my seat were trying to sing along. Incredible performance with Jason hitting all the high notes easily. Like I said, it's as if I was only listening to the radio. That's how good it was.
They Shaped My Life (Who I Am Today) is a mash up of two very unfamiliar songs, so after a song like The Remedy, this gave us some time to rest. That doesn't mean we weren't listening though. This one was particularly memorable because Jason introduced the song with a story from his childhood. He sang it with only a guitar playing in the first verses and chorus, and the band accompanied him until the end. Great performance, as expected.
Butterfly got the crowd dancing! The wind instruments got a good time in the limelight as well. I wasn't really familiar with the song, so it wasn't really memorable for me. BUT, the screens one the stage flashed some pretty funny (and provocative) pics. Listen to the song and you'll know there's a reason for them.
By now I expected a big crowd favorite (considering the back to back unfamiliar songs), but instead, Jason sang 3 Things. The song will most likely come from his next album. It's an inspirational song, and a little upbeat too. Also, Jason's introduction to the song was pretty great!
The next song, I was very familiar with. Frank D. Fixer is one of the more relatively unknown songs from Jason's latest album, but I like it particularly because of its chorus. The crowd went a little dead on this one, but a good number tried to sing along with the chorus. I loved it, nevertheless! It's a great tribute to Jason's granddad, and the screens flashed pictures of him as well.
THE SONG THAT MADE MY NIGHT. This came as a total shock because of many reasons, but for one, he actually sang it! My absolute favorite Jason Mraz song: You and I Both. There was only a spotlight on Jason, and he sat on the right side of the stage. He then pointed to the left side of the arena, calling out the people, telling them how far away they were to them. He then went on to talk about long distance relationships and the hardships of love, and then, he sang the first line...."Wasn't it you who spoke the words that things would happen but not to me....". I think I might have jumped out of my seat because of pure happiness. Jason performed an acoustic version, and every second of it was perfect. The best part? It wasn't even the most memorable song of the night.
Living In The Moment was great! I loved how every person swayed to the melody of the song and (sorry for this) "lived in the moment". I'll end it with that.
To be honest, Lucky was a bit disappointing. It's one of the songs I've been waiting for too, but there just wasn't a connection between Zendee, revelead as the special guest for the song, and Jason Mraz. There might have been technical problems with Zendee's mic at some point because no one can hear her voice. The song was a crowd favorite though, so the audience managed to bring some life to the performance.
Oh baby. Make It Mine was awesome! I though the song was not very popular in the country, so I was surprised to hear most of the audience sing along. What I loved about the performance was how every one in the arena came to life. It was refreshing as well. The quick tempo was what the audience needed.
Only Human...the crowd went limp from this. Not my favorite as well.
Plane is a pretty good song. It's too bad 95% of the crowd didn't know it. Everyone was seating at this point, so I guess this and Only Human were the calm before the real storm...
And then Jason sang You Fckn Did It with right hand woman Mona Tavakoli (who's REALLY pretty). The performance was CRAZY good. I, for one, wasn't familiar with the song (it isn't in any of Jason's albums), but I instantly loved it. The duo's theatrics and unbelievable connection rocked the whole arena. This is probably my favorite performance of the night because of the sheer energy!
Another unfamiliar song (mainly because it's a hidden track in Jason's latest album), but it was a wonderful performance. I'm Coming Over set up the kind of atmosphere that'll make you want to just fall in love then and there. I already have a girlfriend though, so I just entertained myself by looking at the couples being sweet with each other (PDA. PDA. PDA.)
The Woman I Love was spectacular on so many levels. I love how Jason set the mood for the song, giving a speech about mothers, sisters, girlfriends, and such. The production crew flashed a lot of beautiful pictures of ladies throughout the performance as well for the backdrop, and everything was just perfect combined.
Goodness...the song I waited the whole night to hear live. Way before the concert, I already loved the two live versions of A Beautiful Mess (both the Live on Earth and Nobel Prize versions). And surely enough, Jason Mraz did not disappoint me at all. I guess this is the part of the concert where I felt REALLY lucky to be there and experience everything. This may have been the song where my voice gave up on me too! Totally worth it. If You Fckn Did It was my favorite performance, this was the most memorable one for me.
93 Million Miles was an inspiring performance. It was like you can feel everyone's happiness in the arena, and everyone was swaying their arms to the song as well. I have no more words to describe the performance except this: wonderful.
The runner-up crowd favorite that lead others by a mile! I Won't Give Up, although a slow song, made people stand up and sing-along. What I can't forget were the oldies in the concert singing along, muttering every word of the song. That's how big the song was for this crowd! Of course, the performance was epic (as expected). It could've been the perfect ending to the concert, but I was glad to know it wasn't.
And then the break before the encore! This is probably my proudest moment of the night, because I actually started a chant! When the applause of the crowd started to die down and most wondered if the concert was over, I screamed "We want more!". At first, it was only me, then the group of guys behind me started chanting along. Then the whole red gate area of the arena, then the whole patron part, then THE WHOLE ARENA EXPLODED WITH WE WANT MORE CHANTS.
Living In The Moment was great! I loved how every person swayed to the melody of the song and (sorry for this) "lived in the moment". I'll end it with that.
To be honest, Lucky was a bit disappointing. It's one of the songs I've been waiting for too, but there just wasn't a connection between Zendee, revelead as the special guest for the song, and Jason Mraz. There might have been technical problems with Zendee's mic at some point because no one can hear her voice. The song was a crowd favorite though, so the audience managed to bring some life to the performance.
Oh baby. Make It Mine was awesome! I though the song was not very popular in the country, so I was surprised to hear most of the audience sing along. What I loved about the performance was how every one in the arena came to life. It was refreshing as well. The quick tempo was what the audience needed.
Only Human...the crowd went limp from this. Not my favorite as well.
Plane is a pretty good song. It's too bad 95% of the crowd didn't know it. Everyone was seating at this point, so I guess this and Only Human were the calm before the real storm...
And then Jason sang You Fckn Did It with right hand woman Mona Tavakoli (who's REALLY pretty). The performance was CRAZY good. I, for one, wasn't familiar with the song (it isn't in any of Jason's albums), but I instantly loved it. The duo's theatrics and unbelievable connection rocked the whole arena. This is probably my favorite performance of the night because of the sheer energy!
Another unfamiliar song (mainly because it's a hidden track in Jason's latest album), but it was a wonderful performance. I'm Coming Over set up the kind of atmosphere that'll make you want to just fall in love then and there. I already have a girlfriend though, so I just entertained myself by looking at the couples being sweet with each other (PDA. PDA. PDA.)
The Woman I Love was spectacular on so many levels. I love how Jason set the mood for the song, giving a speech about mothers, sisters, girlfriends, and such. The production crew flashed a lot of beautiful pictures of ladies throughout the performance as well for the backdrop, and everything was just perfect combined.
Goodness...the song I waited the whole night to hear live. Way before the concert, I already loved the two live versions of A Beautiful Mess (both the Live on Earth and Nobel Prize versions). And surely enough, Jason Mraz did not disappoint me at all. I guess this is the part of the concert where I felt REALLY lucky to be there and experience everything. This may have been the song where my voice gave up on me too! Totally worth it. If You Fckn Did It was my favorite performance, this was the most memorable one for me.
93 Million Miles was an inspiring performance. It was like you can feel everyone's happiness in the arena, and everyone was swaying their arms to the song as well. I have no more words to describe the performance except this: wonderful.
The runner-up crowd favorite that lead others by a mile! I Won't Give Up, although a slow song, made people stand up and sing-along. What I can't forget were the oldies in the concert singing along, muttering every word of the song. That's how big the song was for this crowd! Of course, the performance was epic (as expected). It could've been the perfect ending to the concert, but I was glad to know it wasn't.
And then the break before the encore! This is probably my proudest moment of the night, because I actually started a chant! When the applause of the crowd started to die down and most wondered if the concert was over, I screamed "We want more!". At first, it was only me, then the group of guys behind me started chanting along. Then the whole red gate area of the arena, then the whole patron part, then THE WHOLE ARENA EXPLODED WITH WE WANT MORE CHANTS.
(What the stage looked like during pre-encore)
After about 2 minutes, the band came out to another HUGE ovation. They soaked in the screams and applause for a few seconds, waved to a few sections in the audience, and Jason started to give a speech about the importance of friends and keeping them close to us no matter what happens.
Then he sang Song for a Friend. At this point, it didn't matter if the song was not that popular, cause the crowd LOVED and cherished every line and tone that came out of Jason's mouth. Everybody was just cheering and swaying their arms, knowing that the epic night was coming to an end. The only comforting thing was that there was assurance that it would end with a bang, because if one kept track of every song Jason sang, there was one huge hit that he hasn't sang yet...
To be honest, the memories are kinda hazy at this point. Maybe they went away along with the adrenaline, but there's one moment I can remember pretty clearly....when Jason Mraz plucked the first two chords of this song, the crowd went NUTS. There's no other song that can do this aside from I'm Yours, the universe's most favorite Jason Mraz song (except for me). Oh man...no words can describe the performance. Every band member moved around the stage, Jason riled up the crowd, dictated them to sing at some parts of the song. Everybody was dancing, and well...everything was perfect. That's all I can say, really. It was the perfect song to cap off one of the best concerts I've ever watched.
Jason and the band did their final bows to officially end the concert, waved to the audience, then walked off the stage. Of course, Jason was the last one to leave. He soaked all the screams and applause of the crowd first, took his hat off, gave a final bow by his lonesome, and walked backstage. That was it. The concert was officially over.
Jason and his Band take their final bows
(Sidenote: I almost bumped into Harry Thomas, US Ambassador to the country, when I came running back inside the arena to search for the t-shirt I left on my seat)
After the concert, I didn't feel sad at all. There was only happiness from the thought that new memories were made. My sister and I couldn't stop talking about the concert, and we even played Jason Mraz songs throughout our car trip. We celebrated a little bit because her birthday was the next day, May 15 (only a few minutes left before it by the time we were going home). I was dropped off at my dorm, and well....that was it.
The wait was, indeed, worth it.
(taken from the Araneta Coliseum FB page)
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