Phoenix charms Manila crowd

MANILA, Philippines — France's biggest rock band brought romance and all the good feelings to Manila this week as fans reveled to their music.

 

Phoenix took the audience on an auditory journey as images of abandoned halls and outer space were projected on the backdrop.

 

Philstar.com/AJ Bolando

Phoenix opened with one of their freshest tracks "J-boy," a song about love in a dystopian world where corals are perishing on the atoll and with mentions of radium and "kamikaze in a hopeless world."

 

At one moment, blinding lights dazzled to rhythmic synth, entrancing like a scene straight out of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Constellations formed as the band—composed of Thomas Mars, Christian Mazzalai, Deck D’Arcy and Laurent Brancowitz—played "Sunskrupt!"

 

Requests of synth-rock anthems "Girlfriend" and "Lizstomania" shouted by the crowd were answered by the quartet. They delighted fans by playing what front man Mars called their oldest songs, "Long Distance Call" and "If I Ever Feel Better," resulting in a festive sing-along.

 

"Salamat. Thank you for knowing all the lyrics. They don’t know the lyrics this well back home. [You are] the best singing crowd, the best," Mars exclaimed.

 

Philstar.com/AJ Bolando

The room was heavy with sweet decadence as Phoenix played an encore performance of "Fior Di Latte" complemented by visuals of colorful syrup dripping heavily in the background. The band took the audience to an auditory frolic of Italy, the romantic setting of their new LP "Ti Amo." The name, which is Italian for "I love you," is apt for the sweet escape offered by their most romantic record yet.

 

D'Arcy revealed in an interview with Young STAR that they wanted to call their previous album "Je t'aime" which is "I love you" in French. But their 2013 LP "Bankrupt!" had "music (that) was too negative and cynical" so they decided to put the title aside.