No blue moment at Blue concert

It is impossible to feel blue at a Blue concert. The energy both on stage and off is high. The boys (Lee, Duncan, Antony, and Simon) don’t sit and sing, and the stools in the hall don’t stay occupied for long. In fact, as soon as the boys walk onstage, everybody stands up, stays up, and (what can be annoying) screams.

That was the general atmosphere at the Best of Blue concert last Sept. 25 at the Araneta Coliseum. Twice had the group intended to perform in Manila but had had to cancel each time, the first after lead singer Lee met a motorcycle accident and the second when the terrorism alert in Southeast Asia was high. The two-year wait seemed only to have increased the excitement, and the welcome the boys got was perhaps warmer than it would have otherwise been, despite the fact that it was a simple show they put on.

The concert was a watered down version of the Guilty tour, supposedly the group’s most extravagant show to date. Revolving around the concept of guilt, the show contained images of trial, captivity, and escape. The set at times resembled a courtroom, a jail, and the barracks. There was no shortage of stage effects, the dancers and images flashing on jumbotron screens adding to the spectacle.

The concert at the Araneta retained nothing but the back-up dancers. It was essentially a run-down of the group’s hits, including Fly by, If You Come Back, U Make Me Wanna, Too Close, All Rise, Breathe Easy, and the current release Bubblin’. The boys substituted a Michael Jackson medley with a preview of their upcoming single Curtain Falls, a song that unfortunately doesn’t quite live up to the standards of their previous recordings. Conspicuously missing was Best in Me, arguably the group’s most popular song in the Philippines. (When three of the boys came here two years ago to promote their first album, they were surprised to find that the song, a limited release, was a hit.)

There was a glimpse of the original concept early in the program. After performing Guilty, Duncan, speaking for the group, apologized for the cancellation of their One Love concert last year, which gesture segued neatly to the song Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word. All was forgiven, it seemed, as the crowd (daughters with their mothers, girlfriends with their boyfriends) alternately applauded, cheered, giggled, sang along, took photographs, and blew kisses.

Certainly, the boys need not apologize for singing well (there were only a few clunkers) and looking better. As usual, Lee proved why he is the most gifted vocalist in the boy band genre today, though it was Duncan who received the loudest gasps, sighs, and squeals. Simon played the rapper, and Antony was the joker. At One Love, he invited the audience to join in the chorus: "Put your finger up, but don’t use your middle finger because that’s dirty."

The show stopped when the boys asked a girl from the audience go onstage. "Who’s celebrating a birthday today?" they had asked. When the girl raised her hand, Lee hoisted her over the security railing and escorted her up the stage. It was her 14th birthday, she said, and the boys sang her a Happy Birthday. After that, the rest of the crowd yelled that it was their birthday, too.

Something must be said of the front act. Twenty-three-year-old Derek McDonald has the looks of a Ricky Martin and has as much of the Latino’s appeal, though not as much of his skills in dancing. McDonald, a native of Glasgow, performed four or five songs and addressed the audience with the exuberance of the ingénue. He signed autographs after the show, and if the long line in the lobby is any indication, he bids fair to become another pop idol soon.

Blue is expected to release a greatest-hits collection in November, which will include a few new songs like Curtain Falls. Such a move almost always portends the end (think Take That, Boyzone, 98 Degrees, 911, A1, etc.), but should the final curtain indeed fall on Blue, there would be an ovation long and loud before the hall is empty–and that would be something like absolution.