Some old wounds — depending on how well they’ve healed — stand up to some scratching. But done with enough vigor, they are bound to bleed.
It was a packed house for the final night of ‘80s-era nostalgia. Everyone old enough to remember and young enough to appreciate the art of sometime music collaborators and one-time romantic partners Joey Albert and Louie Ocampo trooped to the Music Museum at the Greenhills Shopping Center for a reunion concert dubbed Tell Me... Once More.
There couldn’t have been a more intriguing storyline. Think of it along the lines of a reunion concert of Pops Fernandez and Martin Nievera (the latter, ironically, was Louie’s favorite musical comrade). But, truth to tell, the throngs at the venue probably didn’t expect anything beyond the regulation good-natured teasing between Joey and Louie. After all, it’s been two decades, right?
At the outset of the show, Joey kidded Louie onstage on his talkativeness compared to previous shows. They continued to rib each other between song medleys — which, incidentally, were masterfully directed by the bespectacled Louie and excellently delivered by Joey. Her vocal prowess may have changed and somewhat diminished over the last two decades, but her showmanship and poise surely hadn’t. If anything, Joey was in her element — talking animatedly and clearly comfortable in the hot beam of the klieg lights.
Joey worked the audience as she delivered with a medley of ‘80s standards before embarking on a retro trip via the hits with which she helped define the youth of Gen-Xers. Of course, you all know that Joey held her own alongside international servings of new wave, punk, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Debbie Gibson; and local fare such as Martin Nievera, Apo Hiking Society, FrancisM, Pops Fernandez, Jam Morales (my years-younger girlfriend Joyce said “Who?”), and Gary Valenciano.
Back to the show: Joey, in her wistful musings, would wander into uncomfortable territory (i.e., her past relationship with Louie). He’d then smile and jest around by playing and singing Jacko’s Thriller. The chemistry and history between the two was undeniable — and almost palpable. Those in attendance clearly enjoyed the dynamic, but one could not but help but wonder about what exactly happened that precipitated their breakup all those years ago.
The audience makeup was varied, and one could gauge the wide demographic appeal of Joey in the celebrity attendees. Seen were couple of the moment Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez (they were holding hands in the fourth row). Beside them were Gary Valenciano and wife Angeli, and in front were Jolina Magdangal and her boyfriend. On the other side of the venue were Patrick Garcia and date (are they or aren’t they?) Jennylyn Mercado. Bimbo Cerrudo was also present.
Joey sang snippets of favorites such as A Million Miles, and did a memorable rendition of Points of View, surprising everyone with the appearance of another ‘80s icon Janet Basco in a duet (in lieu of Pops, who’s presumably in the US at the moment).
Towards the end of the show, a staff member approached Joey with a piece of paper. Joey said something like she and Louie had already agreed not to do duets.
Oh, but there is more magic in final show nights, right? So they acceded to the request. It turned out to be the hit Way Back Into Love, from the apt movie Music & Lyrics (isn’t it grand, indeed, when life imitates art?). Joey approached Louie, and they both read from the music sheet. Ocampo gamely agreed to sing, but not before he jokingly requested for some reverb on his microphone. They pulled off the song with aplomb which, in turn, became the launch pad for the night’s climax — Tell Me.
Joey started unevenly, and we began to wonder why her back was still to us. Then her voice began to break with crying: “There are nights when I can’t help but cry/ and I wonder why you had to leave me/ Why did it have to end so soon?/ When you said that you would never leave me...”
Joey walked away from Louie — back to center stage for the chorus. She managed to find her stride, but it was clear she was bothered and moved to tears. She gestured with the microphone to the crowd, and asked the people to help her. Here was a woman who needed a lifesaver, and the audience delivered.
In the background screen later flashed images of Canada-based Joey with her husband and kids (preceded much earlier by Louie and his loved ones as well). These photos seemed to remind everyone that the two have moved on towards happiness away from each other — the musical collaboration that became a love team, and then fell by the wayside. “We never thought that that last line would apply to us years later. Our relationship is now on a higher level; it’s a purely mystical union,” said Joey in an interview with The STAR Entertainment Editor Ricky Lo — referring to the close of Tell Me. “But if this love’s not ours to have/I’ll let it go with your goodbye.”
It takes courage to bare one’s soul — whether by design or by accident — in public. But soon, the old wounds will yield to all that abuse — and bleed afresh. But I digress. Maybe the reunion concert was just the cathartic experience that eluded Joey and Louie all these years. Maybe now they can finally let go of the needling demons of the past and say goodbye to the love team that once was. After all, they still make good music together — now exclusively in the literal sense.