‘EX’ performers at Big Dome

The pop concert titled Playlist: The Best of OPM, which will be held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, March 1, has a hodge-podge line-up of EX performers. They are not former performers. They all still are very active performers but they all have some exes in their past lives. And these hit machines are now performing together in one concert for the very first time.

There is an ex girl child star in the ex Aiza Seguerra who is now the new Ice Seguerra. There is an ex Side A in Joey Generoso, former vocalist of the hit-making pop band. There is the ex girl singer of the group Freestyle in Jinky Vidal. Then, there is the ex girl part of the acoustic phenomenon the boy-and-girl duo, MYMP in Juris Fernandez.

 Then, joining them are the guys who will be playing temporary exes away from their respective bands which they emphasize are definitely still intact and active in the local gig scene. These are the moonlighting soloists Medwin Marfil of True Faith and Jay Durias of the South Border, who is also the musical director and arranger of the show.

If you will check out the hit charts of the past 30 years, you can be sure to find those names, those groups and the song titles they popularized that are now the soundtracks of many lives. And those names mentioned earlier are the voices that gave life to those hits by some of the biggest-selling bands in Philippine pop music history.

I am sure everybody will enjoy a playlist with songs like these: Forevermore, So Many Questions, Hold On, Tell Me, by Joey with Side A; Before I Let You Go, So Slow, Set You Free by Jinky with Freestyle; Rainbow, Kahit Kailan, Love Of My Life by Jay Durias with South Border; Tell Me Where It Hurts, Especially For You, Kailan, when Juris was with MYMP; Perfect, Huwag Na Lang Kaya, Muntik Nang Maabot Ang Langit by Medwin’s True Faith; and Pagdating Ng Panahon, Para Lang Sa’yo and Kailan from Ice.

These singers, whether as band vocalists or as soloists, have their own distinctive sounds. And to please their loyal fans, they have promised to perform their biggest and most popular songs at the Playlist show. But not only that, to do some bits of showing off, they will also do numbers featuring current hits and by other groups.

So watch out for the Playlist version of the hits of Eraserheads Alapaap, Huling El Bimbo, With A Smile and Ligaya and of the Rivermaya, 214, Hinahanap-hanap Kita, Himala and Liwanag Sa Dilim. And there is more. The Playlist group members has also included their own version of current favorites like Mundo by IV of Spades; Buwan by JK Labajo; Maybe The Night by Ben&Ben; and Kung Di Rin Lang Ikaw by December Avenue.

Opening the concert will be current big seller This Band of the hit songs Kahit Ayaw Mo Na and Hindi Na Nga. And then, joining the Playlist group in this session is young hitmaker Janine Teñoso who has also come up with some hits of her own like Di Na Muli, Jealous and Bulong.

Incidentally, the 19-year-old Janine is fast-becoming known as the theme song diva of the moment. This is because of the success of two songs that she recorded for the soundtracks of some films. These are Di Na Muli, one of last year’s most streamed and downloaded recordings, which was used in the movie Sid & Aya: Not A Love Story and Ang Ating Awitin for Para Sa Broken-Hearted. 

It is no wonder then that Janine is in great demand for movie theme songs and she has just recorded another one. This is a new version of the Rivermaya classic, Ulan, which will be used in the soundtrack of the upcoming picture of the same title that stars Nadine Lustre.

So to get your fill of romantic love songs, over-the-top singing, lots and lots of rocking and a grand sing-along evening, make sure you watch Playlist: The Best of OPM from Viva Live at the Smart Araneta Coliseum at the Araneta Center in Quezon City on Friday, March 1.