At 59, Gary Valenciano is still unstoppable
After four decades of performing live onstage countless times, Gary Valenciano was merely being honest to his audience when he admitted he still gets the jitters every time he mounts the stage to sing.
That sounded unbelievable, but Gary was in tenterhooks when he staged his 93rd concert, Gary V: Back at the Museum, Friday night, two days before his 59th birthday.
“Standing on this stage in front of you, who know my music, but I still feel nervous,” Gary told his audience.
He made sure he gifted his fans with a full-length concert series on all Fridays of August, with also a prelude to his 40th anniversary next year.
The Music Museum concert marked Gary’s 94th time to perform at the iconic venue, where he staged memorable shows in the past since the late ‘80s. He is scheduled to hold four more Friday concerts this month.
He is looking forward to staging his 100th concert when he stages the Gary V: Back at the Museum repeat after he returns from his US-Canada Reenergized concert tour in September and October.
One would think Gary can no longer deliver anything new onstage after 40 years into the entertainment industry. But he proved everybody wrong.
Singing, dancing and entertaining, Gary graciously delighted the full-house Music Museum crowd for nearly three hours. It was like watching him perform onstage for the first time — energetic, excited and ready to give his all without missing a beat.
With Typhoon Falcon out of the Philippines, the sun shone that Friday and people came in droves to watch the first night of the five-weekend concert series.
Opening act for the night was promising young singer Kai Buizon, who regaled the crowd with Kaibigan Lang and Pizza Guy. Then, she rendered her debut single, The Meadow, under Sony Music.
The band played familiar strains of Gary’s hit songs as he sauntered onstage to render a familiar, OPM upbeat hit, Mahal na Mahal Ko Siya.
At the onset of the first ditty, Gary V: Back at the Museum was slated for a lot of great treats for its packed audience. In You Got Me Working, Gary introduced the fourth generation Manoeuvres — Gringo and Mike — who were his backup dancers that night.
Gary took the audience down memory lane when he reminisced his nights as a scrawny singer at Tavern on the Square in Makati in the late ‘80s. He carried out all familiar tunes like One Hundred Ways, There’s No Easy Way (To Break Somebody’s Heart), In Your Eyes, Just Once, On the Wings of Love, It Might Be You and Whatever We Imagine.
Then, he crooned two of the early songs he wrote — Narito, as well as Fool Till the End — which he sang in their full-length versions with his riveting vocals. Those were followed by Until Then, that was used in a shampoo commercial and sung by Side A Band.
Gary’s only daughter and youngest child, Kiana, flew in from the US two days before the Music Museum concert and performed with him. They carried out Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You and a beautiful duet of Jose Mari Chan’s ballad, Let’s Stop and Talk Awhile.
At one point in the show, Gary did not jam with his crowd, but gave in to the audience requests. He sang a few lines from his hit songs and allowed the audience to be back to their and young adult selves.
The requests were apparently countless — from Hang On and Reaching Out to Each Passing Night, Growing Up, Betty’s in Bed and Warrior Is a Child. When it was his granddaughter, Leia, to say her request, she just blurted out, Ghostbusters, to which her “Pappy” amusingly agreed to.
Somebody shouted Eto na Lang, but Gary readily corrected her, “I think you are mixing my songs. What do you really want? Eto Na Naman or Di Bale Na Lang?”
After Gary expectedly delivered Al Jarreau’s Spain — all of nine minutes — there was no more stopping his audience from joining him do his grooves. The crowd stood from their seats as Gary rendered all dance ditties – Oye Como Va?, Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing, La Bamba, all of which segued to Gary’s OPM hits.
Still highly-energized, he dished out an overload of dance hits — Eto Na Naman, Di Bale na Lang, Look in Her Eyes, Shout for Joy. The last 30 minutes of the concert saw Gary’s audience tirelessly standing, singing and grooving to his music.
Mr. Pure Energy fittingly closed with How Did You Know?, the hit ballad he reimagined as the theme of the Aga Muhlach-Kristine Hermosa’s romance-drama, All My Life (2004). The crowd was singing with him.
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