There is a very good reason why Gary V has been in the entertainment industry for 29 years now.
The man is incredibly talented. Unparalleled, unmatched.
They call him Mr. Pure Energy. And believe me, you will never fully understand that nickname until you see it for yourself. Live, up close, and in the flesh.
Last Thursday afternoon, I was happily surprised with tickets to Gary’s latest production On Higher Ground for that night at Music Museum. Odin and I are quite the fans. Oh yes, we’ve had our moments of singing Di Bale Na Lang in the car at the top of our lungs. We were also psyched to go and show moral support to Pao, who was particularly nervous about directing his dad’s show for the first time. They already suffered technical difficulties with the projectors during the first night right before the show started.
When you strip it down, the production is really simple. It’s just Gary, his band, a couple of dancers, and a couple of guest performers – all in the intimate setting of Music Museum. Yet despite the simplicity of the setup, the show surprises you with a stunning adventure via projections onto the stage backdrop. The images interact with Gary, his dancers, even his band. It’s something that I can’t quite explain, and photos just don’t seem to cut it in capturing the magic of the show.
Besides, I don’t really want to spoil it for anybody who still plans to watch it.
I was about five or six years old when I first watched a Gary V concert. His Shout For Joy album (the one album I know from start to finish by heart) had just been released and he made a tour stop in Cebu. My Tita Jo-Ann used to work in the showbiz industry and was, at some point, Gary’s assistant in the 80′s. Those years of sewing three pairs of shoulder pads into his costumes and changing his son’s diapers got my cousins, sisters and I the chance to meet him during his rehearsal the day before the big show. I don’t remember much, but I do remember him being incredibly nice and friendly. He talked to all of us kids, answered questions, signed our caps, and gave us all hugs.
And nothing has changed about that. With On Higher Ground, Gary encouraged audience members to take pictures and videos (with no flash) and upload their memories of the concert on Facebook and Youtube. At one part of the show, he even invited audience members to come up to him if they wanted to have their picture taken with him. WHILE HE WAS SINGING. This man already performed a concert with 800,000 attendees in his career and you can literally just go up to him, get your photo taken and even beso him! You don’t find superstars with that kind of humility and openness very often.
I’m still not over how good the show was, and how good HE was. He sang, danced, played instruments, got personal with us, made us laugh.. everything an excellent performer/entertainer does. In Odin’s words, “SER lang talaga e!” He hasn’t aged one bit. The reason why most of my photos from the concert are during the ballads is because my camera lens isn’t quick enough to capture a still photo of Gary V dancing. I can’t believe he’ll be 50 in two years.
What I admire most about Gary is how joyful and passionate he is in every performance especially when you know where he dedicates it to. When you see how he sings and dances, you can tell where his “pure energy” comes from. He’s not ashamed to talk about his faith and not afraid to share it with others. It’s really encouraging for young people like myself to be the same with my own convictions.
Here’s a video of my favorite part of the show. It’s Gary V, his special guest Julianne (of whom I am also a big fan) and Mon Faustino (SIR!) doing a beautiful and heartfelt medley of his inspirational hits, including Search and Know, Take Me Out of the Dark, The Warrior is a Child:
After 29 years, you sir are definitely on higher ground.
Everyone I know who watched the concert came out with nothing but great things to say. Amazing, GRABEH, incredible, wala akong masabi, awesome – just some of the words seen frequently on Twitter. I have to give props to the entire production team for a job well done despite the technical difficulties they still had that day. The audience was really understanding and cheered as soon as the equipment started working again.
Anyway, there are still shows coming up and hope you guys can catch ‘em while you still can. It’s fun and totally worth it, I promise. He even performed a cover LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” and had the entire place (including Vicki Belo, who was in the audience) on its feet.
On Higher Ground is still running on the following dates: April 26, April 27, May 9 and May 10. Show starts at 8:30pm. Don’t miss it! (And if you’re watching, don’t be late! The first part is super awesome!)
For the second time around, thank you Paolo and Sam for the tickets and the awesome seats.
Hello, this is Ria Redulla's online personal space for occasionally-coherent rambling about her life adventures and the mundane. She also rants about the government from time to time.
