One Enchanted Evening...with Michael Buble

The last time Michael Buble was in Manila was about ten years ago, I'm told.  And before that he was a new and emerging artist discovered out of Vancouver, Canada, who surprised his handlers with his popularity in a little known hick country called the Philippines.

More than a decade after he first swept a handful of Manila music lovers off their feet in the atrium of then newly opened SM Podium, Michael Buble has returned to the scene of his early triumph in a spectacular concert on the last day of January this new year at another SM outlet, the Arena by the bay.

It was a spellbinding spectacle, an A-1 production worthy of an international artist of his fame and stature, yet who humbly admits that Manila's warm reception of his burgeoning talent literally changed his life and the course of his now phenomenal career.

The concert started promptly at 8 pm, featuring a ridiculously talented group of 7 singers and musicians called Naturally 7.  Why Naturally 7? They were musicians who sang songs and performed music a Capella, or with only their voices.  They had no band to accompany them...they created the sound and harmony of instruments( drums, guitar, sax, you name it, they could produce the sound) to accompany themselves...proving that indeed, the most beautiful musical instrument in the world is the human voice!

Sent in to "warm up" the audience "for Michael" as they modestly explained, they also ended up impressing the audience with their skills, astounded everyone with their repertoire and rhythm, and convinced the originally reticent audience to loosen up even before the main act!  They were definitely not Michael Buble sound alikes.  They provided a counterpoint to the audience' initial expectation of Buble's standard of performances, namely, singing the standards. At first.  Later they would come back in the middle of the main concert to harmonize with Buble in a Motown number, and a few more unforgettable vocal melodies. Both accompanied and a Capella.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  After a forty minute front act, the main concert started at 9 pm with a show stopping introduction that had the stage literally on fire, and the audience immediately on its feet, as Buble, Manila's adopted prodigy, opened with "Fever".

The rest of the nearly two hour show was vintage Buble.  It was more than a concert, it was a breathtaking minute by minute tour de force of an artist who gave a command performance for his self avowed "hometown" crowd.

The command performance involved nearly four sets of artists: first, 5 seasoned and renowned musicians who formed his core band; second, 7 insanely gifted and well schooled brass and horn musicians who spoke glowingly through trumpets, trombones, saxophones, giving Buble's famous standards, a big band flavor; third, 8 Filipina violinists who provided depth to the romance of his voice; and of course, the Naturally 7 septet, who collaborated with him on unprecedented a Capella renditions.

The command performance also involved a multi screen (three!) LED backdrop, on which were projected a sensational if mesmerizing kaleidoscope of images that sometimes explained, sometimes enhanced, but always enchanted the viewers, regardless of where they were seated in the theatre.

In this command performance there were two stages...the main stage where the musicians magically, and efficiently appeared and faded to black when the number called for it, and a second one behind the control booth.  Michael Buble worked the main stage like the pro that he was, even to the point of seemingly levitating atop the rising tempered glass platforms that doubled as backdrops...but it was when he went down the stage to mingle with the crowd, and to work his way to the second stage, that he won the hearts of his audience irrevocably.

The command performance featured the standards ("That's All") he has always sung so effortlessly yet masterfully, and then some.  He paid a song tribute to Nina Simone, playfully sang a refrain from Backstreet Boys, and brought the house down with his signature songs, "Home", "Sway" among others, to the perfectly staged encores. As if to top his opening firepower, he ended the Beatles’ "All You Need is Love" with a minute long explosion of cannons of heart shaped confetti, as if to singlehandedly start the Valentine season, as the audience imploded in applause.

Much has been written about Buble's rise to stardom.  From the inspiration he got from his grandparents to sing the standards of Sinatra, Martin, Bennett, and Davis,  to a stint making ends meet at a Chuck E. Cheese fast food, to his humble meet and greets in his early career, to a surprise visit to the Philippines that has since become a key city in his world tour.  Much has been said about his beautiful, easy voice that takes on any melody and makes it his own, without effort, without trying.

What surprised many that magical evening was his very casual almost playful manner, complete with self deprecating humor, and his warm, open people skills, on stage and off, that had him taking selfies with one of the audience' cellphones, and hugging a member of the audience who boldly flashed a sign that said, "I ditched my midterms to watch Michael Buble". Of course, like the rockstar he was, he flirted shamelessly with the audience, threw towels that had just mopped his brow, and gyrated like, well, a rockstar!

Indeed, Michael Buble turned on the charm that night and I dare say, he found his way indelibly into the hearts of the Filipinos with a show that is arguably the performance to beat in Manila's glitzy and busy concert scene!