The Swing Out Sister Experience

It exceeded my expectations. Swing Out Sister Live in Manila did. Finally, I got to see and hear my greatest musical influence live and in person. And I was right in worshiping them. Very grateful to Carl for sharing this experience with me. He also loves S.O.S. and knows their songs by heart.

So we went there early hoping to get good seats for we only have Upper B tickets--it paid off. We got center seats and a very good look of the band and their performance. I was disappointed, at first, with the turnout. The show starts at 8:00 and you can’t really call the audience a “crowd.” Yeah, I know they’re not really icons nowadays and the tickets are really expensive, but I wouldn’t miss this opportunity. Well, when the lights dimmed and the music started playing, the “crowd” emerged.

Corinne went on stage and started off with “Surrender.” A classic and I was freakingly thrilled. I was used to hearing her on my cassette tapes and CDs that I can’t believe I’m watching her in person, and she sounds great too. Corinne was nice. She spoke little Tagalog basics to which the audience cheered every time she uttered one. One minor setback though, I didn’t do my homework. Most of the songs in their repertoire were taken from their latest album, “A Beautiful Mess,” thus, I don’t know them. Although, after hearing these fresh tracks, I liked it. One of these days, I’ll familiarize myself with them.

All in all, it was a great experience. My favorite performance was when they did “You On My Mind.” Oh, my god. The people were up on their feet and were all singing along. It gave me goosebumps. Carl taped that particular performance: here. It’s sad though that they didn’t sing lots of their songs that made them who they are. “Fooled By A Smile,” “La La La Means I Love You,” “Precious Words,” and (I swear, this really depressed me when they chose not to sing this) “Waiting Game.” *Sigh* No worries though, it was still definitely worth it. Started at 9:40 and ended at midnight. That’s two hours and more of pure S.O.S. experience. And for their last song, of course, none other than “Breakout.” Well, people did broke out off their seats and partied hard! Yeah!

I hope that that wouldn’t be the first and last time I get to witness their brilliance. From the moment I found out that they were staging a concert here in Manila, I already envisioned myself in the audience and I knew that I won’t miss it. Really happy that I didn’t.

For evidences that I was there, click here:
Swing Out Sister…Breakout!