My TFF Experience


 
 
I was facebooking one April Friday evening while hubby Caloy was channel surfing when suddenly he came across a promotional TV ad for a Tears for Fears concert here in Manila on May 2. My head snapped up and stared at the TV. For a brief moment I was transfixed on the TV. I couldn’t believe that they were back in the music scene much less going here in Manila to have a concert.

When the initial shock died down (which was only a matter of seconds) I immediately texted my equally fanatic sister while at the same time googling on the details of the concert in the internet.


My sister and I were so ecstatic about the news that we placed our ticket reservations online that same night and paid/claimed it the following day. Upper Box A Section 307 Seats G8 and G9 at a whooping P2640 each. For two average earning people spending P2640 for a concert ticket is a total extravagance. And it just proves how much we love the duo.

A little flashback, I was but a mere elementary student when their biggest hit “Shout” came out. Being in the habit of watching music video shows as young as 7yrs old, Tears for Fears videos were among the first music videos I was exposed to. I loved their music then and still love it now. So when I heard about their Manila concert, it was a done deal – I am going to watch it.

On concert night, my sister and I were already in Araneta as early as 7pm, to think we had reserved seats tickets (di naman excited di ba?). Not to look too anxious, we stayed in the Starbucks located inside the coliseum for about 20minutes before we headed inside and took our seats. To our surprise, the General Admission area was already almost filled up. A newspaper earlier reported that tickets were sold out a week before the concert and that Araneta had to add additional seats in the Patron area and extend the Upper Box A and B area to accommodate more people.


The throng of people started coming in during the lull between the opening acts (Sandwich and Pupil) and the main act. We witnessed how the coliseum transformed from an almost empty state to completely jam-packed.

 

The much-awaited mega duo made their grand entrance at 9pm. And they were welcomed with ear-splitting screams from the mammoth crowd inside the Big Dome. Curt Smith came out first singing a portion of Mad World while Roland Orzabal followed next strumming his guitar as the two of them continued to serenade the crowd with their first full song of the night, Everybody Wants to Rule the World. People were hypnotized with their music and everybody was singing along with them. It felt like I was traveling back in time as I was having flashes of my childhood and black and white TVs.

The musical extravaganza lasted 2hours consisting of 19 songs. The finale song was, of course, the deafening "Shout
”. With a crowd of 10k to 15k "shouting" the song in unison, you could almost feel the Big Dome reverberating. The energy inside was simply overwhelming.

The concert was definitely something I would remember for a very long time. Many think that this concert was delayed by about 20 years. I say it was just the right time because back then I would be too young to see it.

Thank you TFF for coming and rocking Manila. You were worth the wait.

Thank you to the producers who invested to bring them here (I'm sure they made a lot of money in this venture.)

Thank you to my lovable hubby who let me see the concert and allowed me to buy those expensive reserved seats tickets. (He's not much of a TFF fan so he stayed home)

Thank you to my equally fanatic sister who came with me.  
 
And thank you to all the TFF fans who flocked The Big Dome that night and made it an event to remember. Enough for Curt Smith to twit the following day, "Doesn't happen very often but....I'm speechless, Manila, what a night! Thank you so much, we've now officially peaked!"

 
TFF Manila Concert Setlist
Mad World (Intro)
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Secret World
Closest Thing to Heaven
Sowing the Seeds of Love

Roland: Thank you and good evening. It is a thrill and an honor to be here in Manila with you. Thank you ever so much for coming tonight. We've been all around the world quite a few times. Across America, the plains of Siberia, the deserts of Scandinavia, and I don't know why it has taken so long for us to go to Manila. It is a crime. I mean, our reception at the airport was great but this is amazing...

Call Me Mellow

Curt: Thank you. Mabuhay! I believe that means 'life'. What a beautiful turn out I have to say. Hi everyone at the top. Give me some love. There've been many versions done of this song Mad World. Some people have recorded it and we were of two minds of what version we should do. The kind of orchestral thing we do at the beginning was a little... And so we thought we should do the original? Does everyone agree?

Mad World
Memories Fade
Raoul and the King of Spain
Quiet Ones

Roland: Thank you very much. How are you doing? We're going to do the newest song that Curt and I have recorded. You can dance up and down on this one. I know I will. This is --

Floating Down the River
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

Curt: We're gonna take it down for a couple of songs... I wanna say this: When we arrived here I never had so many messages on Twitter in my entire life ...

Seven of Sundays
Billie Jean
Pale Shelter
Break it Down Again
Head Over Heels
 
Roland: Thank you very much. Good night.
Band Exits.
Noise.
More Noise.
Band Enters.
Roland: You're amazing! Thank you so much. That is amazing. What a noise. I'd like to introduce the members of our band. On lead guitar, Charlton Pettus. On drums, the new boy, Jamie Wollam. On keyboards Doug Petty. And this guy... to my right...His name is Michael Wainright and he is about to shock you with what he can do. This is--

Woman in Chains
Shout

* You Tube video links are courtesy of fellow TFF fans who captured the performances in their respective digicams/ mobile phones.

** Concert transcript courtesy of Mr. Marc Miranda  

By Pocholo Concepcion
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:54:00 04/29/2010

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Manila Bulletin
May 4, 2010, 10:53am

When punks, ‘chongs,’ hippies sing happily together
By Bert B. Sulat Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:31:00 05/05/2010

Tears for Fears leaves the Big Dome crowd in tears...of joy!
Eric Borromeo
Philippine Entertainment Portal
May 6, 2010  09:08 PM

Let it all out: Tears for Fears finally performs in the Philippines
SENSES WORKING OVERTIME By Luis Katigbak  
The Philippine Star
Updated May 07, 2010 12:00 AM


AN OPEN LETTER TO OLD FRIENDS
“L1020580” by Snowhite2006, via Flickr. Some rights reserved. “Tears for Fears 2008” by KWa, via Wikimedia Commons. 
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 

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