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By Paul John Caña,
Contributor
Finding a decent
parking space at the Araneta Center is hard enough on a regular day.
But that I had to circle the Coliseum twice before I ended up at a
dark corner of the Shopwise parking area last Saturday should’ve
clued me in that the headliner that night was anything but regular.
Lifehouse were in
Manila for a one-night only show. And while they never seemed like
the type of band who seemed capable of selling out the biggest
concert venue in the country, it certainly seemed that way judging
by the thicker-than-usual mass of people who found themselves in
Cubao that night.
Inside the Big
Dome, the evening’s hosts were wrapping up their spiels. Call me a
spoilsport, and not to belittle the efforts of media sponsors in
helping promote concerts and shows (especially by foreign artists)
but do we really need games and a pre-show pep talk? The hosts were
capable enough and the whole skit was mercifully brief, but I’ve
always thought it was kind of lame that a big-ticket concert is
turned into something resembling a segment on a noontime show. But
prizes were given away, sponsors were thanked and shout-outs were,
well, shouted out. Pretty soon, the lights grew dim and slowly faded
and the deafening screams of thousands of expectant fans drowned out
any lingering feelings of exasperation anybody there may have had
about the Pinoy-style curtain-raiser.
The foursome of
Jason Wade, Rick Woolstenhulme, Bryce Soderberg and Ben Carey walked
up onstage and launched into “Make Me Over” from their latest
album Who We Are. At the press conference earlier, the band
highlighted that they were an “organic” band that played
“real” music. Instantly, as soon as they started with the
driving guitars and the pounding beat of the bass and drums, I
understood what he meant.
Wade was the
consummate front man. He was charismatic and empathetic, engaging
the crowd with something as simple as a hand-raise, a head-nod or a
smile (but that might be because the female of the species just
finds him physically irresistible). And his vocals were spot-on and
near perfect for most of the show. Carey, the newest member of the
group, held his own against the old-timers, showing off with guitar
solos particularly on the faster numbers. Soderberg was no pushover
either. He had his time to shine when Wade passed the vocal duties
on to him on the song “Bridges.”
But the loudest
screams were, expectedly, reserved for Wade and the band’s biggest
hits. Over squeals of “I love you Jason,” the Seattle-native
caused a near-hysteria when he strapped on an acoustic guitar and
strummed the first chords of the monster single “You and Me.” I
never quite got the logic of the whole, “Cause it’s you and
me/and all of the people” lyric. But hearing the words being sung
live in a Coliseum-full of starry-eyed back-up singers was quite an
experience. Only the most cynical and stonehearted of men would
probably have held firm and refused to be swayed by the colossally
sappy love anthem.
But perhaps that
is what Lifehouse is all about. They have never claimed to be
anything more than a band that plays mostly sentimental, if somewhat
syrupy, songs. This is a strength they utilize and play off to the
hilt. While other groups invoke artistic license in testing out
other genres in oftentimes failed attempts to expand their sound,
Lifehouse has for the most part kept their integrity intact by
recognizing early on “who they are” and sticking to it rather
than pursuing a contrived identity to sell more records. And while
people who like their songs with a bit more muscle and testosterone
and a little less heartache and drama can get their kicks elsewhere,
those who choose to drench in the bittersweet musings of Wade and
company.
Those who were at
the Araneta last Saturday night lost themselves in the moment and
simply enjoyed the simple, uncomplicated music of a bunch of guys
just doing what they do best. You couldn’t ask for anything more.
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