chuvaness

This post was supposed to be up earlier, but YouTube and Vimeo are really slow in uploading HD videos. And YouTube just stops in the middle of your upload. It really takes a whole day. I'm so frustrated.
Everyone wants to know if I enjoyed the concert.
I wasn't really supposed to go, but when they gave me the mosh pit tickets, I was able to convince Jeroen to come with me.



We left the house at 7:30 PM and got there one hour later, exactly when SM was doing the countdown for Earth Hour.



It's our first time to go to a concert at Mall of Asia. Our driver dropped us at the corner and we walked the rest of the way—me in my four-inch wedges. When we got there some people were still buying tickets at the box office. According to my sister's driver, the cops arrested some people who were selling fake tickets.



At first we ended up at the "VIP" section because there were no ushers, no signs or arrows.
When I spotted my sister and niece there I realized we were at the wrong place because I knew they had bought VIP tickets.
Jeroen and I squeezed out and found our way to the more spacious mosh pit, thank God! Considering there were 80,000 people at concert, we were really lucky to be among the 1,000 people in front.
(Though we heard they started selling mosh pit tickets at 50% off later on.)



Spotted in the mosh pit were Pia Magalona and her kids, Donita Rose, Billy Crawford, Nikki Gil, Divine Lee, JR Isaac, Puey Quiñones, Karylle, and Iza Calzado.
The concert began around 9:30 and it was so slow, with front acts and to be honest I had never heard of Timbaland till I got the press release for the concert.



I don't know what time Jojo came out, but when she did, Cedric said it was time for a bathroom break.
She sang one song with Timbaland and another one solo.



I had been standing for 2.5 hours when Justin Timberlake finally came out at 11 PM, wearing a fedora, checkered shirt over a fatigue tee and cargo pants—plus a towel on his shoulder.
I think most Pinoys were shocked to see him wearing this—vainmodel said he looked like he was just going to the grocery—LOL.


Photo: Kevin Ching

Aawwww...I found him awfully cute. What did you expect him to wear in this heat?
Si Timbaland nga naka white T-shirt lang. I don't think JT wanted to upstage Timbaland any more. My source says ticket sales went sky high only after TV showed Justin arriving at NAIA.
Pinoys are so used to the Gary V sort of concert getup, but I liked Justin just the way he was.
I don't think he meant to be rude. He really dresses like that. Even in Las Vegas.
I was more shocked at Jojo's attire because it looked like an ASAP/The Buzz dress.

Justin Timberland in Manila from CVS on Vimeo.

I was actually eyeing the towel, I knew he would throw it at some point. When he did, guess who caught it? Grace did. According to her:
"Kerin and I were positioned close enough to the stage and when JT came out. He started dancing and singing towards our side and there was a towel around his neck. Then he started to make that throwing motion and WE KNEW we'd get it coz:
1. we were the tallest in the section
2. we are ghetto QC girls
3. we used to play basketball so we knew how to box out and rebound
"Both Kerin and I didn't have to jump. When I caught the towel, as Kerin and I pulled it down to safety some really rude small girl (prolly 100 lbs, 5' ft tall) grabbed the towel from us. I was like "oh no you didnt!!" I took the towel, hugged it and crouched down (basketball SKILLZ) and Kerin pushed the girl back."

What's more: "The towel is very mabango and there's a piece of JT's hair. We plan on saving up our money to clone him."


Grace and Kerin

Even though Grace was so lucky, she was so unlucky as her iPhone was stolen after the concert at David's Tea House on Morato. My niece Tisha also lost her cellphone at the concert, while I lost a cellphone at a Vanness Wu concert at Araneta a few years ago, so please beware that concerts are playgrounds for pickpockets.

I was soclose to the stage I actually saw the color of Justin's eyes—light, light blue. Onstage he is nothing like the elusive airport dude we saw on TV.



A little trivia: According to an ABS-CBN news report, Timberlake tried some Filipino dishes and liked the taste of pandesal. He also asked to be introduced to Manny Pacquiao.
Here's a phonepic.



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I recognized only two songs from Justin: Cry Me A River and Sexy Back—a song he said he had retired.
He should've dedicated it to Ginger Conerejo, who was in the mosh pit, hehe.
So JT did sing eight or more songs as claimed in the press release. In fact he sang until the end of the show, with fireworks pa. I'm so glad I have a video of it because JT is magic on the dance floor without being exagg.

Justin Timberlake in Manila from Cecile van Straten on Vimeo.

The concert ended at midnight. By this time I had been on my feet for 3.5 hours. My throat was on fire and I needed to find a toilet.
Everybody was so tired that we just headed for the exit. No more demands for encore. Though some people were headed towards Encore, the club, where an after party was going to be held.
I'm not surprised JT didn't show up for that.



Lucky for us, we found our car right away. I was having a Temptation Island-level hallucination about fresh mango juice. Good thing Jeroen agreed to go down to the Sofitel hotel.
I had a delicious burger and two rounds of mango juice, while Jeroen had a ham and cheese panini, orange juice, and Pellegrino.





Overall, a nice date for us. Thank you for the tickets!