A Night of Music with Lea Salonga

Audiences did not mind lining up last January 8 from the USLS gate to the coliseum in order to watch the performance of a world class performer such as Lea whose mother Ligaya happens to hail from the town of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental.

Lea Salonga’s repertoire in her “Lea… Your Songs” concert was requested by her fans from around the world and from all walks of life.  The result was a smorgasbord of all time favorites. She sang these songs as if they were written for her.

Lea sang pop classics This One’s For You, Making Love Out of Nothing At All, and Now and Forever. Her repertoire also included the latest chart toppers Halo and the ever popular Poker Face. Her tribute to the King of Pop Michael Jackson was a poignant rendition of Gone Too Soon.

A GK volunteer was brave enough to sing A Whole New World with Lea onstage. He earned a round of applause and perhaps, the admiration of the female audiences.

A lot were surprised with her Rehab song and dance number with Hip Hop dance group The Philippine All Stars. We all know Lea’s a world class singer, but most of the audiences haven’t seen her dance as well.

Lea’s OPM medley includes Ang Himig Natin, Huling El Bimbo, Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal, and Salamat. She sang I Don’t Love You Anymore with up and coming singer Reymond Sajor.

As expected, she belted some of her fans’ favorite”high brow” songs, as what my friend refers to Broadway music. She sang I Dreamed a Dream, On My Own, and her version of Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked was simply wicked!

We are so used to hear Lea sing Broadway songs but surprisingly, she can sing Jukebox songs such as Basang Basa sa Ulan and Halik just as well. This was in collaboration with “Comedy Concert  Queen” Ai-Ai de las Alas who was simply hilarious. Ai-Ai’s antics onstage simply brought the house down.

For finale, Lea sang the most requested song, Bayan Ko. Hers was a moving rendition audiences must have felt goosebumps. For encore, she sang Thank You For The Music and her signature song Tomorrow.

The concert is for the benefit of Gawad Kalinga (GK) and Lea Salonga was introduced by no less than fellow Negrense Tony Meloto of GK. She said GK is not just about building homes, but it is about building hope. Prior to her concert, she visited GK sites in Bacolod City and she was overwhelmed by the happiness of the people she met. She said she did not see despair on their faces but she saw hope.

It was the second concert of Lea Salonga in Bacolod City. The first time was her All For Love concert where she had the USLS Coliseum jam packed with around 7,000 fans. Well, we hope this will not be her last concert in Bacolod City since we are looking forward to her next concert.

Thanks “Tikalon” for sharing your pictures.