May 16, 2012 – Wednesday

7:00 pm

Hard Rock Café, Makati City

“Cause I know it's impossible to make it happen, but still you are. Baby you are.” Though it would seem kind of cliché to create a write-up with a lyrics of a song, for this instance, it’s probably the most suitable thing to do because the line so aptly tells who you’re writing about. That piece of lyrics is from the original composition of Julie Anne San Jose entitled “Baby You Are”.

Julie Anne, her voice was beautiful – a rare combination of clarity, sweetness, passion, vulnerability, yet powerful. Being physically attractive certainly helped in getting noticed – very much like a modern day Greek goddess. But there was more to her than her pretty looks.  She’s very talented and I call her a “Musical Genius”.

When the “FAB 5”, Wendell of VANS, KC Montero, Don Allado, Jon Herrera, and Loue Ang, announced on their Twitter accounts that Julie Anne, the Most Promising Female Singer/Performer of Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation, the YouTube sensation and the Twitter Trending Queen,  will going to have a concert, mayhem ensued. Everyone retweeted their tweets and everyone was asking when and where is the concert. Everyone got excited. It was not long before they had concert details, not to mention, with special loot bag and a lot of surprises. When the details were announced, fans scrambled and planned on how to get tickets.

After two weeks of ticket selling and distribution, the day has come. Hard Rock Café was jammed packed! At around 7-8PM, the music started playing. And it was time for the “adiks” to experience Julie Anne San Jose’s music live! The band started playing and a small video clip was shown. Out of nowhere, a familiar voice singing “Born This Way”, was heard all over the place and that was the cue that the concert has just started. JAPS, with her curly and simple outfit yet, so chic and gorgeous, opened her first major concert with a medley of the songs “Starships”, “Who’s That Chick”, “Moves Like Jagger”, “Part of Me, Domino”, and “Born This Way”. Everyone went crazy! With her good song selections, her dance moves and her energy, this lady knew how to liven up the show!

After some thank you messages and some acknowledgments, she got her guitar, and I got thrilled on what song she’ll be singing. The first song she sang while playing guitar was “Not Like The Movies” then was followed by “Today My Life Begins”. She’s really a total performer; she’s a singer who plays plenty of musical instruments.

Right after that segment, Julie introduced her first special guest and it’s none other than the Prince of R&B, Jay-R. They did a crossover rendition of “One Last Cry” and “When You Said Goodbye”. I so love this performance, it feels like everything is so smooth. Their blending is so good. This is one of my favorite segments of the concert. After they sang, Julie was about to leave the stage but Jay-R said “Wait! Wait! Before you go Julie Anne…” Julie got a bit surprised, “… I just want to that, ever since I’ve been watching you since you started sa Showbiz, ever since from Pop Star Kids and you know what, I’m so so proud of you talaga. You only not grown from a little girl from a beautiful lady, but you have grown so much as an artist, as a singer, as a song writer… and I just wanted to say one good thing about Julie, everyone, she’s so down to Earth talaga, alam nyo, she doesn’t care about fame and fortune and just keep your feet on the ground talaga, feet on the ground.” And the audience started teasing Julie “Iiyak na yan! Iiyak na yan” and Julie said “Hindi ako iiyak noh!” and she added “No! May kakantahin pa ako mamaya eh, kaya hindi ako iiyak.” Then Jay-R added “Kaya ang daming nagmamahal sayo kasi you’re such a good person, so congratulations and you deserve it talaga”. Then they hugged and Julie said thank you to Jay-R.

Julie left the stage to Jay-R to perform. He sang “Wings Of A Dreams”.  Thereafter the performance of Jay-R, Julie went up the stage with her new outfit.  She got her guitar again and stated singing a medley of “Price Tag”, “Wish You Were Here”, “Tattoo” and “With You”. True enough, Julie was right when she said that we will love the songs that she’ll be playing because everyone was singing along with her. One of the good things about Julie is that, she knows how to connect with her audience whenever she performs.

After showcasing how good she is in playing guitar, it’s now time to give you an idea about how good she is in playing piano. She sang “Someone Like You” by Adele. Oh my freaking goodness! That was one of a kind performance.  One of my favorites. She really sang it from the heart, I felt it! She also sang “Jar Of Hearts” and “Impossible”, still, while playing piano. She’s really good at playing that instrument and take note, she doesn’t know how to read notes and by just listening to the song, she will be able to play it. She’s a musical genius!

But wait, before she sang “Impossible”, the band played a portion of the song “Can’t Touch This” and Julie can’t help to share her knock-knock joke and joyfully said, “Ay wait lang! Wait lang! May knock knock ako…” “Knock! Knock!” then the adiks attentively responded “Who’s there?” The Julie said “Scotch Tape” then adiks asked “Scotch Tape who?” Julie cheerfully sang “tenenen scotch tape! tenenen scotch tape! tenenen scotch tape! tenenen scotch tape! Ohhhhh!” and everyone laughed at it! She’s so cute. Adik noh? Hahahah!

Afterwards, she introduced her second special guest and it’s Kris Lawrence. Julie went backstage and Kris Lawrence started singing “Bruno Mars Medley”. After Kris’ solo performance, Don Allado and Wendell, went to stage to give some special gifts specially picked by Julie. They also said how grateful they are for that event. Don also showed some of his moves by doing cat daddy, then the crown started requesting for Wendell to do it also but he refuses and just laughed. That was fun! Fab 5 is the best!  Julie is so lucky to have them!

Julie went back to stage with new outfit; it’s a blue dress that fits her perfectly. Then Kris recalled his first performance with Julie and started telling story about Julie on how cute and shorter she was way back then and on how he immediately became a fan of Julie. Then Kris said “ever since then, sobrang pinagmamalaki ko si Julie Anne, ever since. You know what, I bragged about you, I bragged about you to everybody…” the Julie hugged Kris. “And so, to be here on this moment, I’m super touched and super honored to be here in front of you and of your fans.” Then the crowd said again “Iiyak na yan!” and Julie said “Hindi ako iiyak! Tsaka birthday ko bukas, bakit ako iiyak? Kailangang maging masaya tayo. Di ba? Kailangang maging masaya tayo.” Then they started singing “If I Die Young”. Their duet was so good and they also had a good blending. Another great performance.

I know everyone is excited for the first solo album of Julie Anne and because she loves us, she gave us an album sneak peek by playing her own song composition entitled “Baby You Are”. She sang it while playing guitar. Oh God! What a beautiful song! The song is so catchy and easy to remember. It’s also kilig! It’s really from the heart. I wonder for who is that song? Hmmmm!

Just as we thought that the concert was over, a familiar voice mouthed “Baby?” and that cause everyone go from overjoyed to wild (literally!).  All and sundry were looking for that “familiar voice” from where it came from and everyone was giggling and screaming to death. As in, the noise is earsplitting that even Julie Anne and her band are covering her ears. Then after a second, the crown went extra wild because the person who own that “familiar voice” suddenly entered through the audience and went up on stage with a bouquet of flowers in one hand, and surprise surprise, it’s the “other half” of the phenomenal JuliElmo love team,  Elmo Magalona!  I’m giddying while writing this part. Anyway, when Elmo asked Julie “Ako ba ang tinatawag mo?” Julie responded him with also a question “Ba’t kita tinatawag?” and Elmo said “hindi kasi…” then was stopped when Julie asked the crowd to calm down “Sandali lang guys, ano tinatawag kita?” then Elmo continued “Oo kasi, ano tawag dito, may naririnig akong kumakanta, andun ako sa labas kanina, may narinig akong kumakanta, sabi ko, parang si Julie Anne ata to ah. Tapos ung kinakanta nya Baby You Are, so parang may, parang may nagpapahatak sa akin papunta dito.” Adiks were screaming because of kilig. The Julie continued “So ibig sabihin, andung ka talaga sa labas?” then Elmo answered “Andun ako sa labas, literally andun ako sa labas.” And Julie added “Napadaan ka lang talaga?” Elmo agreed “Napadaan ako at naisip ko syempre, alam ko concert mo di ba? Kaya naisip kong bilihan ka  to (pertaining to the bouquet of flowers)” then Elmo added “Happy Birthday Julie! (gives the flowers)” and Julie said “Wow! Thank you!” Julie and Elmo faced the crowd and Elmo asking Julie “Andami palang tao dito?” and Julie answered “oo nga eh! So anong masasabi niyo guys? So na-surprise ba kayo?” then Elmo said “Surprise! Surprise!” and Julie added “Surprise!!!” afterwards, Julie asked Elmo what are they going to sing but Elmo said “Before ka kumanta, gusto kong magbigay ng message kay Julie Anne.” And people got thrilled. “and masasabi ko na sobrang saya ko na  lagi ko syang nakakasama and maraming, maraming, marami na kaming napagsamahan tsaka napagdaanan.. tsaka masasabi ko na talaga na sobrang, sobra kong hinahangahan si Julie dahil tska napakatalented sa ano man ang ginagawa nya…” and Julie interrupted “Thank you Elmo, thank you so much.” and Elmo continued “sa ano man ang ginagawa nya kaya alam kong  talagang proud  ako sa yo. Proud ako sayo at alam kong  kahit saan ka man pumunta, kasama mo ako.” Then they hugged so tightly and happily, while the crowd goes extra extra wild! Then Julie said “Thank you so much Moe!”.

After that kilig moments, they started singing “Just A Kiss” and of course, there were plenty “da moves” of the two. Kilig! After they sang Elmo greeted Julie again “Happy Birthday Julie!” and they kissed (oops! Not in the lips, ok!) and hugged! As usual, the adiks went crazy again! And the crowd wanted for more!  But despite the bright light spotted on Julie Anne and Elmo, Julie’s (Elmo too!) blushing was pretty obvious.

Thereafter, Julie thanked her sponsors and the persons responsible behind her successful thanksgiving/birthday concert. And she did the “scotch tape” once again while Elmo is watching her. Then, they promoted their upcoming movie, “Just One Summer”, and their upcoming TV show entitled “Together Forever” and their other shows. After that,Elmo finally said goodbye but before that, Julie and him, hugged each other again (3 hugs = I love you? chos!).

Subsequently, Julie performed her last set of songs which is a medley of “Give Your Heart A Break”, “We Found Love” and “Edge Of Glory”.  After that number, people wanted more! And because it’s a thanksgiving concert, Julie granted the request and went back at the stage and started playing one of her original song “The One I Love” on piano. This number is also one of my favorites. I was in awe while listening to her while she’s singing it. Bravo!

After performing her last song for that evening, an orange colored cake came in with flowers. She also received a lot of gifts from the fans.

The concert was so successful and everyone loves every part of it! There were no dull moments and each person enjoyed it and the level of energy was so high from the start till the end of the show. I hope the next venue for her concert will be held in bigger place like Araneta! That will be awesome, for sure!

Julie Anne gave us again a reason to be more proud of her and keep our eyes on the things that she’ll be doing in the future. Keep it up young lady!

CONGRATULATIONS JULIE ANNE SAN JOSE!!!

PEACE.LOVE.HAPPINESS

God Bless! :)

-- Stephanie Cruz :)