One Pinoy's JOURNEY...

It was more than just a concert;

it was a gathering of 20,000 plus Pinoys,
witnessing a Kabayan live out his Rock and Roll Fantasy:

For over 20 years,
I'm pretty sure that this was also one of the favorite
(and oldest!) CDs of a certain ARNEL PINEDA:

And I'm also sure that never ever,
in his wildest dreams as a kid in Sampaloc
or late-night booze-induced highs singing in 'Gapo,
did he ever imagine this:

Almost All
of the Steve Perry-era Journey Classics were sung:

Arnel made us proud with his performances of
Don't Stop Believin', Wheel in the Sky, Faithfully,
Ask The Lonely, Any Way You Want It...

and the best song of the night,

LIGHTS,

a love song for the city of San Francisco,
which turned out to be perfect for
another City by the Bay, Manila!

... and the obvious favorites of the crowd:

Open Arms and Separate Ways!!!

Surprisingly,
it was a cool and breezy March evening,

and even more surprisingly,
a lot of people started filing out after Journey
performed the Pinoy KTV classic ballads:
Faithfully and Open Arms.


Not us though,
we stayed on 'til the very end of the show,
LOVIN' TOUCHIN' SQUEEZIN'
each other!!!

And I stayed seated until the bouncers and the ushers
forced me out of the Mall of Asia concert grounds.

I was still shouting for the band to come back and play
I'LL BE ALRIGHT WITHOUT YOU!!!
SEND HER MY LOVE!!!


And sadly the one song that everyone expected to hear
was not part of the song list for the night.


My numero uno el favorito Journey song,

and I was still crying out for it,
half an hour after the concert:

WHO'S CRYING NOW?

Nonetheless,
it was definitely a night to remember!

Thank You, Guitar God Neal Schon,
for YouTube-ing Arnel Pineda!!!

Our JOURNEY eventually led us to nearby HOOTERS,
for the advance birthday celebrations
of rock and roll legend Arvi,
big momma Dedet,

as well as our advance party for
the decade and a half of Marital Bliss
for Arvi and his wife, Marmi.

The world-famous Buffalo Wings were spectacular,
and so were the Hooters Girls.

And after a very wholesome lap dance complete with balloons,
Bday Boy Arvi felt like he was a kid in Disneyland!

As for me,
since it is the Lenten Season after all,

I tried my best to behave...