Joey Generoso: Who's afraid of foreign shows?

After Forevermore sent couples to the altar and reconciled sweethearts through the years, Joey Generoso feels the pressure.

You agree, it’s hard to top the song his former bandmate Joey Benin wrote for their group, Side A in the ’90s.

“That song went on to be nine times platinum,” recalls Joey. It sent girls swooning, as they closed their eyes listening to Joey perform Forevermore with the gusto of a lover moving heaven and earth to win his inamorata.

“It gave Side A awards, a lot of work and royalty. It sent us around the world on concert tours. Thanks to the song, which became a hit in the ’90s, I even had a sideline — that of wedding singer,” says Joey.

Benin has since exchanged music for a quiet life as an agri-businessman in his hometown in Silay, Negros Occidental. Lee Von Cailao has replaced him on vocals and guitar. But the same mellow, sentimental strains that have sent girls screaming their lungs out and stalking the band wherever they go remains.

Today, the screaming girls have become doting godmothers of the Side A members’ children (Joey has two, a boy and a girl). And the band continues to hold concerts and gigs.

“I have no right to be bad,” muses Joey. “God has been good to us.”

One of the band’s upcoming shows is Love2Love2Love with M.Y.M.P. and Freestyle at Araneta Coliseum on Feb. 15, 8 p.m.

Aside from performing Forevermore, Side A will bring the audience down memory lane with their other hits like Hold On and Tell Me. Freestyle will churn out Before I Let You Go, Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang, So Slow, Half Crazy, This Time, Time Will Reveal, Paano and others.

Side A will also dish out songs from Die Just a Little (MCA Music), their new all-original album after six years.

M.Y.M.P., on the other hand, will dish out their signature hits Tell Me Where It Hurts, Kailan, Get Me, Especially For You, Paalam Na, Waiting in Vain and Crazy For You.

With three bands performing, Joey expects the show to be as compact as can be, with all the groups’ main hits squeezed into their 30-minute allotted time on stage. Joey will duet with M.Y.M.P.’s Juris Fernandez for a Side A song, which they promise will surprise everyone.

“This is the only Filipino show on Valentine so I hope people will support it,” declares Joey.

Recession, he observes, has driven more and more foreign artists to try their luck in the Philippines. But he remains unfazed.

First, Love2Love2Love ticket prices are cheaper. Secondly, Joey thinks that by this time, Filipinos have had enough of foreign acts.

Joey and Side A haven’t had enough of performing themselves. The band will have a repeat of their show with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in March.

Their search for other bands they can merge musical forces with on stage continues. A concert with South Border, for instance, would be welcome.

“Their sound is close to ours,” Joey explains. Collaborations with other bands are okay, adds Joey as long as the sound doesn’t depart too much from Side A’s smooth, suave vocals.

That’s an invitation as much as a sign of better things to come.