A hoot and a whoop for Owl City

“I wish I could cross my arm and cross your mind cause I believe you’d unfold your paper heart and wear it on your sleeve.” — Tidal Wave, Owl City

MANILA, Philippines - The mustache, long locks, and slight frame made the gyrating frontman on stage at the Trinoma mall in Quezon City look like a bit like Los Angeles Lakers small forward Adam Morrison in his pre-shorn Bobcats days.

Oh, he’s Adam, all right — Adam Young a.k.a. Owl City. Backed up by a couple of synth players, a drummer, a violinist, and cellist, Adam looked right at home in front of the packed parking lot that was hastily set up to accommodate an overflow crowd.

Originally slated to be at the Trinoma roof deck, organizers Ayala Malls and Big Fish ostensibly made a good call to move it to the bigger Mindanao open parking area. Fenced off and roofed in (at least the VVIP area, anyway), a full complement of lights and mirror balls contributed to an ambience that rivaled any indoor venue.

I don’t know the story behind the move from the SM Mall of Asia to Trinoma, though I’m sure it made a lot of people happy because it turned out to be a free concert (with some promotional consideration, of course). Thanks, by the way, to Dindo Fernando of ALI’s External Affairs Division.

Adam appeared genuinely surprised by the knowledgeable crowd, which sang along to most of the songs. That seemed to drive his performance up several notches. “I love you Manila!” he gushed.

Later, the Owl City genius confessed to being amazed by the idea of talking to his mom on the phone from another time zone. It’s easy to reckon where this refreshing innocence comes from — a small-town background. Young started on his career through what has become de rigueur process — developing a fan base on-line and expanding said fan base through social networking sites.

The beautiful music came as an offshoot of his insomnia. Young would create tracks during the wee hours of morning in his parents’ basement in Owatonna (population: About 20,000) in Minnesota.

Opening with Umbrella Beach, off last year’s Ocean Eyes, Owl City deftly showcased its brand of electronic pop and imaginative lyrics that interestingly combines synthesizers and live instruments. We were told that Young is a shy artist who shuns press conferences like the plague. Nonetheless, he showed boundless energy that night as he swayed and basically rocked out the Owl City staples. That probably also explained why he kept swigging bottled water on that balmy night.

The audience, frequently admonished by Big Fish bouncers to sit down, found a way to participate and, well, party to Owl City hits like Vanilla Twilight and the monster homerun that is Fireflies — singing like there was no tomorrow. Fireflies was a visual experience as well, as the aforementioned disco balls spun and flooded the venue with points of light for the song.

Including the final song Hello Seattle — where everyone finally just let loose and stood up to dance — Adam and company delivered an incredible 15 songs.

Concert-goers have paid infinitely more for less from lesser artists.

On the night Owl City came to roost, however, most came away stoked, excited, thankful, and hopeful for another visit from Owatonna’s son.