MANILA, Philippines — Two friends, who were on their way to see Ben&Ben’s concert, were befuddled at the sight of thousands of people, mostly Gen Zs, making their way towards the SMDC festival grounds. Could it be possible that all these people were also heading to the concert of Filipino folk-pop band Ben&Ben? But they were just so many, it seemed incredible.
The friend quipped maybe some of them were headed to a different place for a school project? But nope, it turned out the throng of people was really attending the concert of Ben&Ben. They were making a pilgrimage to see their favorite band in a live performance after two years of the pandemic.
After all, it was Ben&Ben’s songs that gave them comfort, offered a solace, a balm to the weary spirit or a ray of sunshine during darkest times, not only during the pandemic. And so, Ben&Ben’s fans call themselves “Liwanag,” the name of the official fan group of the nine-piece band.
According to the concert promotor Ovation Productions, at least 65,000 people converged on the open area to see the band’s homecoming concert, a testament to the band’s popularity.
Drone shots projected on the big screens beside the stage showed a sea of people, filling up every area of the cavernous SMDC grounds.
The concert, originally dubbed Send Off, was slated last September but was cancelled because of a typhoon. Ben&Ben then proceeded for a series of concerts in North America and rescheduled the concert last Sunday, which was now dubbed Homecoming. And it was a sold-out show, with the longest set at three hours.
People were still pouring into the venue when Clara Benin opened the show with her songs Parallel Universe, Be My Thrill, and Gabi. After Clara’s stint at the stage, a short AVP was shown on the screen, detailing the band’s tours from different places. Then, the lights went off, some smoke blast as special effects and the crowd went crazy when Ben&Ben appeared on stage and sang Langyang Pag-ibig, one of their songs from the recent album.
The SMDC grounds then became a big karaoke-sing along when the band performed hits and fan-favorites like Maybe the night, Dear, Kathang Isip and Make it With You. Ben&Ben’s identical twins Paolo and Miguel Benjamin Guico also asked the crowd to turn on the lights of their cell phones and sing along with them.
Paolo and Miguel and the rest of the band — Patricia Lasaten, Agnes Reoma, Jam Villanueva, Keifer Cabugao, Poch Barretto, Toni Munoz and Andrew de Pano — were at their best element that night. They were also seemingly overwhelmed and surprised at the volume of people who came to the concert.
Throughout the concert, Paolo and the rest of the band expressed constant gratitude to their fans’ love and support.
“Maraming salamat sa mga ‘Liwanag’ namin na pumunta ngayon para sa gabing ito,” he said.
“Mahal namin kayo, Liwanag,” Paolo told the audience.
Ben&Ben then dedicated the hit song Araw-Araw to their devoted fans.
“Para sa bawa’t tao na naniniwala na may tunay na pagmamahal at ganito yung pagmamahal namin sa inyo. Pipiliin namin kayo araw-araw,” Paolo said to wild cheers from the audience.
The band members did fan service, too, when they went to the stage barricade near the fans, and shook their hands and took selfies. Paolo and some of the members even threw some Ben&Ben merchandise to the crowd.
One of the highlights of the concert was a marriage proposal from the audience after they sang Paninindigan Kita.
Before singing the ditty, Paolo told the crowd: “Maraming paraan para mag-sabi ng I love you, at ito yun.” Paninindigan Kita was inspired by the love story of the band’s two members Agnes and Pat.
Another notable performance during the concert was the duet of the band’s other members. Andrew strummed his guitar while Dong sang to the song Pasalubong. Other members were given the time to shine on stage and show off their musical talents.
Agnes showed her prowess in guitars, being the bassist, while Pat displayed her skills in keyboards. Even Andrew (percussionist) and Keifer (violinist), Jam (drummer) and Poch (electric guitarist) had chances to display their musical chops.
At one point in the concert when it started to drizzle, the “Liwanags” were unfazed and simply took out their umbrellas and continued to have fun with the band. This time, Ben&Ben sang Magpahinga Ka Na Lang Muna.
Paolo, seeing the massive crowd, also took note of the safety of everyone, asking them to look out for another, telling them, “Kung may katabi po kayo na nahihirapan huminga dyan, dalhin nyo lang po sa medic sa labas and remember ang gusto po namin ay safe kayo, so please po, maging safe po tayo.”
One of the most memorable performances from the concert was the band’s rendition of Leaves. Before singing the ditty, Paolo spoke about difficulties and travails in life and overcoming them, and the importance of taking a break.
Another most powerful performance that evening was Ben&Ben’s duet with neo-soul artist KZ Tandingan, in which they sang Sabel. KZ’s soaring vocals were matched by the band’s musical prowess.
Another highlight of the evening was the band’s performance with young alt-rock visionaries Zild and Juan Karlo with the song Lunod, a song about mental health. The band also sang their other songs like Upuan, Di Ka Sayang, The Once We Once Loved and Bibingka.
At around 10:45 p.m., Paolo announced that they would sing their last song, You are Home, wherein he coaxed the audience to jump and sing along.
They then left the stage for a while, but came back, this time clad in barongs.
For the encore, they sang Dahilan, We Can Stay Forever and Puhon-Puhon. There might be glitches during the concert, but Ben&Ben gave 101-percent total entertainment performance for three hours. The fans showed their support to the band and the latter reciprocated it back.
Their concert was capped by fireworks, and Ben&Ben couldn’t still believe that they could bring together thousands of people in one venue for the love of their music.