David Foster and Friends – Mandalay Bay Hotel, Las Vegas May 2009

As I waited in line at the entrance of the Mandalay Bay’s event center for the snail paced processing and verification of show tickets, the place started to get warm and stuffy. Surprising for a huge place, but a clear indication of the magnitude of the crowd gathering to see David Foster & Friends. As I looked around to size up the group, I noticed there were a lot of white, black, Asian and European representations, but definitely the majority gracing this occasion was, Filipino. From this type of audience profile and demographics, one could very easily conclude who they were here to see.

In the beginning I thought I would regret having dragged my Dad here and even worried that he might have a stroke, uncomfortably waiting in this stuffy and congested place. All of a sudden this quickly thickening stuffiness smelt like someone lit up a cigar which reminded me of the ones locals in La Union would roll up during the tobacco season. To my pleasant surprise, I saw my Dad speaking to a couple from his generation in that all too familiar Cebuano dialect. Their generation it seemed, was just as excited to see our Charice. I really was amazed and curious what makes our Charice this popular to such a wide range of generations. My Dad didn’t seem to mind this unpleasant wait in line.

After this long and tedious wait and finally at our seats, I felt the excitement and thrill that finally, I was going to see- live, and in person, this phenom who has impressed and garnered the love from the hearts of people from varied races, nationalities and generations and a whole range of social statures. I must confess though that I was getting impatient as David Foster prolonged the agony (of the wait and anticipation) by putting all the other guest performers ahead of Charice. He would tease us even more by falsely hinting every now and then, that the next performer would be Charice. But this seasoned producer managed to keep me calm and prevented me from throwing my shoes and purse at him by distracting and actually entertaining us with a few good looking and quite talented young Canadian singers. He even spiced it up by throwing in a rib tickler in the act of the Signature Dancers. I didn’t realize until then that Indians (from India) could do Michael Jackson so well and have such magnificent hip hop wriggling of their own. At times I thought my Dad was going to reprimand my sister and me for acting so un-lady like when Donny Osmond and Paul Anka added some more life with their sexiness and a hilarious re-write of the words of “I did it my way”. Topping off this climactic build up with the jaw dropping appearance of Cher, “The Cher” appearing in her “K-mart shopping outfit” which was nothing more than a very light, see through, black, body stockings with a few inches of thicker pads to cover her privates. My sister and I both looked at my Dad knowing that Cher is his generation idol and wondered how a sixty year old could remain a hottie like that. And she’s not even Asian (meow...haha).

Finally, our beloved princess was called on to the stage by Cher and David Foster. It is so true and real that our princess has that magic in her. Her explicit voice immediately summoned my neck hairs and goose bumps to attention as she sampled us the wide range of lows and highs of her voice singing “The power of love”. Then Charice’s expression of gratitude to David Foster, her friend, mentor, producer and hero, drove a choking lump of emotions up my throat. She publicly, very sincerely thanked Oprah and Lisa, et al. for their support and belief in her and her dreams. I failed to hold back the beads of tears that rolled down my face as she declared her love for her mom and wished all the other mothers a happy mother’s day. Then another bout of hair raising flushes followed as our princess belted out the incredible breath gasping highs of “All by myself”. After a very short respite from David and Charice as they decided how many more songs to sing, “the little girl” once again wowed the 10,000 plus audience to their feet with her famous medley from “the bodyguard”, soliciting a clear “I 'LABYO' Too Charice!” cheer from an irrepressible fan way out at the end of the concert hall, which echoed our very own true feelings towards our princess. Charice responded quite lovingly with a smile as she continued to finish the song. And finally, as if to fortify her connection with the ladies, Charice jumped off the stage into the audience, dancing with them to the beat of the “national anthem of women - I will survive.” As the song ended, David Foster stood up and once again, with pride and glee presented our little girl shouting her name “Charice” and echoed Charice’s bow and thanks with a loud and clear “Salamat Po!”

I was really touched by the fact that in the end of the concert, as David Foster and all of his guests sang and performed the new American tribute he wrote, our Charice, with Brian Mcknight walked out onto the stage last, as if being presented as the headliners of this concert. With all eyes of co-performers on Charice, I wonder what this meant. Why was our princess held back and reserved for the finale of the show. If this isn’t saying that our princess is already an international superstar, maybe I’ve got this part of showbiz protocol all wrong and I must be from a different planet. But of course, as life on this earth is, what is good if there is no evil? What is an impeccable show if there are no critics? We can always expect those because that is life. But for me, I was really pleased and so satisfied to be able to see, feel, experience and verify for myself that our little girl princess truly has the magic and the power that so many have been raving about.

As a bonus, on our way out and as we were distracted by this commotion caused by some good looking guy holding up a special edition California License Plate with the name “CHARICE”, we bumped into our cousin Martin who was hurriedly trying to get away. After swift kisses and a few respectful words to my Dad, Martin disappeared with a short haired female on his tail. The evening was great, heart warming and definitely worth it for us. My Dad, though he could have spared himself all this inconvenience and discomfort, walked with us into the casino with a smile on his face as if he’d already won. My sister and I on the other hand were still trying to figure out our emotions after that spectacular encounter with CHARICE - LIVE AND IN PERSON. For all of you who weren’t able to attend, I hope my experience shared with you something next to being there. Of course, the videos take you to another level.

Jessica86sarmiento