~take me as i am
So, last weekend was probably one of the best weekends of my life. :DDD
Let me start at the beginning: when rumblings of Dave going on an Asian tour started surfacing, I was pretty damn excited and fervently hoped that finally he would come to Singapore. Alas, it was not to be. There would only be three stops on his Asian tour: Manila, Cebu and Jakarta. So I wasn’t really a happy camper and was ambivalent about travelling (again!) to see him.
But I knew I had to at least see one show so I thought the Manila stop would be it. I have family in Manila so I would be able to stay with my aunt and things would be quite convenient for me. Then fellow Daveaholic, Mars, who planned to go to all three shows kinda prodded me into going to the other shows. I checked out flights and the Manila-Cebu flight was so cheap that I thought that I might as well go. I ruled Jakarta out for several reasons; I thought it would be a little too crazy, I wasn’t sure if I could get that many days off work and I thought 2 out of 3 concerts would already be sufficient to tide me over.
Thanks to Mars’ friends in the Philippines, our concert tickets were easily settled. We got 5th and 4th row seats at the Manila and Cebu shows respectively. And so all I had to do was settle my flights and the accommodation in Cebu and I was all set.
Then I heard about the meet & greet contests. I was ambivalent about taking part in the first one cos you basically had to declare your fannishness on FB and state why you should win and well, my Dave-love is public... but not that public. And I kinda didn’t want my colleagues to find out what I was up to, haha. Luckily, there was a second wave of M&G passes which would be open to all VIP tix holders (that’s us!) and all you had to do was be the first 20/10 to email them your contact details on 10 Jul, 9pm. I enlisted help from bambistarlight for the Manila M&G while I did the submission for the Cebu one.
AND I WON BOTH!!!!
I was so crazy excited when I found the emails in my inbox; it felt really surreal cos I wasn’t really expecting the chance to meet him. As it turned out, I owe bambistarlight BIG TIME for the Manila M&G. :DD
There were about 30pax at the Manila VIP M&G and they called it a “VIP M&G” for a reason: we actually got an individual photo with Dave and a little time to talk to him one-on-one. It was pretty damn awesome!
Me and my VIP pass!
I was really super nervous, and I can’t even tell you why. But my ice-queen facade still held up over the nerves hahaha, which was good. I confess that my heart absolutely skipped a beat (so corny!) when I first locked eyes with him and he smiled *__* I don’t know why, but this man just does it for me. On so many levels. Probably on all levels.
NNGHHHH HOW HANDSOME IS MY HUSBAND?? *__*
So I said hi and asked him how he’s doing, if he’s jetlagged. And I was probably just staring at his stupidly cute face the entire time. Then I made sure to introduce myself and when he said, “Nice to meet you, Liza” (while shaking my hand and looking right at me), I legit almost wanted to die on the spot. NNGHHHHH *flails*
Then I said something about having to come from Singapore just to see him (I think I literally said, “Dude, I had to come all the way from Singapore just to see you!” HAHAHA), to which he asked how far away it is (about 3 hours) and then he very nicely thanked me. LOL
I whipped out the photo of us from 2008 and told him that I had actually met him back then and HE WAS SO FASCINATED BY THE PHOTO. He kept looking at it (at his younger self) and he remembered that day (of course he would, he doesn’t wear a suit very often!) and kept exclaiming how young he looked. HAHAHAH! He kept joking about being older now, and having grey hair. (WTF COOK. I SENSE SOMEONE IS NERVOUS ABOUT TURNING 30.) I said something about how he looked really sharp that day, and then hurriedly said, “Not that you don’t look good now” AND THEN I PATTED HIS ARM. HAHAHAHAHA OMG ON HINDSIGHT THAT WAS FRIKIN’ FUNNY.
This is Dave staring intently at his younger self LOLOL:
Anyway, he signed the pic and said “Well, it’s nice to meet you again.” (*MELTS*) and then we posed for our tres cute pic together:
:DDDD
And then, I went for it and hugged him! LOLOLOL WOOT WOOT (He felt nice, sighhh) I thanked him and said something about looking forward to the show and that was that. :)))
The whole M&G was actually really great. Everyone was very relaxed and while people were excited to meet him, everyone was relatively calm and not-crazy. I mean, there were the “I love you!” exclamations, squealing and throwing-themselves-at-him stuff but it was all pretty calm considering. Some funny moments were a fan telling Dave “You’re so squishy” after hugging him (girl, that’s not what a guy wants to hear), Dave writing an excuse letter for a fan who skipped school to see him, and my new friend, Vera, who got 5 hugs from Dave for her friends. HAHAHAHA.
The bro-in-law, Andrew, was also there. I later found out he now works as Dave’s PA/stage manager haha so cute. He really looks a lot like Dave. I wanted to grab a pic with him but it just never felt like the right time, sadly.
After that we were briefly ushered out so that the media could come in for the press con but once everyone was settled, they let us in so that we could listen to the press con. I just love listening to that man talk. ^__^
So Friday was the M&G and Saturday was the concert at the Araneta Coliseum. We found out that people generally rush to the front at the Araneta and seeing the huge gap between the barrier and the first row, I could understand why. It was practically an invitation to rush the front! Once the opening act came on (a very lacklustre Pinoy boyband), we got up and went straight to front and centre. All the while I was hoping that security wouldn’t chase us back to our seats. But the crowd at the front steadily grew and security pretty much left us alone.
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There I was, at my first real David Cook concert... front and centre, about 2m away from his mic. HOLYYY CRAPPPPPP. It felt so unreal. I think the weirdest thing was being so close and being able to catch every smile, every raised eyebrow, see the look in his eyes and see all the mannerisms that I associate with him up close and live. It felt like a dream *__*
I FREAKIN' LOVE THIS PIC
To me, the sound system and mix was a bit spotty; it sounded a bit off to me, except for the times when the band was dialled down and you could just hear him. So, it’s no surprise that the two stand-outs of the night for me were Goodbye To The Girl (beautiful!) and Fade Into Me (bloody fuckin’ beautiful!). His voice was just NNNGHHHHHH. I wanted to die against the barrier and I would’ve died happy haha.
The crowd was kinda batshit crazy. Everyone around me was capturing stuff on their camera and there was lots and lots of crazy-ass loud screaming from the girls around me. It felt like I was at a boyband concert O__o Me, I was just lounging against the barrier and staring googly-eyed at him ahahahaha UGHHH HIS STUPIDLY CUTE FACE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, TMTHHHHH
The madness of the DC fandom was underscored at the end of the show was pandemonium broke out for the picks/setlists/water bottles. IT WAS FREAKY. People were pushing and shoving and screaming like fishwives to get the stuff... YIIIIIIKES. I honestly didn’t know that it was that cray.
Dave and band were originally on the same flight as us to Cebu but sadly, they were moved to an earlier flight on another carrier. Bummer for us, but yay for another friend, Anthony, who was travelling from Singapore to Cebu and he caught them at the Cebu airport!
One upside was that I made friends with one of the official photogs (he recognised me from the M&G and I remembered smiling at him at the concert cos the media were right in front of us before the show started). And he said he’ll give us the high-res files of all our pics with Dave yayyyyyy \\o//
Once we arrived in Cebu, we checked in at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino which was also the concert venue. After lunch, we spotted Andy and Monty at the hotel bar and went over to say hello. Monty is freakin’ HILARIOUS and Andy is still a shy lil Bambi. I totally wanted to snap a pic with Andy but the situation just felt SO AWKS. I am forever awks with Andy... I kinda dunno how to approach cos he seems SO SHY.
We went up to our room so that Mars could get her pic with the band (she wanted to get all their autographs) and when we went back to the lobby, Nick had joined them. So she got three signatures!
We went off to the mall to shop and eat... and also to get a look-see at the signing Dave was doing. Both Dave and Andrew were wearing t-shirts and caps and I swear, from afar, it’s pretty easy to mistake them. (Which apparently the crowd did when Andrew first came onstage LOL)
Once we were back at the hotel, it was a mad rush to get ready for the Cebu M&G. When we went down to the lobby, we found the band (yes, all four of them) at the bar with fans. SCORE! So Mars got Devin to sign her pic and I finally (FINALLY!) got a pic with Skibby. :D (I love Skibby and his Bambi eyes) I also got a pic with Nick (he seemed quiet but was really nice... and cute too) and Mars and I got a pic with our fave garden gnome, Monty. LOLOL Monty is HILARIOUSSS. I kinda appreciate Monty a lot more after meeting him. He was giving me grief about my lens-less glasses HAHAHAAH SO FUNNY MONTY. I don’t know why I didn’t take a pic with Devin; at one point, he walked past me and we smiled at each other BUT SOMEHOW IT DIDN’T OCCUR TO ME TO GRAB A PIC. I regret it now.
With Skibby, yayyyy
Nick, the cute pocket-sized drummer
Mars & I with our fave garden gnome, Monty hehehe
We also met Dave’s tour manager, Matty, who recognised me from the Manila M&G and was like “Hey, it’s you again” and then he shook his head and said something about me being a big fan. NO SHIT SHERLOCK. HAHAHAH
After that, we made our way to the M&G venue... only to wait almost an hour for Dave to arrive zzzzzz. But it gave us time to prep our stuff. Mars had made a card for Dave that we had to write in and I had this idea to give him song requests (and bribe him with an SG$10 note, haha) cos there were some songs that we were dying to hear (most notably, Lie).
The letter to Dave with our song requests LOLOL
I was still kinda hoping that we would each get individual time and pix with Dave but once time stretched on and he still hadn’t arrived, I knew the chance of that happening was slim. Especially when we heard the organisers talking about how the meet would happen in groups and fans would be ushered out through the back door after their turn with him.
When Dave eventually came, there was no fanfare (no announcement at all!); he just walked in and it took a few seconds for the crowd to respond. HAHAHAHA.
And then the madness began.
They ushered fans to the front according to the row they were sitting at, so it ended up about 4-5 people per group. And it was basically, go up to the front to Dave, a pic was taken and then bye-bye. Then my alarm bells started ringing and I was freaking out as I did the "math": Mars had a card to give him, I had the song requests and a gift and there were 2 other girls in our group (who also turned out to have gifts for him) AND it was only a group pic. So as we were waiting for our turn, I told Mars, “You take his right, I take his left” and since we were the first two in line for our group, I knew that if we planned it we could maximise our time with Dave.
The group before us was a bit chaotic; Anthony had a gift for Dave and so did the 3 girls in the group. It was basically people vying for his attention in a limited span of time. So, I told myself: okay, it’s ON!
Mars was first to greet Dave and there was a glimmer of recognition in his eyes (she had met him at the Manila airport when they first arrived). And then twas me and he smiled and said “Hello again!” (Me On The Inside: OMFG !!!!!!)and then we shook hands. I swear to God, I have never heard two sweeter words in my life. *__* I WAS ON FRIGGIN’ CLOUD NINE. That alone was worth the trip, I tell ya. (I’m a total sucker, yes.)
This is where things get a little blurry in my mind (cos it all happened so fast!): at some point, Mars gave her card to Dave. He exclaimed over it and when he opened to see a lot of words (aka the notes from Mars, Anthony and me), he said something like “Do I have to read this now? (pause) I’ll read it later.” LOLOLOL OH DAVE. And then I wanted to talk to him and give him the stuff I had but the organisers were calling for the pic to be taken so I told him, “No wait, picture time!” HAHAHHA.
So then, I put my arm around him AND HE PUT HIS AROUND ME YAYYYY ^__^ It’s so hilarious on the video (yes, there is video LOL FOREVER) cos you can see Mars & I basically snuggling up on either side of Dave for the photo HAHAHAHHA WE ARE MADE OF WIN. Even better, we also did not budge from his side the entire time we were with him. WAHAHAHAHA WE ARE TOTALLY DAVE!HOGGERS
Anyway, after the pic, the two other girls in our group (yes, there were two other people in our group... on hindsight, I kinda feel bad BUT A WIFE’S GOTTA DO WHAT A WIFE’S GOTTA DO!) gave Dave their gift. And it turned out they were the ones at the Manila concert who had a sign requesting Dave to play Freebird (which he did, like one line) and they gave him 30pesos which is what they promised to pay him if he sang. HAHAHAHAH HILARIOUSSSS. And Dave laughed his stupidly cute laugh and I was just *___* They also showed him a pic of him in that pink plaid shirt that every fan knows and loves, alongside a pic of Darren Criss wearing a similar shirt and said something about how he should sing with him? (Again, hazy memory, sorry) Dave asked, “Who is that?” LOLOLOL and we had to tell him it was Darren from Glee and then he signed the pic.
By that point, I knew the organisers were just itching to get us moving so I quickly jumped into the convo and gave him the song requests to which he said, “We’ll try our best” and then I went into a super fast explanation of the gift I had for him. And bless his heart, he listened (and had that intent expression he does when he’s seriously listening, awww) and may have said something like “That’s awesome” (or maybe I’m projecting haha) and I wished him a happy early 30th and he smiled and the whole entire time I was just :DDD and feeling so light and happy and sighhhhh. I LOVEEEEEE YOU DAVIDDDDD
Then they really were ushering us away and I patted him on the arm (WTF IS UP WITH ME AND PATTING HIM ON THE ARM??! HAHAHAHA) and said something like, “Have a good show” and then boom, it was done.
Here's the group pic, with Mars & I snuggled up to Dave LOL:
And I love that when I crop it, it looks like it was just me and him LOLOLOL:
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Afterwards, I jokingly said that the whole thing was like speed-dating; 4 girls clamouring for his attention during a very limited period of time. It’s like he’s the Bachelor and we each have 10 seconds of time with him and we all want it. It was so chaotic and, on hindsight, pretty damn amusing. Especially for our group cos we all had stuff for him, and all wanted to talk to him. LOL POOR DAVE. But with some strategy and the don’t-back-down attitude, we did most of what we wanted to do. (I wanted a hug but felt dicey about throwing myself at him... damn my non-petiteness!)
At the concert, our seats were like fifth row from the front. We contemplated rushing to the front, but there was no barrier to the stage and we weren’t sure how the security in the venue would be. The Pinoy fans told us that this venue is generally more sedate than the Araneta. So we stayed in our seats during the first three songs but all bets were off once Dave asked the crowd to get on their feet. We rushed to the centre and scored a pretty sweet spot a few metres from the front. It was kinda uncomfortable though cos some people were pushing, and the people sitting down at 2nd row were sniping at Mars to move cos she was blocking their view. But we persevered, and held our ground for the entire show.
Dave sounded F-AMAZIIIIIIIING in Cebu. The moment he sang the opening lines of Circadian, I was just like HOLY SHIT DAVID COOK!!! I don’t know what it was: the sound system, the mix, that he was probably a little more rested. But whatever it was, his voice sounded absolutely beautiful that night. Even better than Manila, IMO. The texture and timbre of his voice was just NNNGHHHHH. It was exactly what I imagined it would be like and then some. His voice is just so evocative, especially on slower songs or when the band isn’t at full-speed.
The lights during the show were pretty damn awesome!
Goodbye To The Girl was SO BEAUTIFUL. I was just clutching my heart the entire time and smiling stupidly to myself haha. AND FADE INTO ME OHHHHH MY FUCKIN’ GODDDDDDD. *FLAILS FOREVER* (a) HIS VOICE WAS JUST SO EMOTIONAL AND LOVELY AND JUST *MELTS* and then (b) HE UNPLUGGED HIS GUITAR AND STEPPED AWAY FROM THE MIC!!!!
OHHH MY FUCKIN’ GODDDDDDDDDD
I legit grabbed Mars’ hand and just held on for dear life.
BUT THEN IT WAS ALL RUINED. RUINED, I TELL YA!!! By “fans” (they were definitely fans cos they knew the lyrics) who didn’t have the good sense to SHUT UP THE FUCK UP SO THAT WE COULD HEAR DAVE SING. NO, NO, THEY HAD TO SING ALONG AT THE TOP OF THEIR FUCKIN’ LUNGS.
ASKFNJKDGHHAGDAHKLGALFKA
I WAS SO DAMN ANGRY, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I had half a mind to just scream “SHUT UP, FUCKERS!” but I was standing behind Imogen who was videoing and I thought that wouldn’t be something nice to be captured on video. So we had to deal with stupid fucks SINGING ALONG when all we wanted to hear was Dave’s pure beautiful voice without a mic -__-
It could’ve been an epic epic moment, but the dumbfuck crowd fuckin’ ruined it. SADNESS FOREVERRRRR.
Nonetheless, the little snippets of him that we could hear were WONDERFUL. I also really liked his voice on ABMB. In Cebu, for whatever reason, it wasn’t a duet so he sang the whole thing by himself and it kinda brought me back to the Idol days. The grit in his voice really plays well in the song and I enjoyed this perf much more than I did the duet in Manila.
Can you tell that I love him with his acoustic guitar? ^__^
OH OH OH. Something else that I ABSOLULTELY LOVED is the new song, From Here To Zero, which he played at both Manila and Cebu. OH SO GOOD! The drums, the guitars, the melody, the (sappy) lyrics. I mean, Dave singing, “I’ll be all the love you need”: WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE? *__*
The Cebu setlist was a little shorter than Manila (minus two songs, I think- Declaration and Bar-ba-sol) and other than playing one different cover, it was exactly the same. Kinda disappointed cos I wanted to hear other songs live (like Take Me As I Am or Time Marches On or Lie!). The mood (or rather his mood) was a bit more playful in Cebu so some of the banter was really cute.
Also, I have a shameful confession: I may or may not have screamed “Love you, David!” at some point when there was a quiet pause. LOLOLOL OH SELF, THE DEPTHS THAT YOU HAVE SUNK FOR THIS MAN.
SPEAKING OF WHAT DEPTHS I'VE SUNK: after the Cebu concert, we bumped into Ferdie the photog and he asked us to say a few words to the camera. And you know, I absolutely hate that kinda stuff and will go out of my way not to have my fannishness recorded for the entire world to see. BUT NO, NOT THAT NIGHT. NOT WHEN IT COMES TO DAVID COOK. Mars & I very happily (and without any coercion!) said a short message to Dave into the camera and we very likely sounded high and/or completely love-struck. HAHAHAHA! We even had to do 3 takes cos of camera issues but at no point did we say, no this is not a good idea. We were just *__* and very willingly declared our love for him on video. OH GOD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, DAVID COOK??!? *HIDES FACE* (Ferdie said he was compiling videos from fans which would be hopefully included in a video package that they would eventually give to Dave hahahaha ohgodwhyyy Mars joked about how he'd be like, oh hey it's the two creepy girls from Singapore HAHAHAH //o\\)
So that was my epicly awesome weekend in the Philippines. :))) It was absolutely worth it and I’m SO GLAD I went because there are so many great moments and memories to savour. Once I got back home, I went through Dave-withdrawals, knowing that the Jakarta concert was going on and that I coulda gone, had I wanted. I actually watched the ustream, that’s how addicted I was.
It was a real treat not just seeing Dave in concert twice, but also getting to meet him (again) twice! I was really very lucky to win both M&Gs and then for him to remember me, though he probably met like over a hundred people in the span of those few days, is pretty dang freakin' AWESOME. :DDD I will remember that "Hello again" for-freakin'-EVERRRR. He really is such a lovely, lovely man. So gracious and sincere and I just get really great vibes from him. I still love him, and I probably love him even more now. Definitely, absolutely still my future husband <3333
Let me start at the beginning: when rumblings of Dave going on an Asian tour started surfacing, I was pretty damn excited and fervently hoped that finally he would come to Singapore. Alas, it was not to be. There would only be three stops on his Asian tour: Manila, Cebu and Jakarta. So I wasn’t really a happy camper and was ambivalent about travelling (again!) to see him.
But I knew I had to at least see one show so I thought the Manila stop would be it. I have family in Manila so I would be able to stay with my aunt and things would be quite convenient for me. Then fellow Daveaholic, Mars, who planned to go to all three shows kinda prodded me into going to the other shows. I checked out flights and the Manila-Cebu flight was so cheap that I thought that I might as well go. I ruled Jakarta out for several reasons; I thought it would be a little too crazy, I wasn’t sure if I could get that many days off work and I thought 2 out of 3 concerts would already be sufficient to tide me over.
Thanks to Mars’ friends in the Philippines, our concert tickets were easily settled. We got 5th and 4th row seats at the Manila and Cebu shows respectively. And so all I had to do was settle my flights and the accommodation in Cebu and I was all set.
Then I heard about the meet & greet contests. I was ambivalent about taking part in the first one cos you basically had to declare your fannishness on FB and state why you should win and well, my Dave-love is public... but not that public. And I kinda didn’t want my colleagues to find out what I was up to, haha. Luckily, there was a second wave of M&G passes which would be open to all VIP tix holders (that’s us!) and all you had to do was be the first 20/10 to email them your contact details on 10 Jul, 9pm. I enlisted help from bambistarlight for the Manila M&G while I did the submission for the Cebu one.
AND I WON BOTH!!!!
I was so crazy excited when I found the emails in my inbox; it felt really surreal cos I wasn’t really expecting the chance to meet him. As it turned out, I owe bambistarlight BIG TIME for the Manila M&G. :DD
There were about 30pax at the Manila VIP M&G and they called it a “VIP M&G” for a reason: we actually got an individual photo with Dave and a little time to talk to him one-on-one. It was pretty damn awesome!
Me and my VIP pass!
I was really super nervous, and I can’t even tell you why. But my ice-queen facade still held up over the nerves hahaha, which was good. I confess that my heart absolutely skipped a beat (so corny!) when I first locked eyes with him and he smiled *__* I don’t know why, but this man just does it for me. On so many levels. Probably on all levels.
NNGHHHH HOW HANDSOME IS MY HUSBAND?? *__*
So I said hi and asked him how he’s doing, if he’s jetlagged. And I was probably just staring at his stupidly cute face the entire time. Then I made sure to introduce myself and when he said, “Nice to meet you, Liza” (while shaking my hand and looking right at me), I legit almost wanted to die on the spot. NNGHHHHH *flails*
Then I said something about having to come from Singapore just to see him (I think I literally said, “Dude, I had to come all the way from Singapore just to see you!” HAHAHA), to which he asked how far away it is (about 3 hours) and then he very nicely thanked me. LOL
I whipped out the photo of us from 2008 and told him that I had actually met him back then and HE WAS SO FASCINATED BY THE PHOTO. He kept looking at it (at his younger self) and he remembered that day (of course he would, he doesn’t wear a suit very often!) and kept exclaiming how young he looked. HAHAHAH! He kept joking about being older now, and having grey hair. (WTF COOK. I SENSE SOMEONE IS NERVOUS ABOUT TURNING 30.) I said something about how he looked really sharp that day, and then hurriedly said, “Not that you don’t look good now” AND THEN I PATTED HIS ARM. HAHAHAHAHA OMG ON HINDSIGHT THAT WAS FRIKIN’ FUNNY.
This is Dave staring intently at his younger self LOLOL:
Anyway, he signed the pic and said “Well, it’s nice to meet you again.” (*MELTS*) and then we posed for our tres cute pic together:
:DDDD
And then, I went for it and hugged him! LOLOLOL WOOT WOOT (He felt nice, sighhh) I thanked him and said something about looking forward to the show and that was that. :)))
The whole M&G was actually really great. Everyone was very relaxed and while people were excited to meet him, everyone was relatively calm and not-crazy. I mean, there were the “I love you!” exclamations, squealing and throwing-themselves-at-him stuff but it was all pretty calm considering. Some funny moments were a fan telling Dave “You’re so squishy” after hugging him (girl, that’s not what a guy wants to hear), Dave writing an excuse letter for a fan who skipped school to see him, and my new friend, Vera, who got 5 hugs from Dave for her friends. HAHAHAHA.
The bro-in-law, Andrew, was also there. I later found out he now works as Dave’s PA/stage manager haha so cute. He really looks a lot like Dave. I wanted to grab a pic with him but it just never felt like the right time, sadly.
After that we were briefly ushered out so that the media could come in for the press con but once everyone was settled, they let us in so that we could listen to the press con. I just love listening to that man talk. ^__^
So Friday was the M&G and Saturday was the concert at the Araneta Coliseum. We found out that people generally rush to the front at the Araneta and seeing the huge gap between the barrier and the first row, I could understand why. It was practically an invitation to rush the front! Once the opening act came on (a very lacklustre Pinoy boyband), we got up and went straight to front and centre. All the while I was hoping that security wouldn’t chase us back to our seats. But the crowd at the front steadily grew and security pretty much left us alone.
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There I was, at my first real David Cook concert... front and centre, about 2m away from his mic. HOLYYY CRAPPPPPP. It felt so unreal. I think the weirdest thing was being so close and being able to catch every smile, every raised eyebrow, see the look in his eyes and see all the mannerisms that I associate with him up close and live. It felt like a dream *__*
I FREAKIN' LOVE THIS PIC
To me, the sound system and mix was a bit spotty; it sounded a bit off to me, except for the times when the band was dialled down and you could just hear him. So, it’s no surprise that the two stand-outs of the night for me were Goodbye To The Girl (beautiful!) and Fade Into Me (bloody fuckin’ beautiful!). His voice was just NNNGHHHHHH. I wanted to die against the barrier and I would’ve died happy haha.
The crowd was kinda batshit crazy. Everyone around me was capturing stuff on their camera and there was lots and lots of crazy-ass loud screaming from the girls around me. It felt like I was at a boyband concert O__o Me, I was just lounging against the barrier and staring googly-eyed at him ahahahaha UGHHH HIS STUPIDLY CUTE FACE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, TMTHHHHH
The madness of the DC fandom was underscored at the end of the show was pandemonium broke out for the picks/setlists/water bottles. IT WAS FREAKY. People were pushing and shoving and screaming like fishwives to get the stuff... YIIIIIIKES. I honestly didn’t know that it was that cray.
Dave and band were originally on the same flight as us to Cebu but sadly, they were moved to an earlier flight on another carrier. Bummer for us, but yay for another friend, Anthony, who was travelling from Singapore to Cebu and he caught them at the Cebu airport!
One upside was that I made friends with one of the official photogs (he recognised me from the M&G and I remembered smiling at him at the concert cos the media were right in front of us before the show started). And he said he’ll give us the high-res files of all our pics with Dave yayyyyyy \\o//
Once we arrived in Cebu, we checked in at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino which was also the concert venue. After lunch, we spotted Andy and Monty at the hotel bar and went over to say hello. Monty is freakin’ HILARIOUS and Andy is still a shy lil Bambi. I totally wanted to snap a pic with Andy but the situation just felt SO AWKS. I am forever awks with Andy... I kinda dunno how to approach cos he seems SO SHY.
We went up to our room so that Mars could get her pic with the band (she wanted to get all their autographs) and when we went back to the lobby, Nick had joined them. So she got three signatures!
We went off to the mall to shop and eat... and also to get a look-see at the signing Dave was doing. Both Dave and Andrew were wearing t-shirts and caps and I swear, from afar, it’s pretty easy to mistake them. (Which apparently the crowd did when Andrew first came onstage LOL)
Once we were back at the hotel, it was a mad rush to get ready for the Cebu M&G. When we went down to the lobby, we found the band (yes, all four of them) at the bar with fans. SCORE! So Mars got Devin to sign her pic and I finally (FINALLY!) got a pic with Skibby. :D (I love Skibby and his Bambi eyes) I also got a pic with Nick (he seemed quiet but was really nice... and cute too) and Mars and I got a pic with our fave garden gnome, Monty. LOLOL Monty is HILARIOUSSS. I kinda appreciate Monty a lot more after meeting him. He was giving me grief about my lens-less glasses HAHAHAAH SO FUNNY MONTY. I don’t know why I didn’t take a pic with Devin; at one point, he walked past me and we smiled at each other BUT SOMEHOW IT DIDN’T OCCUR TO ME TO GRAB A PIC. I regret it now.
With Skibby, yayyyy
Nick, the cute pocket-sized drummer
Mars & I with our fave garden gnome, Monty hehehe
We also met Dave’s tour manager, Matty, who recognised me from the Manila M&G and was like “Hey, it’s you again” and then he shook his head and said something about me being a big fan. NO SHIT SHERLOCK. HAHAHAH
After that, we made our way to the M&G venue... only to wait almost an hour for Dave to arrive zzzzzz. But it gave us time to prep our stuff. Mars had made a card for Dave that we had to write in and I had this idea to give him song requests (and bribe him with an SG$10 note, haha) cos there were some songs that we were dying to hear (most notably, Lie).
The letter to Dave with our song requests LOLOL
I was still kinda hoping that we would each get individual time and pix with Dave but once time stretched on and he still hadn’t arrived, I knew the chance of that happening was slim. Especially when we heard the organisers talking about how the meet would happen in groups and fans would be ushered out through the back door after their turn with him.
When Dave eventually came, there was no fanfare (no announcement at all!); he just walked in and it took a few seconds for the crowd to respond. HAHAHAHA.
And then the madness began.
They ushered fans to the front according to the row they were sitting at, so it ended up about 4-5 people per group. And it was basically, go up to the front to Dave, a pic was taken and then bye-bye. Then my alarm bells started ringing and I was freaking out as I did the "math": Mars had a card to give him, I had the song requests and a gift and there were 2 other girls in our group (who also turned out to have gifts for him) AND it was only a group pic. So as we were waiting for our turn, I told Mars, “You take his right, I take his left” and since we were the first two in line for our group, I knew that if we planned it we could maximise our time with Dave.
The group before us was a bit chaotic; Anthony had a gift for Dave and so did the 3 girls in the group. It was basically people vying for his attention in a limited span of time. So, I told myself: okay, it’s ON!
Mars was first to greet Dave and there was a glimmer of recognition in his eyes (she had met him at the Manila airport when they first arrived). And then twas me and he smiled and said “Hello again!” (Me On The Inside: OMFG !!!!!!)and then we shook hands. I swear to God, I have never heard two sweeter words in my life. *__* I WAS ON FRIGGIN’ CLOUD NINE. That alone was worth the trip, I tell ya. (I’m a total sucker, yes.)
This is where things get a little blurry in my mind (cos it all happened so fast!): at some point, Mars gave her card to Dave. He exclaimed over it and when he opened to see a lot of words (aka the notes from Mars, Anthony and me), he said something like “Do I have to read this now? (pause) I’ll read it later.” LOLOLOL OH DAVE. And then I wanted to talk to him and give him the stuff I had but the organisers were calling for the pic to be taken so I told him, “No wait, picture time!” HAHAHHA.
So then, I put my arm around him AND HE PUT HIS AROUND ME YAYYYY ^__^ It’s so hilarious on the video (yes, there is video LOL FOREVER) cos you can see Mars & I basically snuggling up on either side of Dave for the photo HAHAHAHHA WE ARE MADE OF WIN. Even better, we also did not budge from his side the entire time we were with him. WAHAHAHAHA WE ARE TOTALLY DAVE!HOGGERS
Anyway, after the pic, the two other girls in our group (yes, there were two other people in our group... on hindsight, I kinda feel bad BUT A WIFE’S GOTTA DO WHAT A WIFE’S GOTTA DO!) gave Dave their gift. And it turned out they were the ones at the Manila concert who had a sign requesting Dave to play Freebird (which he did, like one line) and they gave him 30pesos which is what they promised to pay him if he sang. HAHAHAHAH HILARIOUSSSS. And Dave laughed his stupidly cute laugh and I was just *___* They also showed him a pic of him in that pink plaid shirt that every fan knows and loves, alongside a pic of Darren Criss wearing a similar shirt and said something about how he should sing with him? (Again, hazy memory, sorry) Dave asked, “Who is that?” LOLOLOL and we had to tell him it was Darren from Glee and then he signed the pic.
By that point, I knew the organisers were just itching to get us moving so I quickly jumped into the convo and gave him the song requests to which he said, “We’ll try our best” and then I went into a super fast explanation of the gift I had for him. And bless his heart, he listened (and had that intent expression he does when he’s seriously listening, awww) and may have said something like “That’s awesome” (or maybe I’m projecting haha) and I wished him a happy early 30th and he smiled and the whole entire time I was just :DDD and feeling so light and happy and sighhhhh. I LOVEEEEEE YOU DAVIDDDDD
Then they really were ushering us away and I patted him on the arm (WTF IS UP WITH ME AND PATTING HIM ON THE ARM??! HAHAHAHA) and said something like, “Have a good show” and then boom, it was done.
Here's the group pic, with Mars & I snuggled up to Dave LOL:
And I love that when I crop it, it looks like it was just me and him LOLOLOL:
\\\o///
Afterwards, I jokingly said that the whole thing was like speed-dating; 4 girls clamouring for his attention during a very limited period of time. It’s like he’s the Bachelor and we each have 10 seconds of time with him and we all want it. It was so chaotic and, on hindsight, pretty damn amusing. Especially for our group cos we all had stuff for him, and all wanted to talk to him. LOL POOR DAVE. But with some strategy and the don’t-back-down attitude, we did most of what we wanted to do. (I wanted a hug but felt dicey about throwing myself at him... damn my non-petiteness!)
At the concert, our seats were like fifth row from the front. We contemplated rushing to the front, but there was no barrier to the stage and we weren’t sure how the security in the venue would be. The Pinoy fans told us that this venue is generally more sedate than the Araneta. So we stayed in our seats during the first three songs but all bets were off once Dave asked the crowd to get on their feet. We rushed to the centre and scored a pretty sweet spot a few metres from the front. It was kinda uncomfortable though cos some people were pushing, and the people sitting down at 2nd row were sniping at Mars to move cos she was blocking their view. But we persevered, and held our ground for the entire show.
Dave sounded F-AMAZIIIIIIIING in Cebu. The moment he sang the opening lines of Circadian, I was just like HOLY SHIT DAVID COOK!!! I don’t know what it was: the sound system, the mix, that he was probably a little more rested. But whatever it was, his voice sounded absolutely beautiful that night. Even better than Manila, IMO. The texture and timbre of his voice was just NNNGHHHHH. It was exactly what I imagined it would be like and then some. His voice is just so evocative, especially on slower songs or when the band isn’t at full-speed.
The lights during the show were pretty damn awesome!
Goodbye To The Girl was SO BEAUTIFUL. I was just clutching my heart the entire time and smiling stupidly to myself haha. AND FADE INTO ME OHHHHH MY FUCKIN’ GODDDDDDD. *FLAILS FOREVER* (a) HIS VOICE WAS JUST SO EMOTIONAL AND LOVELY AND JUST *MELTS* and then (b) HE UNPLUGGED HIS GUITAR AND STEPPED AWAY FROM THE MIC!!!!
OHHH MY FUCKIN’ GODDDDDDDDDD
I legit grabbed Mars’ hand and just held on for dear life.
BUT THEN IT WAS ALL RUINED. RUINED, I TELL YA!!! By “fans” (they were definitely fans cos they knew the lyrics) who didn’t have the good sense to SHUT UP THE FUCK UP SO THAT WE COULD HEAR DAVE SING. NO, NO, THEY HAD TO SING ALONG AT THE TOP OF THEIR FUCKIN’ LUNGS.
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I WAS SO DAMN ANGRY, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I had half a mind to just scream “SHUT UP, FUCKERS!” but I was standing behind Imogen who was videoing and I thought that wouldn’t be something nice to be captured on video. So we had to deal with stupid fucks SINGING ALONG when all we wanted to hear was Dave’s pure beautiful voice without a mic -__-
It could’ve been an epic epic moment, but the dumbfuck crowd fuckin’ ruined it. SADNESS FOREVERRRRR.
Nonetheless, the little snippets of him that we could hear were WONDERFUL. I also really liked his voice on ABMB. In Cebu, for whatever reason, it wasn’t a duet so he sang the whole thing by himself and it kinda brought me back to the Idol days. The grit in his voice really plays well in the song and I enjoyed this perf much more than I did the duet in Manila.
Can you tell that I love him with his acoustic guitar? ^__^
OH OH OH. Something else that I ABSOLULTELY LOVED is the new song, From Here To Zero, which he played at both Manila and Cebu. OH SO GOOD! The drums, the guitars, the melody, the (sappy) lyrics. I mean, Dave singing, “I’ll be all the love you need”: WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE? *__*
The Cebu setlist was a little shorter than Manila (minus two songs, I think- Declaration and Bar-ba-sol) and other than playing one different cover, it was exactly the same. Kinda disappointed cos I wanted to hear other songs live (like Take Me As I Am or Time Marches On or Lie!). The mood (or rather his mood) was a bit more playful in Cebu so some of the banter was really cute.
Also, I have a shameful confession: I may or may not have screamed “Love you, David!” at some point when there was a quiet pause. LOLOLOL OH SELF, THE DEPTHS THAT YOU HAVE SUNK FOR THIS MAN.
SPEAKING OF WHAT DEPTHS I'VE SUNK: after the Cebu concert, we bumped into Ferdie the photog and he asked us to say a few words to the camera. And you know, I absolutely hate that kinda stuff and will go out of my way not to have my fannishness recorded for the entire world to see. BUT NO, NOT THAT NIGHT. NOT WHEN IT COMES TO DAVID COOK. Mars & I very happily (and without any coercion!) said a short message to Dave into the camera and we very likely sounded high and/or completely love-struck. HAHAHAHA! We even had to do 3 takes cos of camera issues but at no point did we say, no this is not a good idea. We were just *__* and very willingly declared our love for him on video. OH GOD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, DAVID COOK??!? *HIDES FACE* (Ferdie said he was compiling videos from fans which would be hopefully included in a video package that they would eventually give to Dave hahahaha ohgodwhyyy Mars joked about how he'd be like, oh hey it's the two creepy girls from Singapore HAHAHAH //o\\)
So that was my epicly awesome weekend in the Philippines. :))) It was absolutely worth it and I’m SO GLAD I went because there are so many great moments and memories to savour. Once I got back home, I went through Dave-withdrawals, knowing that the Jakarta concert was going on and that I coulda gone, had I wanted. I actually watched the ustream, that’s how addicted I was.
It was a real treat not just seeing Dave in concert twice, but also getting to meet him (again) twice! I was really very lucky to win both M&Gs and then for him to remember me, though he probably met like over a hundred people in the span of those few days, is pretty dang freakin' AWESOME. :DDD I will remember that "Hello again" for-freakin'-EVERRRR. He really is such a lovely, lovely man. So gracious and sincere and I just get really great vibes from him. I still love him, and I probably love him even more now. Definitely, absolutely still my future husband <3333