When I was a freshman in high school, I hadn’t really discovered the world of rock yet and was, as any other tween, obsessed with the boy bands of that time. There were quite a lot – from Take That to the Backstreet Boys to *N Sync – but my absolute favorite boy band back then was A1.
I’m not sure what made them different from the other boy bands, but I always found myself listening to their cassette tapes on my Walkman, belting out “Like a Rose” from the top of my lungs and swooning over Ben Adams in teenage magazines. So, when I heard that they would be having a comeback concert here in the Philippines, I went absolutely nuts!
We were front row and centre when the boys… well, men now… appeared on stage and man, were we blown away with adrenaline and nostalgia! A1 opened with “Same Old Brand New You” and everyone was up on their feet, dancing, jumping and singing along as they sang and danced the song in perfect boy bad choreography – just like the old days. <3
Ben still sounded EXACTLY the same – it was insane!
And they all still looked incredibly good. *swoon*
A1 kept everyone entertained as they tried their hand in Filipino and sang some of their old hits. You may not realize this, but it has been 16 years since my high school freshman days – yes, that is how long it has been.
Other highlights include their finale song, “Take On Me” that really drove the crowd crazy and, of course, their beautiful encore of “Like a Rose”.
This song began a cappella with Ben singing with the audience phrase by phrase in the dark. It was so, so beautiful. Of course, all three of them (Paul was missing this time around) came out to sing the rest of the song together and the audience swooned some more.
It was definitely a night to remember and I really hope they come back again soon. Were you able to watch the concert, too? Share your memories with us! 🙂
Special thanks to Ms. Grace and Concert Republic for having us!
