The Sungha Jung Concert Experience: An Acoustic Performance to Remember
It was a night to remember as 17-year old guitar genius Sungha Jung took the stage for his 2nd concert here in Manila last August 17. Known for his popular YouTube covers and mind-blowing guitar skills, Sungha Jung gave us applause-worthy performances that left everyone with smiles on their faces and an awesome experience we will surely never forget.
In case you missed it or want to reminisce the concert again, here’s a look back on the event:
Before the actual concert, VIP ticket holders got a chance to meet their idol for an hour. It was really worth paying for as inclusive of the VIP ticket was a signed CD and a photo op with you and Sungha Jung!
Fans eagerly waited at SM Aura as early as 6PM, some even earlier. But it was really worth the wait when the concert doors opened and we comfortably take our seats. The show started with a hyped-up performance from Ukulele Philippines Ensemble who played current hits from Paramore, Justin Timberlake and 2NE1.
Finally, the moment that we’ve all been waiting for: Sungha Jung finally enters the stage and welcomed everybody “Magandang Gabi!” (*insert fan boy/ girl screams). As he sat down and picked up his guitar, he gladly introduced his first song of the night: “First Step”, one of his originals.
The moment he started playing, the room was in complete silence and everybody was just listening to him play. Actually it was really difficult for me to take down notes as I was too amazed by his guitar skills and constantly saying “galing!” or “lupet!”.
Even though he only does instrumental covers, his mad skills made the guitar “sing”. It is unbelievable to think that as early as 17-years old, he is already a professional guitarist doing fast-paced riffs and solos and creating musical magic!
He also performed back-to-back originals from his album Monologue including “Sunset in Paris”, “Flaming”, “The Milky Way” and a lot more. And as a guitar enthusiast, such as myself, I was mind-blown as he constantly changes the tuning of the guitar after each song.
Fans went crazy as he ended his first set with his rendition of Side A’s “Forevermore”, an all-time OPM favorite which he awesomely performed! The song was so beautiful that almost made his fans cry. haha 🙂
Sungha Jung’s rendition of forevermore :))
The second set was composed of instrumental covers of more popular songs. After a 15-minute break, he came out holding a ukulele. Proving he can also play other instruments as he gave beautiful ukulele covers to the songs “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”.
Before playing again the guitar, he greeted his fans “Mahal ko kayo!” and “Musta kayo?” 😀
You can hear the crowd singing along as he played current faves from Maroon 5‘s “Payphone” to the all-popular soundtrack of the movie Frozen, “Let It Go”.
He finally gave it his all as he played his “final song” with a fiery and tango-like melody to it (you could hear the saddened crowd knowing it’s the last song). We gave out a loud applause throughout the song, especially because of his unbelievable solos. After that, he finally bowed in front of the audience, thanked everyone for coming and left the stage.
Fans were still feeling “bitin” and were screaming out as loud as they can “More, more, more…!!”. I almost felt the ground shake as they screamed louder and started to clap and stomp their feet.
Sungha Jung finally set the stage one more time for his FINAL song. For me, this was the highlight of the whole concert as he gave a rendition of John Mayer’s “Why Georgia?” and sang it (Yes, he sang!). I guess we were the lucky few to actually hear him “sing a song” as he doesn’t usually sing in his YouTube covers. He felt a bit nervous, though, and even gave a deep exhale of breath before singing. Still, not to be biased or anything, hands down, his cover was better than the original. Some even gave a standing ovation after his performance. 🙂
After the song, he gave his final wave of good bye and left the stage. This is one of the most unforgettable concerts I’ve ever been to and hoping to hear more of his covers on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/jwcfree
Sungha Jung’s 2014 Philippine Tour is produced by PinoyTuner, in cooperation with PlanetJazz, Origin8 and the Korean Cultural Center.
If you have a passion for music but don’t want to put out a lot of money for a guitar, checkout The Sound Junkys list of acoustic guitars under $1000.
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Photos courtesy of Ezra Cerezo
Video courtesy of Karl Penaflor
