All photos by Jasper Lucena for MMI Live.
When Ariana Grande first announced her concert a few months ago, we were all excited beyond belief. After all, she has churned out hit after hit, and wowed us with each and every look that she has shown us in the past few years since she started her singing career in 2011.
Truth be told, we anticipated Ariana to cancel her tour after the bombing in Manchester earlier this year; but she didn’t disappoint her Filipino fans and still made her way to Manila to grace us with her music and her presence, proving just how strong of a woman she is.
The minute we walked into MOA Arena, the energy was high with Arianators all over the arena chanting her name left and right. The amount of people wearing cat ear headbands was overwhelming and made me wish I had worn some myself. I honestly hadn’t seen a room full of fans so full of enthusiasm to see their idol onstage in a long time.
Ariana Grande started things off strong and didn’t waver a single bit as her set went on. She was always full of energy and life, and was incredibly infectious. Being the lola that I am, I usually feel sleepy by around 9pm, but she had me dancing and dancing until the end of her concert – which, by the way, lasted much longer than most. I think she sang almost every song she has ever released, even the ones featuring other artists and a beautiful rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’.
Her music aside, another thing I love about Ariana Grande is how true she is to her branding. She looked both sexy and cute in every single song with outfits that showcased her personality well.
The best part, though, is how she subtly inserted her support for certain campaigns in-between and during her performance. One video that she played during her concert was a great video for feminism, for example. She also flahsed the Bunny Ears Manchester Solidarity symbol at one point.
Of course, she also showed her support for the LGBT community. Ariana has always been a vocal supporter of LGBT rights (a little Ariana trivia: her brother Frankie Grande is gay), even teaming up with Miley Cyrus to cover ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ to raise awareness for an LGBT charity.
Generally speaking, Ariana’s concert was everything we ever dreamed of: from the costumes to the light show to the song choices, and from the looks of her Instagram, she had a great time, too. In case you weren’t able to catch her concert, here’s a short snippet of her performing here in Manila:
Were you at the concert, too? What was your favorite part? Share it with us! 🙂
All photos by Jasper Lucena for MMI Live.
