Dia Frampton: Live in Manila!
When in Manila and you are a fan of Dia Frampton, I hope you were one of the lucky ones who attended her concert last January 5 at the Hard Rock Café. I know that I was and the fan boy inside of me was hard to contain. Dia Frampton,the runner up of the American reality TV singing contest The Voice, arrived in Manila as part of the Asian promotional tour of her latest album entitled Red. Dia Frampton Live in Manila also gave us Dia’s first ever performance in the Philippines and she did not disappoint.
The Ever So Lovely, Dia Frampton
As I mentioned earlier, the Dia Frampton Live in Manila The talented singer/songwriter brought her ‘silky-smooth’ voice and doe-like eyes on the Hard Rock Café stage that night and totally wowed the crowd. The intimate atmosphere of the Hard Rock Café added something special to Dia Frampton’s first ever concert in Manila.
Fiona: An Awesome Way to Start off the Night
Before we’d get to hear from Dia Frampton, however, the crowd was treated to an indy band named ‘Fiona’. The band did an excellent job of setting up the crowd for an awesome night. Kudos to Fiona, you guys were awesome.
Dia Frampton on the stage
Dia Frampton and her guitarist Danny Bemrose, (from Scars on 45) finally entered the stage and kicked things off with an acoustic and soulful rendition of “Don’t Kick the Chair”. This writer, as well as the audience, couldn’t help but sing along to the chorus of this one. It was a sight to see Dia performing the rap portion of the song which was usually sung by Kid Cudi. You may have to say she did it superbly that even Cudi himself would have given her an A+.
The Dia Frampton fans that flocked into the Hard Rock Café also got to hear her latest hit single, “Walk Away”. Just like the opening song, we were hooked as she played it on the keyboards and sang that track into sheer perfection. Truth be told, most of us couldn’t fight the urge to sing and whistle along to the tune. The lovely Dia Frampton also sang a couple more tracks off of her album ‘Red’ such as “Daniel” and “Trapeze”.
Dia would go on to sing her song “Inventing Shadows” (which she sang on The Voice) to the delight of the capacity crowd. If that wasn’t enough, she also played R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion”. Her rendition of the R.E.M. song blew our collective breaths away with her incredible vocal range.
Dia Frampton jokes around with Danny and the Crowd
In between the songs, Dia and Danny would do some funny banter between each other and to the audience. A couple of memorable talks during their exchange were Dia being so excited to go to the Philippines because of the Chocolate hills and that time she recalled that someone once told her she resembled that “cute little monkey with big eyes”. The exchange between Dia and Danny showed her quirky little sense of humor to the Manila audience.
Danny and Dia Serenades the Lucky Couple
We also saw some audience interaction as Dia Frampton serenaded a lucky couple with “The Way I Am” (Originally sung by Ingrid Michaelson). Now that’s what I call an anniversary gift!
After serenading the happy couple, Dia would rile the crowd up with her version of “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People. (Author’s Note: Mark Foster co-wrote one of Dia’s songs in the Red album, “Billy The Kid”) If you guessed it right, yes, the crowd was pumped up as she did this incredible cover. Dia finished off her main playlist with “The Broken Ones”, which is one of the hit tracks on her album.If you think the show was over after that song, you’re dead wrong! Ms. Dia Frampton came back a few seconds later to bring the house down with an encore number.
Dia sang “Roses”, a hit song from her Meg and Dia days, and the crowd was ecstatic. Finally, she tore the down the house with her final song “Heartless”. Her rendition of Kanye West’s track was simply amazing and was the perfect way to end the concert.
Dia Frampton does a lil’ “Meet and Greet” with her fans
Dia had a little ‘meet and greet’ with the fans after the show. It was a nice treat for the fans as she signed their Dia Frampton CDs and had a photo-op to finish off the night.
The Writer w/ Dia Frampton
I have to say that the Dia Frampton Live in Manila concert was a blast. And, yes, it truly was a memorable night. Dia certainly pulled out all the stops to make this one awesome night. When in Manila would like to thank YOU, Ms. Dia Frampton, for dropping by and giving us a memorable concert to kick start 2013. I’d want to say thank you to Mr. Mac Vasquez for being my last minute photographer for this said event. This writer would also like to thank Wheninmanila’s own Vince Golangco, Phoenix Productions and Mike Kaminsky (Dia’s Manager) for giving me the opportunity to attend the concert.
