Concert recap: 42 years on, Gary Valenciano still gives fans everything he’s got

As an entertainer in your 60s, you slow down from performing, leave the entertainment scene and retire. But slowing down is not even in the distant plan of Gary Valenciano, who is not called Total Entertainer for nothing. 

After 42 years in the limelight, he can still stage a full-length concert that extends for close to three hours maximum length. And he can still pack concert venues with excited fans anticipating him.

Why do people still flock to see Valenciano in his concerts? You know he will sing the hits, the same songs from three or even four decades ago. Yet, people consistently get excited anew to see him perform live onstage, with the same high energy effort that kept him going for years.

For his “Back at the Music Museum,” Valenciano was excited anew to perform for his fans. We joined the full-house audience on the sixth night. We learned that the previous five nights of the concert were said to have been packed. We caught the show on October 17 and not a vacant seat was in the house.

Kakie Pangilinan started the musical ball rolling when she sauntered onstage with her own, four-man band. It was a joy to see her perform, something that she does rarely. She dished out four songs from her forthcoming, 16-track solo album, “Miss Kakie,” slated to be released next month – “Love Team,” “Romeo,” “Kontrabida” and “Dream Boy.” The lyrics are all very Gen Z. 

The last one, “Dream Boy,” is admittedly one of the hardest songs in the album, but one of Pangilinan’s favorites. She included Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets” to her set list.

“I still can’t believe it,” said Pangilinan, who was joined by her band whose members are all her friends. “I was in the audience before, but now, I’m sharing the stage with Tito Gary. It’s an honor to open this show.”

Valenciano opened the “Back at the Museum” concert, his 108th at the Music Museum, with a familiar upbeat ditty, “Mahal na Mahal Ko Siya,” followed by “You Got Me Working,” the first upbeat song he wrote back in 1987. He even reminded the crowd about his early days at Tavern in the Square in Makati.

“No AI (artificial intelligence) was used in the making of this video,” came the advice at the start of the concert.

It turned out for the entire show, everything that Valenciano rendered, was brilliantly mashed up with a previous video in exact, amazing coordination as he also sang live onstage. The audience loved everything.

Then came the familiar hit ballads like “Let’s Pretend,” “One Hundred Ways,” “There’s No Easy Way (To Break Somebody’s Heart),” “Just Once” – his “audition piece” at La Salle’s Kundirana – “On the Wings of Love,” “In Your Eyes,” “It Might Be You,” and “Whatever We Imagine.”

In his 42 years in the music business, the Music Museum is a venue where Valenciano performed in the most. “It’s here [at the Music Museum] that I get to try anything new,” Valenciano said.

In 1984, songwriter Tats Faustino gave Valenciano the song, “Hang On.” A few years later came Marianne Merialles with “Narito.” Ray-An Fuentes came in 1997 with “Yakap.” The ballad, “Until Then,” was mashed up with the video of “Reaching Out.” When the familiar strains of “Huwag Mo Na Sanang Isipin” was played, the audience was singing with him.

Valenciano was huffing and puffing when he finished his number, his laughter lines on his forehead notwithstanding. “I’m 62,” he proudly told the audience. “But I’m not gonna hold back. I’m gonna give you everything I got.”

He was jumping, thumping, singing and dancing at the 700-seater venue. “I’m so floored that some people were mouthing the lyrics of my songs,” Valenciano said. “This [Music Museum] is a smaller venue, but performing here is more intimate, more impactful.” 

He remembered and paid tribute to his father, Vic Valenciano, as well as his Puerto Rican mom, Grimilda Santiago. With “Historia de Un Amor,” he sang with his mom on video. 

Valenciano resurrected the “By Request” portion in his concert that first happened in 1997, then followed by the second show in 2001. He asked the audience to throw in their requests and rendered them – Twila Paris’ “Warrior Is a Child,” “Sana Maulit Muli” written by his wife Angeli, “Growing Up” penned by Odette Quesada, and “Hataw Na.”  

“This is the first time we ended this portion with ‘Growing Up’ and ‘Hataw Na’,” said Valenciano, who was undoubtedly thankful to his audience who stood up dancing on the floor.

He crooned “Take Me Out of the Dark,” a song written in 1986, but resurged in the pandemic. “That song energizes me,” said Valenciano. 

At one point, he checked his sugar and it was more than 300. Yet, he insisted to still go on performing and defying the limits of his health and age.

Naturally, he rendered many other tunes on his set list, “Search and Know,” “Spain,” “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing,” “La Bamba.” When “Di Bale Na Lang,” “Look In Her Eyes” and “Shout for Joy” came, the audience was still hyper and would not let him go.

“You are such a source of energy for me tonight,” Valenciano told his audience as he delivered a high-energy Earth, Wind and Fire dance medley that included “Let’s Groove” and “September.” And the night registered at 11 p.m. already.

For one last piece, Valenciano gave the audience “How Did You Know” that closed “Back at the Museum.”

There will be four more remaining performances of “Gary V Back at the Museum” on October 22, 24, 29 and 31.