From ‘Bongga Ka ‘Day’ to bringing a fan onstage, Zara Larsson turns up heat in first PH solo show
The Swedish pop star headlined her first-ever solo concert in the Philippines on Friday night, October 30, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, as part of her Midnight Sun world tour.
Before her set officially began, Zara grooved to “Bongga Ka ‘Day,” one of the biggest hits of Hotdog, an OPM band that started Manila Sound songs in the 1970s.
She then opened the show with “Midnight Sun,” the title track of her latest album, followed by “Blue Moon,” also from the new record, and “Can’t Tame Her.”
Fans also got to sing along to her older hits, including “I Would Like,” “Ain’t My Fault,” and “Never Forget You.”
Before performing “Saturn’s Return,” a song from her new album about growing up and finding herself, Zara paused to thank the crowd, saying her fans were the reason her dreams came true.
“So happy with what ‘Midnight Sun’ has done for me. It’s taken me all over the world,” she said.
“I’ve been doing this for a very long time. I released my first song when I was 15, and now I’m 28. And this right here, this is my dream. You guys are making my dreams come true. So thank you so, so, so much. ’Cause I like to sell records and, you know, the streams and all that, but this, to me, is what really, really matters,” she added.
The singer also had words of encouragement for fans chasing their own dreams.
“And now at 28, I feel like it’s the perfect timing. I feel like everything that has happened in my life has led me to this point, to be here with you guys tonight, right here. So I’ve been preparing a lot for this night, and I’m so happy we’re finally here together. And sometimes you can’t really plan life. You can have a lot of dreams and you can have your goals, but at the end of it, life is just going to do what life does. You can be as stressed as you like, but it’s not going to get you any further.
“All you can do is dream and keep working. If you have a dream – I know there are a lot of dreams out here tonight — I promise you, at least one of you here will be on a stage like this. Absolutely. Whatever you want in life, you can make it happen. Just keep going, keep going. I’ve been doing this for almost half of my life, and I’m finally here. Can you imagine that? You just gotta love what you do and keep going at it,” she said.
During the show, Zara also finally explained why she briefly left the stage during her Manila performance almost a decade ago. She revealed that she had suffered from sun sickness at the time.
“And I remember I got burned to a crisp. I know I looked like a tomato. I actually got sun sickness. It’s really hot here. See, where I’m from, it doesn’t get hot like that, and I wasn’t prepared. But I’m here now, and the SPF is on,” she said.
One of the night’s biggest moments came when she invited onstage a Filipino fan she had met in South Korea.
Zara signed the shirt she gave him with the word “bakla,” and even let him take a sip of water before dancing to her hit “Lush Life.”
She also performed “Symphony,” her 2017 collaboration with British group Clean Bandit, before closing the night with an extended version of “Midnight Sun.”
The Manila concert, presented by Live Nation Philippines, was one of the last stops of the tour, which heads to Bangkok, Thailand on November 1. The tour supports Midnight Sun, the album Zara released in September 2025.
Filipino fans first saw Zara live on August 17, 2017, when she joined the lineup of MMI Live’s “In The Mix” festival at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer headlined that night, with DNCE, Dua Lipa, Two Door Cinema Club, and Daya also on the bill. Near the end of her set, Zara told the crowd she had not been feeling well.
Zara’s career started early. In 2008, at just 10 years old, she won “Talang,” Sweden’s version of the “Got Talent” franchise, singing Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” in the finals. She later became a global name with hits like “Lush Life,” “Never Forget You,” and “Symphony.”