I heard about The Whitest Boy Alive coming to Manila months ago through my friends from Intercept! who also brought in the lead singer’s other band, Kings of Convenience, last year.

I wasn’t as thrilled as when I heard rumors of Best Coast coming to Asia (no it’s not true - they were suppose to come to Japan this month but, in light of recent events, have canceled). I’ve heard of The Whitest Boy Alive before but I never really got hooked. To be honest, the extent of my knowledge on the band does not go further than getting their name right. At least I knew more than a friend of mine who messaged me on the day of the concert, “should I go to Whitest Boy Ever?” Cracked me up!

That friend of mine is also from the media so I wondered if anyone aside from the press would show up. I saw the band’s Facebook page weeks before the concert and they were pretty down about the low ticket sales in Manila.

I noticed a couple of people replied and said that Filipinos usually wait until the last minute to buy concert tickets. I thought they were just trying to cheer up the band until I was on my way to the venue (Republiq) last Saturday. I was late due to very heavy traffic outside Resorts World. After the concert I saw that the band retweeted this guy on Twitter hahaha!

So true! I got to the venue and man was it packed! I wasn’t prepared to have fun that night but wow, it was hard not to dance and sing along to their songs even if, like me, you’ve never heard them before! Watch this video to see for yourself:

Video highlights (in case you missed them):

The Whitest Boy Alive - Manila from Saab Magalona on Vimeo.

• 00:37 – Anne Curtis holding up a sign requesting the band to play her favorite song, All Ears. The band did play it for her (who wouldn’t do anything for Anne Curtis?) but unfortunately my boyfriend deleted the video to make room for their last song, Burning (the only song I knew before going to the concert).
• 00:54 – TWBA playing Courage (never heard it before but love it now).
• 01:22 – Zooming in on the lonely bouncer
• 01:43 – Erlend walking to stand on the bar to be closer to the audience.
• 02:30 – Anne Curtis dancing (hahaha no we’re not stalkers, she’s just cute ok??)
• 03:08 – My boyfriend tripping out and taking the video in a first-person perspective haha. It’s cool it’s like you’re at the actual concert!
• 04:00 – Erlend telling Republiq to turn off the lights!
• 04:27 – Saying goodbye
• 05:00 – Crowd chanting WE WANT MORE
• 05:06 – Yay! They’re going to play some more!
• 05:21 – Random guy reaching for the stars
• 05:32 – Did they just call us monkeys?? Hahaha just kidding.
• 06:23 – Okay I am now a fan!
• 06:39 – They started playing their most famous song (I think because it’s the only one I knew? Haha!) Burning but I ran out of battery, sorry.