Scenes from Christian Bautista's concert 'The Way You Looked at Me.' Jude Ng Photography
Scenes from Christian Bautista's concert 'The Way You Looked at Me.' Jude Ng Photography
Scenes from Christian Bautista's concert 'The Way You Looked at Me.' Jude Ng Photography
Scenes from Christian Bautista's concert 'The Way You Looked at Me.' Jude Ng Photography
Scenes from Christian Bautista's concert 'The Way You Looked at Me.' Jude Ng Photography
Scenes from Christian Bautista's concert 'The Way You Looked at Me.' Jude Ng Photography
Scenes from Christian Bautista's concert 'The Way You Looked at Me.' Jude Ng Photography
Scenes from Christian Bautista's concert 'The Way You Looked at Me.' Jude Ng Photography
MANILA -- Not every artist gets to mark 20 years of success in the local entertainment scene.
Romantic balladeer Christian Bautista celebrated his two decades in the music and entertainment business, so he made sure to prepare something big for his loyal followers.
Hence, Bautista staged a thanksgiving concert aptly titled “The Way You Look at Me,” taken from his huge hit two decades ago after he made a name for himself as a runner-up in ABS-CBN’s talent competition “Star in a Million.”
Before the concert started, video greetings of important people in Bautista’s career were flashed on the monitor onstage -- from network executive Cory Vidanes and production bigwig Joyce Liquicia of ABS-CBN to Lilybeth Razonable of GMA 7.
Bautista, who moved to GMA a decade ago, clearly did not forget the key people from ABS-CBN who helped his career take off when he started out in the business.
Karylle also made it to the video greetings. She teamed up with him in a number of stage musicals in the past.
It didn’t take long before Bautista sauntered onstage clad in a gold jacket. Unlike most concert artists who repeatedly leave the stage to another performer, Bautista made sure he stayed onstage fo the entire two-hour concert.
He only made a super quick outfit change once, as the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) played familiar strains of music from “West Side Story.”
Bautista regaled the audience with a familiar opening tune, “Say That You Love Me,” a Martin Nievera original that Bautista covered. From that time, his distinct voice clearly reverberated onstage with every ballad he rendered.
Bautista gave the audience original pieces like “Invincible” and “Since I Found You,” taken from his sophomore album, “Completely.”
The way the stellar guests was introduced to share the stage with Bautista was brilliant and definitely not time-consuming, that was why the show ran for a good two hours only. Not one in the audience looked sleepy or impatient.
Every guest was not given a spot number onstage. But all the artists were made to perform with Bautista. He paid a tribute to Jose Mari Chan, starting with the massive hit, “Please Be Careful With My Heart,” a duet with Aicelle Santos.
With the vocal quartet The Company (Moy Ortiz, Annie Quintos, Sweet Plantado and OJ Mariano), Bautista rendered “Afraid for Love (To Fade).” The artist made sure he acknowledged his vocal coach and first musical teacher Plantado.
It was not only in the Philippines were Bautista became known. Indonesia also became a solid turf for him since his hits soared on the airlanes in that country, where he gained a steady following.
“Indonesia changed my life,” Bautista told his audience.
From Bautista’s Indonesian film debut, “A Special Symphony” (2011), he dished out the theme, “I’m Already King.”
Three more artists shared the stage with Bautista. Julie Ann San Jose did the haunting “Pag-ibig na Kaya,” originally a duet of Bautista and Rachel Ann Go.
Bautista had the chance to flex his terpsichorean skills with Sam Concepcion, charming in his royal blue kilt, as they carried out “Kapit.”
With Morisette, Bautista did a duet of “Color Everywhere.”
Bautista made sure his “Star In a Million” contemporary, Erik Santos, also shared a moment with him onstage.
“Kahit natalo niya ako sa contest, magkaibigan pa rin kami hanggang ngayon,” Bautista told the audience before he introduced Santos. Together, they rendered “Everything You Do,” a popular track from Bautista’s “Completely” album.
Since he did theater musicals, Bautista made sure some of the memorable tunes like “Maria” and “Tonight" made it to his repertoire.
He crooned The Eraserheads’ “Ligaya,” as a love song and honored his wife, Kat Ramnani, his “cheerleader and rock.”
The full-house crowd at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater heard new versions of Bautista’s “Hands To Heaven” and Josh Groban’s “You Raised Me Up,” to reminisce the memorable time Bautista got to share the stage with the international artist.
Bautista was backed up by the Manila Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jeffrey Solares. Musical director was Myke Salomon, while concert director was Paolo Valenciano.
There were songs that became popular or memorable for others and there were songs that touched many people’s lives. However, rare is a song that became a “life changer” for the artist who originally recorded it.
Such is the impact of the hit ballad, “The Way You Look at Me,” for Bautista.
“The Way You Look at Me” became the carrier single of Bautista’s self-titled debut album under Warner Music Philippines, released in 2004, a year after he joined the singing contest, “Star in a Million,” where he placed fourth.
“The song is really a life-changer,” Bautista admitted. “I’m just so happy that a lot of people connected to it at that time it was released.”
‘The Way You Look at Me” not only made it to the Top 10 lists in the music video channels and the radio stations. The song also crossed musical borders in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
No wonder, “The Way You Look at Me” was a no-brainer to become the title of Bautista’s 20th anniversary thanksgiving concert.
It was also his closing song in his concert. But when the crowd clamored for ‘more,” Bautista obliged with a new, upbeat single, “Tuloy Ka Lang.”
He is looking forward to the next ten years in the business and he assured the crowd, “See you in my 30th year.”
Related video: