MANILA -- The last time Gary Valenciano did a Valentine’s concert was in 2018, when he staged “Love in Motion” at the Shangri-La at The Fort. After five years, he returned onstage to serenade the audiences anew.

From his first single “Hang On,” recorded when he was a “scrawny” 18-year-old in 1983, Valenciano took the audience down memory lane in “Reenergized Manila,” the latest iteration of his concert, this time for Valentine’s.

The successful seven-city concert, “Gary V Reenergized,” was originally staged in the US in September and October last year.

It has been a long while since Valenciano last rendered most of his songs in a full-length show. For Valentine’s at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, he gave the audience a real treat reminiscing and even singing to his biggest hits.

Amazing that at 58, Valenciano could still move and freely strut onstage from end to end, doing an upbeat medley of his popular tunes. While he would understandably pant after singing and dancing, he carried on to the next number in his repertoire.

After his daughter Kiana regaled the crowd with original singles she penned – “Safe Place” and “Does She Know” – Valenciano sauntered onstage and readily hollered, “Are you ready?”

The audience, hearing familiar strains of his dance hit, “Eto Na Naman,” clapped their hands as if on cue and sang the dance ditty with him.

“I can see you’re ready to have some fun tonight,” Valenciano told the excited crowd.

He readily took the audience back to the ‘80s as they raised their clasped arms to motion the dance move to his familiar hit, “Growing Up,” from Maryo J. de los Reyes’ classic “Bagets” film.

A medley of Valenciano’s other hits followed – “How Did You Know” from the Aga Muhlach-Kristine Hermosa film “All My Life” (2004), “’Di Na Natuto,” written by Danny Javier, and “Paano” by Ray-An Fuentes.

“This one came to me in the form of a cassette, then I added the bridge,” Valenciano said of “Narito.”

During “Each Passing Night,” he reached out to his audience, all excited to be near him. A few even posed for snaps with him as he went down the stage.

And how can Al Jarreau’s “Spain” not make it to Valenciano’s repertoire that night? The latter carried out an extended version with his “incredible” band.

He crooned the hit ballad, “Sana Maulit Muli,” with Kiana returning onstage to join him. The lady who wrote the song, Valenciano’s wife, Angeli Pangilinan, was in tears as father and daughter did the haunting duet.

Then Valenciano sang a moving piece he wrote within the pandemic, “Make Us Whole.”

Yeng Constantino joined him onstage and they did a duet of her first big hit, “Hawak Kamay.” She did a Middle East tour with Valenciano in 2008 and also joined him in his “Reenergized” US tour last year.

Constantino and Valenciano did a slower version of “Babalik Ka Rin,” that had him playing the zendrum. Throughout the concert, he also played the keyboards, as well as the drums, even other percussion instruments.

Left alone onstage, Constantino rendered one of her biggest hits, “Ikaw.”

In 2018, Valenciano recorded two memorable tunes for Coco Martin’s top-rating primetime series, “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” – “’Wag Ka Nang Umiyak” and “Ililigtas Ka Niya.”

"Those songs became the themes not just of ‘Ang Probinsyano’ but of people’s lives,” Valenciano said of his popular teleserye themes.

He followed this up with “Look In Her Eyes,” where he danced with his ever reliable back up then, The Manouvres, still very much agile to every beat.

“For as long as this heart keeps beating and kicking. As long as nandyan kayo,” Valenciano assured his audience that will give him the energy to perform onstage.

Not every artist declares “I love you” to his concert director. But Valenciano was sincere when he openly said the line to his son Paolo, undoubtedly the most in-demand director of every musical event lately.

The “By Request” portion was well received and everyone had something to pitch in for Valenciano to sing, from his first hit, “Hang On,” to “Warrior is a Child,” to his version of Basil Valdez’s inspirational tune, “Lead Me Lord.”

“It’s always a challenge to do what I do now onstage,” Valenciano admitted. “But no matter what age I may be, this is what I’m going to do. Gagaawin ko ang lahat para lang humataw.”

That line apparently segued to Valenciano’s biggest dance hits, “Hataw Na” and “Di Bale Na Lang.”

Valenciano closed his “Reenergized Manila” concert with two, iconic dance hits – “Sa Yahweh” and “Shout 4 Joy.”

Choosing the top tunes in Valenciano’s musical career to complete his repertoire is perhaps not too easy, considering his dozens of hit tunes through the years.

Yet, Valenciano was able to squeeze in the important, popular and well-received songs in his line-up. His audience couldn’t have asked for more.

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