You Belong With Me: Taylor Swift Live in Manila

TAYLOR SWIFT "SPEAK NOW" TOUR LIVE IN MANILA!!!

This is the most difficult concert to get tickets to. The good seats were gone a week after they started selling and in less than a month the show was SOLD OUT already. I really wanted to watch Taylor Swift because I really like her songs much to the shock of a lot people. Prior to the concert though, I had mixed emotions about Taylor. I saw her as a capricious, little queen bee with airs mostly because I thought she sabotaged Demi Lovato and partly because she does seem like it. Haha. Whatever. ;p So we braved the sea of kids all giddy with excitement and found our spot right in front of the stage. BEST.SEATS.EVER. Thanks to a dear old friend who shall remain famously anonymous.

Didn't they say we were the lucky ones?! :D

We missed Sam Concepcion's opening act but we did not miss Sam Milby in the moshpit (slight attempt at humor). Silence in that coliseum was a myth. People screamed and shrieked on cue whenever a light would flicker or air would breeze through the stage, and this was just while waiting for Taylor to get out. Can you just imagine the pandemonium that broke out when she actually came on stage?! Wild. In a really high-pitched, endearing kind of way. 

Taylor was a doll. I think with her, you would either get really annoyed at her pa-cutesy acts or be taken by all her theatrics. You know where I stand ;) She sang, she acted, she strutted, she made herself cute and best of all, she interacted with the audience. It seems that the longer the artist is in the industry or the more popular he/she gets, the less they feel the need to establish rapport with the audience. Case in point, Paramore v John Mayer. Hayley even wore that Thrilla in Manila shirt and included Manila in one of her songs. John Mayer barely said hi to the audience. She performed for the crowd while he performed for himself.

Uh-uh-uhoh-oh-hoh.. AAAAHHHHH.. the first note and we go jumping and screaming and the bouncer scolds us like the 10 year old kids we were acting like. Don't you just love concerts for the opportunities it gives you to sing at the top of your lungs without care for anyone?! :)

Taylor Swift did to romance in the 21st century what Alanis Morissette did to teen angst in the 90's.

Mine

Taylor Swift lived in her moment. She knew her fans adored/ worshipped her and she basked in that limelight. You could see she was really enjoying herself with all the attention and love being showered upon her. I guess it also helps that she's young and she can actually afford to go skipping and shaking her head off onstage without losing her breath. She really fed off the energy of her fans and the audience kept giving it to her.

Speak Now is all pop and some of her songs sound like Katy Perry's. She is sounding less and less country. I fear she will get lost in pop songs and that's really not her forte, at least vocal wise so I really think she should find her way back to country music.

Photo by PrettyMissAdventures.

Her voice isn't that strong and I can understand how she can be off-pitched sometimes but Taylor Swift can compose songs. She can write the lyrics and she can put the notes in them. You cannot argue with 13 Grammys. 

Story of Us

Truly a rockstar in her own way. I never knew she had that head banging, hair throwing, hips swaying moves in her. I cannot stop being thankful that I got to watch her concert in the best seats!!!

One of my favorite performance in the concert was for the Speak Now. She did like a 60's/mod show with 2 back-up dancers and it was all so nice, not to mention that her voice fits the song perfectly. You know how Barbra Stresisand was made to sing Don't Rain on my Parade or Beyonce for Ego? Taylor Swift's voice was perfect for Speak Now.

Speak Now

On the other hand, although it's really used up already, Fifteen remains to be one of my favorite songs just because it actually means something. "When you're fifteen, somebody tells you they love you, you're gonna believe it" or 25. I'm sure anybody over the age of 20 singing to this song felt as silly as we did singing to it. Yes, that's me and my friend screaming and laughing in the background!

Fifteen

But I regret that I accidentally deleted "Fearless" :( She used a eukalele and mashed it with Jason Mraz's song. So great. I'll try to update this post with friend's video of the song if she lets me ;)

Dear John

"Dear John" is more than 6 minutes long. Can you sing heartbreak?!?

It's been played a million times but every time I hear "You Belong with Me" I just always have to start singing and swinging my hips ala cheerdancer. It's just a fun like that. So when she sang this, in true fashion, I sang and I danced and screamed at every pause I could take. BUT. When Taylor took off her guitar, I went crazy!!! Me and the thousand of audience knew.. she was going to go down the stage!!!! It's disgusting how insane I got. :))

AAAAHHHHH!!!! I totally lost it and pandemonium broke out inside of me!!! I wanted to sing and take a picture with her and hold her and video her. I lost my head and composure. I felt embarrassed.. for my friend who had to be seen with me ;p

You Belong With Me

You'll notice a break in the video.. that's about the time I GOT TO HOLD TAYLOR SWIFT'S HAND!!! Everything just seemed so unimportant at that moment because I just wanted to touch her! It all seems so ridiculously silly when I think about it. My friend still laughs at me whenever we talk about it. Oh, but come on. Wouldn't you go crazy too if you got to hold Taylor Swift's hand?!?! Why?!? Why did she do that!??!?! I ABSOLUTELY love her for it!!! ♥♥♥

Taylor performed "Back to December" in her piano and it was at the main stage so the the larger than life screen focused on her face. She is so pretty. I know some people get turned off with her pointy, Barbie doll features. I actually thought her eyes were too near together. But, I think it's the make-up and that night, her make-up was perfect. She was beautiful all through out.

Back to December

Do you like her better smiling or serious?

She looks like she's about to cry. She did that a lot, cast a far away, dreamy look to end her songs with her slow, drawn-out finale for the song. Drama all the way :) Kid's got style.

Riri (my friend): She looks like a fairy.

Me: Dear, the song's Enchanted.

Riri: Oh.

Don't worry the seats were not wasted. She's a fan. She just wasn't a fan of that song ;p

Enchanted

Her outfits were so practical. They were simple enough to prance around in and not distract you from her. Plus I cannot believe she's wearing about 2 inches of heels only! 

I got why Long Live is the finale, it's meaning being all hopeful and that. But there were so many songs she could have still sung! Although the ones I had in mind aren't part of "Speak Now" like Breathe or Picture to Burn. They are lousy as finales though aren't they? 

Long Live

She sang a few more songs but I wasn't able to record them because I ran out of memory for my camera. :(

Taylor started writing about imagined heartbreaks then about princesses and fairytales. "Speak Now" talks about the rough year she's had. Heartbreaks and criticism. I guess this is a better year for her now, with her sold-out tour and Jake Gyllenhaan. Yes? No? I wouldn't know. I was never in the habit of inquiring into the personal life of artists, even of my favorite ones. But if anyone can clarify this it would be great :)

She had an encore. It seems to be the fashion now for all the concerts I've seen. I wonder what they will  would do if the audience didn't ask for one?! ;p

It was a short concert that ended before 11:00 pm :( But Taylor Swift was definitely worth it. It was a great concert!! I swear it was! Thousands of people would attest to that :) Everybody came and left with exaggerated huge smiles! What can I say, definitely one of the bestest concerts I have ever been too :) Topped only by Usher :D

Love Story

Yes, Taylor had really, really soft and smooth hands :) 

P.S. Videos are in no particular order.

This is Taylor's Asia Video Blog of her tour. Is it just me or did she have the strictest security in Manila?? Least interaction with the fans. Boo! She didn't even go around Manila :( Thank God for that surprise in You Belong With Me!

Also, someone told me that she likes to interact with her audience because it happened to her once before and it forever changed her life. So now she's doing it in the hopes of changing someone's life. Can someone please confirm/clarify this!?!