Four Kings and a Queen Concert at the Newport Performing Arts Theater This August

Legends of their own right, deserving of the accolades and love they receive from their fans, these singers, songwriters who ruled the 70's and 80's just came back from a successful concert in the US to perform in the Newport Performing Arts Theater for the home crowd this time. Hadji Alejandro, Rey Valera, Nonoy Zuniga, Marco Sison and the one and only Pops Fernandez will do their 4 Kings and a Queen Concert this coming August 26 and 27 in this venue. They had small mishaps in the US tour when some of them tested positive before they had to do the Vegas show. It took them a few days to recoup and do the concert for the same or even bigger crowd later on at the same state.

Nonoy Zunigaa says “I had complete vaccines and boosters but I tested positive for COVID and had to move the show in the states. Plus there are different variants in the US so if you had one you might have the others too.I’m glad to see that the US tour was almost all FULL HOUSE. They went there to enjoy and lots of people refunded tickets but when the actual day came, tons of people appeared even walked in. I’m glad people appreciate our jokes, we know each other too much even if they are concerned for me because of jokes. But we’re good.”

Marco Sison says “We have never performed in two years, it was a little hard to do concerts but the US opened up early, you can feel the excitement of the people. Even if it was cold in San Francisco, you can feel the love and support of the Filipinos. The first one was awesome and even our first few shows were sold out.”

Rey Valera says “Don’t get me wrong but people I know in the Philippines were all dying, I was asking myself if I’m gonna be next. I told the fans in the US to just enjoy the moment because they were lucky that they got the concert happen in their state. They say we are the most politically incorrect group of people and we don’t even talk about bashers. Our humor is different because we often talk about ourselves, we haven’t talked about the audience YET, but maybe if we don’t have anything to talk about we will lol.”

Pops says “I was really happy, music is powerful because it can give us a lot of joy, bring us back in time and some of them even cried. Through our songs, they remember moments, and see something live, it brings a lot of memories. We enjoyed because there are a lot of people, sometimes we forget that our songs affect people, plus the wonderful spiels of these innocent men. Thank you to Newport because when they knew we had shows in the US they got us there. It’s not easy to produce shows these days because people might be a little afraid to go out. Thank you to those who believe in us and different artists because it’s a challenging time, and I’m happy we have been successful, thank you to producers and people who believe in us. What we will be bringing in Manila is the same show but since this is home, we will put a lot extra in production. You need to see it because it’s a little bit of everything, it’s a surprise. This is going to be so fun I promise.”

Hadji says “After two years, this is a grand reunion of sorts, we were like barkadas catching up with stories. Cliche as it may sound, but with this group, you just build it and they would come. Our generation may come in wheel chairs and dextrose, but they will go to the venue and enjoy it. It’s a happy feeling to see them come because of the songs, and sometimes because of time constraints it’s a little tough to squeeze in all the songs because it’s a lot. But our top hits will be there, so you’ll have a good time with us there! We will have duets, quintets, a medley of love songs from the 70’s and 80’s, a little boring from Rey Valera but it’s good. We don’t have Rico J anymore but we got his spunk, it will be clean fun. I remember Rico had nuns and priests walk out but with mine, there won’t be anything like that.”

Tickets are sold at the venue or Ticketnet and SM Tickets. If you're raring to reminisce the good old times, the 4 Kings and Queen would want you to be there.

SING GALING To Do Back to Back Finale at THE MANILA METROPOLITAN THEATER

It was so fun to have been able to go out and cover events again. As restrictions ease in Manila, TV5 invited us to the grand dame of theaters, The Manila Metropolitan Theater. This place was officially opened last year and this is officially the first time that a live event for TV is being held here as SING GALING is doing back to back grand final events this coming March 5 and 12.

This is possible as they've forged a partnership with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. They gave us a peek on what will happen to the Ultimate Pa-Sing-Katan for the celebrity edition and Kantastic Finale for the regular edition. They had all the contestants for the regular edition present and a Chuckie Dreyfus, Boobsie Wonderland and Aljur Abrenica too. The celebrities will also have their chosen charities benefit from it so the stakes are definitely higher.

Check out this video I made of our visit there!

I'll be doing a separate video for the tour of The Met, so subscribe and stay tuned for that. Meanwhile, you're going to also see Pepe Herrera, Jerald Napoles and Patrick Quiroz for the finale. You also have the chance to choose what song they'll be singing through their Facebook page plus the ability to vote for the winner through Facebook Messenger. They partnered with Meta's Facebook just for that. QR Code for voting will appear on the show and posted on their social channels. Up for grabs is a 1 Million prize and a house and lot so it's going to be a serious battle. It'll be livestreamed on https://www.facebook.com/singgalingtayo/ https://www.facebook.com/TV5manila/ and their official YouTube account.

What struck me most was the judges, as the contestants told us, pretty much loved the time they spent together. They felt like equals, and Mr. Rey Valera even made them their own single, in hopes of releasing an album with them on it. Doesn't that fell like pieces falling together for OPM? Oh surely, it'll be a good time to watch the show at 6PM on those dates.

Bigger, Better and More Fun in SING GALING!

Just got off the Sing Galing Mediacon (when I was writing this article) and it was fun to see not just the  hosts but the actual contestants who made it far in this contest. Ultimately, it was not just plain singing that got them there, but passion, the calling to entertain people and the hunger to pursue their dreams each time they sing. Regelyn Fernandez, Kim Macaraig, Yuki Takahashi, Niko Badayos, Jean Jordan had their own individual stories to tell, one thing for sure was their lives have changed. Aside from the prizes they won from the show, they also got recognized in their own communities plus supportive fans from the show. Aside from that, ratings have been good so far and honestly, I like the format of it. It works! 

During the presscon, Zendee Tenerife shared her struggles with her health while the show was actually starting... she says "I had COVID during the first week of Sing Galing, I got over that even if I was having a hard time to host and sing. Nobody noticed and now I'm better. I'm really looking forward to talk and sing for fans online, my journey with Sing Galing has been very good so far and I can't wait to see more people join the show, and perhaps soon, to get and see the hosts of the show since we're still under quarantine."

Rey Valera on the other hand had a say with how this compares with the It's Showtime and says "There are two things that I can say this is different form my other shows. This is light, and there's a random factor. You may be good at singing but if you don't know the song, you'll probably lose because of the choices the randomizer makes. I don't sing my songs anymore because I feel like it's work when I'm trying to relax. I also use a guitar for production value. I think it's better! I'm a fan of K Brosas, she's a survivor, and she knows how to survive, I give great value to people who stay in this profession and maintain their careers til now. I have managed to do that because of the songs I made, it connected me to different generations, even if my fans already passed on, I still have a few that support me because I realize, I can still enjoy the moment because of the people that believe in me. I think about what to share especially in Singaling, if I could only do it in music and in life. They don't have to go through the same things that I have, but this is good. I look at them not as contestants, they equally are entertainers and not just here because they can belt out songs."

OPM Icon Jessa Zaragoza was asked about her doing a number on the show and what she tends to sing during off time to relax with videoke, she says "Of course I still sing my songs, I also sing covers but I tend to usually sing the light ones because it's time to relax. "

 

 

Ronnie Liang sang a few lines of Rey Valera's songs and said "I usually sing ballads, I am glad to have been able to work with Rey Valera because I often sing his songs. It's hard to tape several episodes and sing, and perform  the whole day. You don't know if you can maintain the energy, thank God we are able to deliver and stay safe during the few weeks we had to do this for the show. We get really encouraged as we get good feedback from the show, also see people that watch it. It's worth the effort, investment, time, we fulfilled our mission to give happiness and entertain a lot of people during this time." It was nice for him to share some of his experiences in taping the show, I've been to their set and it's very safe there because as soon as you reach the entrance, they ask you to use PPE's, masks, and make sure you follow protocols inside the studio.

K Brosas also told us about the difference of the show versus Sing Galing 2021. She says "TNT is a singing contest but Sing Galing is Videoke, it's not really a priority of sorts. You see the personality, you can do showmanship. It's chosen by the machine. Rey Valera's songs til now are relatable, Singaling made it trend and it blew up overnight on my Twitter account when I told people about the back story of these songs. It was about LGBT relationships, it was just now that people knew about it. Crazy how it felt after hearing about how the iconic songs were formed no?"

Now that there's more contestants bringing their A game and a lot more others who will join the show, there's nowhere to go but up! Happy birthday to Ms. K Brosas who was so fun during this interview, and I hope that they'll have a few more years to discover talented Filipinos and even greater entertainers. It's going to be heck of a lot of fun doing that in Sing Galing, and by the looks of it, they're not doing any disservice to the original show that was successful during its hey days. Sing Galing shows  on TV5's Todo Max Primetime block on weekdays. Thank you to Cornerstone who invited us to this event!