MANILA, Philippines – I entered the Araneta Coliseum, Saturday night, November 16 — where P-pop stars BINI held their Grand BINIVerse concert — with some apprehension: just how different would this concert be or just how grand would it be compared to their first concerts a few months ago?
I had seen their BINIverse concert at the New Frontier Theater (NFT) back in June, which was, among other things, sort of a crowning moment for the girl group that had skyrocketed to fame during the summer, thanks in no small part to “Pantropiko.”
Such was the group’s success that ABS-CBN top brass, CEO Carlo Katigbak himself, had been there to literally give the group their flowers.
BINIVerse was, of course, great (though perhaps a little bit long for my old bones), and the audience all had a hoot over many, many things i.e. Colet’s Beyonce performance, Gwen serving fierce side lip-raised looks, Jhoanna’s puffy blue gown highlighted by her shoelessness, Sheena’s impromptu quips, and Maloi honoring her idol Kitchie Nadal, among many other moments.
I would like to say that Grand BINIVerse is, of course, greater. And that’s not an invalid assessment but it’s hard to make the straight comparison because the NFT BINIVerse represented the culmination of their newfound success, and there was a raw, celebratory energy to it — despite some physical and emotional hardships experienced by some BINI members at the time, and the on-the-fly adjustments that the BINI team had to make in light of the group’s sudden rise over the months prior.
What I can say though is that Grand BINIVerse lives up to the name. Grand is right. It’s not a rehash of the first BINIVerse. It’s a creative triumph, and what stands now — at least, so far in the group’s career — as the ultimate staging of the BINI experience, and also, an example of what the group and the team can achieve, with enough preparation and time, and at a proper arena. It’s a very inspired staging, fueled by the girls’ dedication to performance and natural charm.
Araneta, with a 360-degree stage, fulfilled possibilities of dynamism that the NFT, bless its heart, just wouldn’t be able to physically accommodate. There’s a joyousness to the show, and had the kind of creative flourish that justified an arena staging.
You could feel Jhoanna savoring the moment as she screamed “ARANETAAAAAA!” — because that’s what many pop artists aspire to, right? To be able to, at a certain point in their career, go, “WHAT’S UP ARANETAAAAA!” or a variation of it. And that’s what Jhoanna did.
In Grand BINIVerse, we really get a fully-charged version of the girls.
As I mentioned, in the first BINIVerse and in the other events during that time, some of the girls like Aiah and Gwen, to name two, were feeling and visibly showing the emotional and physical toll of their packed summer gig schedule, and perhaps the weight of their newfound fame.
But there doesn’t seem to be those issues in this go-around.
And probably the best indicator is Gwen. Gwen is the most “non-chalant” in the group, and often the most reserved when talking to the audience. But here, she surprised me. She showed great energy when addressing the concert-goers. Gwen’s always had really snappy moves, but she brought an abundance of energy here. You can see on her face that she’s gotten her rest, and she delivered in spades, just like the rest of the girls did.
(As for Jhoanna? Well, as always, she has a surplus of energy.)
The girls opened with “Pantropiko,” a great choice partly because it caught people off guard, thinking it would be one of the finishers. The timing of the Grand BINIVerse concerts seems fateful too as “Pantropiko” was released on November 17, 2023 — something that the girls mentioned in the concert.
From a huge flower bud on stage that opened up, the girls emerged, bringing immediate hype by playing their most popular song, following it up with “No Fear” and “I Feel Good.”
They slowed things down with the next song, a quieter, more sentimental version of “Lagi.” One of my favorite moments though was when Jhoanna gets to the bridge (“Sa’yo lang naramdaman/ Ang ‘di ko naman hinanap”), picking up energy and getting louder, to set the stage for Maloi’s heartfelt vocal run that finished with a flourish. Even non-Blooms would have cheered.
The four large square screens hung above the stage were great letting you see the emotions on the girls’ faces during those moments. And flowers too, to the orchestra and the band that made these BINI songs just that much grander, and more, alive.
(Speaking of heartfelt, Maloi, who cried at their Talaarawan album launch, and at the first BINIVerse of course, again cried at Grand BINIVerse — overwhelmed, I suppose, this time, by the reality that they’ve made it to the Big Dome.)
They segued to “Ang Huling Chacha,” still seated as pairs on four platforms that go up and down like those in a Super Mario stage. (Do the new Super Mario games even still have those moving platforms?)
Then the girls did their duo productions — a nice, new change from their solo numbers at the first BINIVerse — interspersed with a number of high-profile guest performers, which we will get to.
Maloi and Jhoanna up the sexy and sass with their rendition of The Pussycat Dolls’ “When I Grow Up,” the fans cheering as the former throws away her jacket, and as they get lifted up by the back-up dancers. (This would not be the first time that the two will be lifted up during the concert, which, again, we will get to.)
Maymay Entrata then performed “Amakabogera,” and said how proud she is of the BINI girls after.
She’s the first star guest performer, and we’ll talk about the two others, and the rest of the duo performances, and the big climax to end the show in part 2 of this story. – Rappler.com
