Swing Out Sister breakout in Manila

Get a load of this aging moment. Would you believe that it has already been 21 years since Swing Out Sister (SOS) released Breakout. I’d been thinking all this time that it was only a few years ago when SOS suddenly became the coolest thing in the airlanes. And now because the group is due to perform at the Araneta Coliseum on April 7, I had to face this truth.

It was actually late in 1987 when we first heard Breakout and it was like watching all things trendy fall into the right places. A true breakout single in every sense of the word, the song skyrocketed SOS members Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell to fame. Lighter than Manhattan Transfer but heavier than Workshy, Swing Out Sister’s charming mix of synthesized jazz and funk sounded like the ultimate in sophistication. And they did not only have the sound, the duo also had the right fashion magazine look.

Breakout was followed by many more hits in the ensuing years. Twilight World, Am I the Same Girl, Waiting Game, Not Gonna Change, Get in Touch with Yourself, Forever Blue, Better Make It Better, Wake Me Up When It’s Over, La La Means I Love You, Surrender, Who’s Been Sleeping, You on My Mind and others became the soundtrack for a generation that strutted around in baggy pants and large padded shoulders. They were at the same time discovering what a kick it is to begin their days at Starbucks and also just learning how to use mobile phones. Had ringtones been available then, I am sure that some of the most popular would have been songs by Swing Out Sister.

Beautiful Mess, the latest and the ninth studio album by SOS adheres to the same superior quality found in its earlier releases. Drewery’s trademark alto is lushly sexy and the music smoothly weaves in and out of the many influences that resulted in the SOS we have come to know. Purists may say that there is nothing original here. That the songs echo Motown or Bacharach or even the Beatles. That is very true but it is also a fact that the resulting mix is uniquely Swing Out Sister’s own.

Cuts included are Something Every Day, Time Tracks You Down, Butterfly, My State of Mind, I’d Be Happy, Butterfly Lullaby, Secret Love (You’re Invisible), All I Say All I Do, Out There, Beautiful Mess and Little Wizard Mixes of Butterfly and Something Every Day.

Tickets to Swing Out Sister: Breakout Tour, priced at P4,700; P4,500; P3,500; P2,500; P1,000 and P500, are available at Ticketnet outlets at SM Department Stores and at the Araneta Coliseum ticket office. Call 911-5555 for inquiries.

If you have the funds you can make this one a concert-going week as there is one great show scheduled after another. I still recall a time when major shows like these were events you look forward to for months on end. Not anymore, it now feels like walking into a cineflex to watch a movie and then doing the same thing the next day and then also the next.

So get out the cash and plastic and go on a concert binge at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao this week. Shows available include: Toto, which is truly one of the greatest bands in the world with hits like Rosanna, I’ll Be Over You, Make Believe and Africa, tomorrow, April 3; then Swing Out Sister on Monday, April 7; and as the capper, the still looking great, though I do not know how the group members sound today, Duran Duran on April 10.

More shows have been scheduled by promoters in the coming months. I know that some have been definitely confirmed. You can now get your tickets or start saving up bigtime to watch these shows. These are James Blunt of You are Beautiful fame at the Big Dome on May 19 and the boy group Click Five also at the Araneta on May 30.

I have also heard rumors that the following foreign acts will also be in town later this year. Take note. Rumors only. No confirmation yet. matchbox 20, Sean Kingston, Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Usher. Also reportedly ready to make return trips are Josh Groban and Michael Bublé.