Bryan White tells Pinoy fans at concert: You’re absolutely beautiful

MANILA, Philippines — “You’re all beautiful to me,” American country music singer Bryan White told the audience in the first few minutes of his Philippine concert at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Tuesday.

White is known in the country as the artist behind the song “God Gave Me You,” whose popularity was revived by Alden Richards and Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza in their "kalye-serye" segment on GMA-7’s “Eat Bulaga.” And the singer himself is aware a lot of the people in his Manila concert may know him only for that song.

Nonetheless, he tried to engage and entertain his audience with his songs from his deep catalog (the 41-year-old artist started out in the music industry when he was 18). White also kept reminding the fans who he appreciates the warm welcome he has received since his arrival in the Philippine last weekend.

“It’s so great to be here. Thank you all for being here tonight,” he said. “You’re absolutely beautiful, every one of you. You look good.”

White added, “We’re finally here. I’ve been counting the days, and here we are. We’re standing here right now. We’re in Manila. We’re in the Philippines.”

As he promised members of the press in an interview last week, White introduced his songs old and new to Filipinos. He began the concert with upbeat 1996 country song “Sittin on Go,” with lyrics that go, as if a message to the audience: “I'm waiting on the green light to make you mine/But your heart's just taking its own sweet time.”

He took on a number of songs—such as original songs as such as the unabashedly country “Amen” and “Rebecca Lynn” and covers of “I’ll Home For Christmas” and “Signed Sealed Delivered”—before performing the song everyone in the audience is waiting for, “God Gave Me You.” This prompted fans seated on the Patron area to rush near the stage to take photos of the singer on stage.

After a handful of songs, the audience asked White to sing “God Gave Me You” for a second time—and he did, but only after performing a couple of other songs, such as Shania Twain’s “From This Moment On.” Like clockwork, the audience ran to the stage again as soon as White sang the first lines of his popular song.

READ: Bryan White on AlDub: A match made in heaven

“I’ve never been to the Philippines, and people have been telling me for years to come here, that I have so many fans here who have been asking when we are coming,” White said as he closes the show. “

He thanked those who made the concert possible—including Alden, who he described as a “cool dude.” “I got to meet sir Alden,” he said as members of the audience, possibly fans of the Alden and Maine love team, scream. “We got to hang out a little bit, talk, catch up. Of course, we didn’t have a lot of time because we’re both busy but… You know how crazy it is for all of this to happen from Twitter and then [I] actually could be here… It’s really crazy.”

If the people at the concert were disappointed that Alden and Maine didn’t make an appearance on the show, they certainly didn’t show it. — Photos by Philstar.com / Efigenio Toledo IV