Janet Jackson lets Pinoy fans sing, groove to timeless hits
MANILA, Philippines — The lights went dim. A snippet of photos and videos chronicling Janet Jackson’s musical career that spawned for decades and life journey were presented on screen.
Clad in a red and pink ensemble, the American pop star emerged on stage, with the spotlight focused on her performing her opening act, Damita Jo, from her eight-studio album by the same title.
With her four backup male dancers and Janet in a black and gray jumpsuit, she continued with Feedback, So Much Betta, and a bit slow-tempo Got ‘til It’s Gone, and R&B-tinged That’s the Way Love Goes.
The show kicked off at around 9 in the evening. Although the singer-songwriter didn’t converse much with the audience, she proved that she still has the swag and groove at the age 57.
While there had been reports of her lip-synching at her earlier concerts, Janet, nevertheless, went on to play her hits on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Some of the fans, who patiently waited for her to appear on stage, anticipated the tracks Every Time, Runaway, Someone to Call My Lover, and other songs but were not part of the setlist.
“I hope you enjoy the show,” Janet told the eventgoers before launching into Enjoy.
She briefly exited the stage after and returned with a song from her 1986’s Control album, What Have You Done for Me Lately, wearing a black hat like that of her late brother, King of Pop Michael Jackson.
She kept on owning the stage with her Nasty, The Pleasure Principle, and Because of Love performances and took the spectators a trip down memory lane with her 1986’s When I Think of You, her very first No. 1 song on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Janet was in “control” when she rendered Control, bringing chairs on stage as props and frolicking with her male dancers.
She left the stage, came back, sat down on the floor and did Come Back to Me, Let’s Wait Awhile, and Again.
In playing the ballad Again, she let the audience sing bars from the sentimental tune about an old lover and seemed more than pleased if not emotional over the chanting of the crowd. She smiled, blew a kiss to the bunch of people and commented, “You sound so beautiful, I love you so much.”
Janet once again made an exit and reappeared to deliver Any Time, Any Place.
She had been displaying sexy moves in her acts but it was in I Get So Lonely part where she showed sexually provocative choreography, seductively teasing one of the male dancers, touching his bare upper body down to his crotch (with pants on, of course) and then sensually dancing with him.
Another topless dancer touched her butt and together, they performed a steamy routine. Toward the end of the song, she told another male dancer, “Well done, baby. Let me get you a drink,” and “flirted” with him where she almost kissed him.
Moreover, Janet counted down in three, two, one to play the dance-pop and R&B-influenced All for You.
“Let me hear you sing it, louder,” Janet enticed the audience and further entertained them with Come On Get Up and Throb.
A DJ urged the spectators to raise their hands for a Blackstreet cover Girlfriend/Boyfriend. Janet stopped the gig to say, “You all ain’t grooving to this groove the way I want you all to groove to this groove.”
Janet, the dance crew, and the fans did it one more time, groovin’ the way that it should be.
With a DJ playing in the background, the star of the night pranced around to the tunes of Like You Don’t Love Me, So Excited, The Knowledge, and Miss You Much.
Janet also made sure to pay tribute to her late brother Michael by rendering Scream, a duet song with the King of Pop. A music video of the said track was flashed on screen to accompany the act.
As expected, Together Again was the encore song, which was also the title of the Manila concert, presented by Live Nation Philippines.
“Everybody put your hands together, come on! Sing along with me, come on, Manila!” It was a no-brainer for the audience to easily comply with Janet’s request as they crooned and danced to the 1997 hit from her The Velvet Rope album.
“Manila, I hope you enjoyed our show. We got this, each and everyone of you… I love you so much! Please be safe, goodnight, I love you, Manila.”
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