The D Spot

Catch Petula Clark at the Araneta Coliseum at 8:00 pm today, 13 September 2008.

All in all, it was an enchanting evening, it was an experience—when songs were purely music and lyrics, in all their simplicity, no high tech gadgetry, a piano accompaniment would do, the effects magical. This was the Petula Clark…Downtown! concert, which I attended last night with my sister-in-law and her husband at the Manila Hotel’s Tent City.

Many of the young generation must not have heard of Petula Clark—she is a Grammy Award Hall of Famer and cited by the Guiness World Book of Records as the most successful British solo recording artist, with about 70 million records sold worldwide. She is a major stage, television, movie and recording star, well known for her songs like Downtown, I Know a Place, I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love, This is My Song, My Love, and Don’t Sleep in the Subway.

Main Show: Petula Clark at 76 years of age was simply amazing—she could still hit her notes, high as they sometimes were, and had the stamina of singing continuously for an hour. She played the piano, too, while belting some of her favorite songs. She had a repertoire of songs that climbed the charts and broke records in the 60s, a song by Paul McCartney of the Beatles, and songs created by Charlie Chaplin and Andrew Lloyd Weber. Some of the songs were:  You and I, This is My Song, Kiss Me Good-bye, I Bless the Day I Found You, Smile (even though your heart is breaking), Don’t Sleep in the Subway, and of course, Downtown, and many more.

She danced in the imaginary arms of Fred Astaire while she reminisced those unforgettable moments when she was very young. Such a charming lady, she gamely sang with the Three Tenors a few songs before the end of the show. This is her first time to come to Manila, and was very thankful for the audience’s warm reception.

Front Act: Special guests were Salute! and The Three Tenors—DOE Secretary Angelo Reyes, MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando and Former Senator and now Manila Hotel President Joey Lina. This was their 9th show together, for me, more for the spirit of singing together and enjoying it at that, for a cause rather than singing for a career. They sang The Twelfth of Never, Climb Every Mountain, There’s a Kind of Hush. There may be off notes or off beat, but the audience, mostly 40s up, did not mind at all.

Delicious Dinner: The evening began with dinner comprising asparagus kani cocktails in lemon dill mayonaise as appetizer, and for the main course, a choice of either roasted salmon fillet in watercress sauce, muhsroom risoto cake and a bouquet of fresh vegetables OR braised US chuck of beef in red wine marinated savory provencale sauce gratin potato and fresh vegetables in season. I had the salmon. Dessert: baked Alaska.

Drinks: I had my favorite margaritas.

Beneficiaries: Bayanihang Pilipino Inc., and RCM 101 Right of the Child to Survive.

You may still catch her at the Araneta Coliseum at 8:00 pm today, 13 September 2008. Ticket Inquiries:  Call Ticketnet at (632) 911 5555. Tickets at P4,410/P3,885/P2,835/P1,785/P1,010/P25.

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