American Idol tour goes to Manila
By Bert Eljera
LAS VEGAS – For Jessica Sanchez, it will be some kind of a homecoming.
As part of the American Idol live tour, Sanchez, with nine of the top contestants of Season 11, will perform in the Philippines on Sept. 21, 2012.
The concert will be at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, a suburb of Manila, and tickets have started selling last July 9.
“I’m so excited,” said Sanchez, currently on a nationwide tour, which started July 6, with the other singers. “It will be my first trip to the Philippines.”
Her mother, Editha Bugay, hails from Samal, Bataan, a province in the island of Luzon, not far from the former Clark Air Base, a U.S. military installation.
Her father, Gilbert, is Mexican-American and a U.S. Navy serviceman and a veteran of the Iraq war. They live in Chula Vista, near San Diego, where a large Filipino-American community had supported Sanchez during the American Idol competitions.
It will be an emotional experience for the 16-year-old Sanchez, who credits the support of her Filipino and Filipino-American, as well as Mexican-American, fans for her runner-up finish on “Idol.”
She reached the finals, along with Georgia’s Phillip Phillips, who eventually won the title. She nearly fell out of the competition, but was “saved” by the judges during the semifinals.
It was both a good and a bad thing, her near exit, she said, because while it woke her up, it also planted a seed of doubt about her ability to win.
Her loyal supporters, including those in the Philippines, stood by her though, and although they were dismayed by the result, they admired her tenacity and perseverance.
Two milestones related to her Filipino roots stand out after her runner-up finish at American Idol.
On June 8, she met with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III in Los Angeles, and the next day, June 9, she sang the national anthem during the Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley fight in Las Vegas.
“It was a great honor,” she said of her short meeting with Aquino, in which she promised him she will visit her mother’s homeland soon.
On the Pacquiao fight, she drew raves for her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, but was dismayed that Pacquiao lost the fight by a disputed unanimous decision.
Ovation Productions, headed by former disc jockey and record executive Renen de Guia, is promoting the American Idol concert. Last year, the same group promoted the Season 10 concert in Manila, the only show outside of the United States.
In Philippine pesos, tickets are priced at P11,090 for VIP seated, P10,560 for Patron seated, P9,700 for Patron standing.
It’s P7920 for lower box VIP, P5810 for lower box regular, P3,700 for upper box (UA), P2,115 for upper box B (UB), and P845 for general admission.
Go to http://ovationproductionsmanila.com/ for additional information.
NatureWatch of Eastern Samar 