R&R Concert

Rannie had a great concert last Saturday night, April 27, 2008. The venue in Greenhills was very cozy and the audience was quite appreciative.

The place was packed and ran out of tickets so I had to settle for the PhP750 tickets. Moral of the story: For concerts like this, it is best to reserve and show up early to get the choice seats. Luckily, the PhP1,000 seats of a classmate of mine were right in front of me.

The R&R concert included Renz Verano as the other “R.” Rannie’s goddaughter was also a guest in the concert. She had a nice, dreamy voice that blended well with Rannie and Renz.

The repertoire was perfect. When Rannie and Renz came out, they were in formal attire and reminded me of the Rat Pack performing in Las Vegas. Once they started singing Rat Pack music, it set the tone for the evening.

It was nice to hear a little bit of history about Rannie and Renz. For one, I didn’t know that Rannie wrote a song way back in 1987. I remember listening to the song over the radio years ago as it was very popular. I never realized that he wrote it 2 years after graduating high school.

Now I remember Rannie as an excellent drummer but I never knew he could play the harmonica like that. Of course, the drumming had people tapping anything in sight, whether it was the floor, chairs, or even the bar in front of our row.

It was also interesting to learn that Renz sang a lot of the old multiplex tapes years ago. He belted out a sample of Air Supply and Johnny Mathis that night, which also elicited a lot of applause.

To digress, I would have to that I am sick of today’s unintelligent droning music. Today’s rap music is mostly composed of crass lyrics wrapped up in catchy beats. I long for the days when music didn’t talk about people’s private parts or about people shooting others.

Getting back to the topic at hand, R&R make a great team and they should have done this sooner. They complement each other, making the concert a rich experience.

For me, what added to the richness were the great songs the audience could sing to. As far as I’m concerned, nothing beats audience participation. The people around me were more than happy to oblige when we were given the chance to sing along the last 3 songs. And though we could not carry a tune, no one minded.

My only regret was that my Mom and rest of the family were unable to attend. There was music for everyone. Perhaps when another R&R concert is held in the future, I’ll be able to bring the rest of my family. And though only my wife is able to carry a tune, I hope people won’t mind our singing along.