By Cecille Santillan-Visto
Concert Review
Day 6 World Tour: Gravity in Manila
Araneta Coliseum, Nov. 23, 2019
WITH AT least two of Korea’s rock bands currently on hiatus, there is a clamor for musicians to fill the void. The members of CNBLUE and FTIsland are serving the military and audiences worldwide are craving for more talents to step up to the plate and provide the kind of music that these two established bands are known for.
Day6 of JYP Entertainment has certainly risen to the occasion, and proved that they can hold their own in a field that was once dominated by more experienced bands. It already has two world tours under its belt between 2018 and 2019, and rounded up Japan in a series of concerts last year.
Leader Sungjin, lead guitarist Jae, bassist Young K, keyboardist Wonpil and drummer Dowoon certainly made a huge splash during their first concert, Day6 First World Tour: Youth in Manila on Oct. 6, 2018 (see related article: https://www.bworldonline.com/the-dawning-of-day6/), so much so that they returned to the country a year later for a second serving of spectacular live music.
Day6 World Tour: Gravity in Manila quickly sold out shortly after producer Pulp Live World began ticket sales. On show day, the Araneta Coliseum was virtually a white ocean, with spectators wearing the group’s official light band. From a relatively small venue that was the New Frontier Theater only a year ago, the Big Dome, which has welcomed some of the biggest names in the entertainment world, hosted Day6. The 10,000-seat coliseum was filled to the brim.
Day6 ensured that the show would be worth the while of MyDays, their fandom. They dished out 24 songs, not counting the musical solo of each member and a delightful mash-up of their originals with those of established singers.’ For the mash-up portion, they sang Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” with “Like That Sun,” “Treasure” by Bruno Mars with their own “Days Gone By,” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and “Blood.”
From the first chord played in “Best Part,” a track from their latest album, The Book of Us: Gravity, to the last synth sweep in “Freely,” the Manila concert was fun-filled, memorable, and definitely makes the audience realize that Day6 is such an underrated band.
The fans also helped set the dazzling concert mood by the synchronized waving of their white handkerchiefs during the opening song, a project that visibly pleased the boys.
The curtain raiser was followed by “Sing Me” and “I Wish,” before the band members moved to play “Somehow,” “Time of Our Life,” and “So Cool.”
For most of the concert, the crowd sang along with the band but the virtual videoke session was more pronounced in “I’m Serious” where the fans sang the chorus, and in “Congratulations,” where Day6 allowed the spectators to sing the first few stanzas of the song.
It was amazing, to say the least, to see the whole Araneta at one with the band by clearly singing the Korean verses.
Especially for the Manila leg, Day6 performed on an extended stage, bringing along their instruments to be closer to the fans. They said it was the first time that they did it during the Gravity world tour outside Seoul. The viewers reciprocated the gesture by their fantastic reaction, cheering on the boys in every number.
The group whipped up “How To Love,” “For Me,” “Wanna Go Back” on the extended stage before returning to the main platform for the mash-ups.
During the concert, the Korean boy band admitted that their journey as a group since their launch in September 2015 was never easy. Jae was so touched by a video prepared by the fans, that the lead vocalist and guitarist unabashedly cried on stage.
The last few songs to close the show were equally impressive, including “Warning,” “Shoot Me,” “Cover,” “You Were Beautiful,” and “Dance, Dance.”
Day6 connected with their Filipino fans more this time than in their first Philippine concert last year. Despite the loud instruments and the boisterous interaction between sets, Gravity in Manila was intimate, personal, and undeniably struck a chord with the audience. With that kind of performance, Day6 will continue to defy gravity as there is nowhere for the group to go but up.
