Manila, welcome back Rihanna

Bert B. Sulat Jr.

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The ‘We Found Love’ pop star has included a Philippine — and only Asian — leg to her current world tour

CONCERT OF THE YEAR? Like last year’s Jennifer Lopez shebang, Rihanna’s Manila gig will be a big show loaded with her big hits. Photo from Rihanna’s Facebook page 

MANILA, Philippines – Music Management International (MMI) Live, the local outfit that spearheaded Jennifer Lopez’s first ever Philippine concert in 2012, has been building up to it for some time now and finally revealed the big to-do this past weekend: Rihanna, one of the biggest pop sensations of the last 10 years, is coming over for her latest Manila concert. 

Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty 25 years ago in Barbados’s Saint Michael parish, Rihanna is a pop-R&B singer who has aimed to be the “black Madonna.” As such, Rihanna herself has become a one-name sensation with a flurry of plural nouns to her credit:

  • 7 albums that have sold 41 million copies in all worldwide
  • 24 Billboard Top 10 hits (half of which went to No. 1)
  • 6 Grammy awards and 7 Billboard Music awards
  • 4 movie roles in the can (including 2012’s “Battleship” and 2013’s anticipated ensemble comedy “This is the End”)

The ever hectic, hardworking lass even has her own, self-designed clothing line and a perfume brand.

Her ongoing Diamonds World Tour is her 5th full-fledged concert tour, with its Philippine leg set for September 19 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena — the only Asian stop in Rihanna’s latest tour itinerary

The show is primarily in line with her latest album, 2012’s “Unapologetic,” and so more than half of the concert’s set list is rife with about 10 “Unapologetic” numbers, including “Diamonds,” “Stay,” “Numb” and the gleefully titled “Loveeeeeee Song.”  

But since 10 tunes do not make a big-bang concert, expect Rihanna and her band and dancers to mix in her greatest hits, including “Love the Way You Lie,” which, like “Numb,” features rapper Eminem; “Umbrella,” which had Jay-Z guest-rapping; “What’s My Name?,” co-starring rapper Drake; and “We Found Love,” which also had DJ Calvin Harris. 

Here is the music video for Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’:

 

While it is more likely for Rihanna’s rumored on-again-off-again boyfriend Chris Brown to show up on the Arena stage than for Eminem, et al. to make physical cameos, guests could make appearances during her Philippine show virtually, the way J. Lo’s collaborators did in her own Arena show: via music video backdrops and pre-recorded tracks.  

Like Lopez’s own gig, Rihanna’s Diamonds show breaks down into several parts plus an encore, with each part meant to showcase a different side to the gal both aurally and, through wardrobe changes, visually. Unlike J.Lo’s show, however, Rihanna’s backing band will be led by a fairly recognizable talent: Nuno Bettencourt, formerly the lead guitarist of the band Extreme and a sessionist on two of Rihanna’s pre-“Unapologetic” albums. 

All told, that’s 5 months to go before the big Rihanna show. Rihanna fans, consider yourselves informed. Parents of young Rihanna fans, consider yourselves and your piggy banks warned.  Rappler.com 

 

The Philippine leg of Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds World Tour’ takes place on September 19 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. Tickets are available via SM Tickets.

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