First of all, I'm no Pinoy. I flew from Malaysia to catch my favourite rock star performing live in Manila.

Well, technically, I should be calling this David & David Live in Manila 2009 but I would be lying if I tell you I flew to Manila to watch Archie live. I have all the respect for Archie and admittedly, he has his own appeal. He was very adorable in his short sleeve plaid shirt and tie! His songs are pretty catchy; however, it is not the genre I would listen to. Long story short, the rest of the review is going to be 90% Cook and 10% Archie.

At the beginning of Archie’s set, I was actually paying attention. However, thanks to a certain Cook fan (ahemmmm…you know who you are!) fantastic rabid eye sight, the recognisable silhouette of David was spotted sitting by the side of the stage, chewing gum while watching Archie’s set. From that point onwards, my eyes were fixed on that spot of the stage and nothing else (I’m so sorry Archie! But kudos for the new song, Zero Gravity).

Archie completed 14 songs and exited at 9.30pm. It took about 15 minutes for the transition and while waiting, we were served with some spectacular fireworks display!

David’s entrance was the same as the one he had on his Idol tour ala elevation from below the stage! It was unexpected but it was cool! David started his show with The World I Know. He did the American Idol version, very short but it was, as expected, impeccable. Also noted, David did a pause on that song just to say, “Mabuhay” and obviously, the crowd went wild! That cheeky little monster, he knows how to work the crowd! [At this point, we were already standing on the chairs, trying our very best to hold up our huge arse GREEN banner].

David did try to say Magandang Gabi (Good Evening) and Salamat Po (Thank You) but he messed up a little here and there. Oh well, the crowd still loves him.

Okay, rambling is not good! I don’t want to write so much because I can understand from a reader point of view…..it’s all about “GET TO THE POINT”. Actually, I’m so embarrass to admit this but I can’t actually recall every moment and every thing he said or did because I was rocking out and singing non-stop (and out of tune) and I kept looking at his body movement.

David’s setlist runs like this following the opening performance of The World I Know:-

2nd Heroes
3rd Mr. Sensitive
4th Declaration
5th Life on the Moon

Before starting his next song, he told the crowd that the song would be their first time playing live as a band together. It was Always Be My Baby. I thought it was really great for David and band to perform materials from American Idol. Both TWIK and ABMB were good choices and it was obvious that he is not going to roam into the realm of Magic Rainbow ever again!

7th Kiss On The Neck. David’s banter: He asked if everyone owns his album and whether did we listen until the very end. Then, he said we would know the next song for sure if we have listened to the entire album. He even did the kiss sign with his hand on HIS NECK (my thoughts went to a another world ..............) and emphasised the word KISS when introducing the song!

Up next, he said the song is an old song from pre-Idol. It was ......not The Truth (as we were hoping for). He played Straight Ahead instead, which is also one of my favourites from Analog Heart! I’m just so so glad he brought out some Analog Heart materials! Listening to it LIVE for the first time (for us), it was just amazing! At the tail end of the song, he pulled a ‘crowd-pleasing’ moment by going down the stage to the front row audience, stepped up the baricades, shook hands with the crowd (DAMN YOU LUCKY PEOPLE!), let the sea of hands touched him (uhhhh...super green with envy) and went on to grab some cameras and snap pictures of HIMSELF!

9th Make Me (from MWK)..........of course, there were some wishful thinking that Andy would front the song instead of David. However, we would definitely not take any credits away from David because he rocked the song (he can rock out on any given songs for sure).

10th Avalanche (heart melting song......awwwwwwwwwww)
11th Little Lies. Before starting this song, he asked the crowd for ‘permission’ to do a cover from one of his favourite bands, Fleetfood Mac. His fans will never say no to that freaking pretty sexy monster but he went on and asked again, “Are you sure?”

Next up, he performed his latest single Come Back To Me. Before that, more banter! He called on Neal for his attention and pointed out to Neal that there is a certain girl in the crowd asking Neal to marry her! David went on to dedicate the song to the ‘newly weds’! Hahahahahaha. That was funny but I was not able to see Neal’s reaction though.

David ended his show with CBTM as his last song. He said thank you and the band left the stage! That was obviously the queue for the crowd to start chanting ‘we want more’. How dare they insult the fans’ intelligence!? Light On has not been performed yet......so we knew for sure they will be back for at least a few more songs!

And of course, they did return! David said somewhere along this line, “I hope you guys are not planning to go anywhere else cause time is all we have!” Then, they hit the chords and on came Light On. David invited the crowd to sing the last bit of the chorus. Well, I can hear the crowd singing back to him but not as loud and enthusiastic as I would have hope for. A massive 42,000 crowd could have done better, IMHO.

14th Bar-ba-sol. Needless to say, this performance was live rock music at its best. This is why people go for LIVE rock concert!

15th A Daily AntheM. This, as announced by David, would be the last song for the night. When the crowd protested, he promised that they would go out with a bang! He dedicated the song to his late brother before hitting the notes. We were stoked that he actually included this song on his setlist and to end the show with it, it was just amazing beyond amazing! This song has got a fantastic melody, meaningful lyrics and 100% written by David pre-Idol. All these add up in giving us the best performance of the night. He invited the crowd to sing along to the end bit of ‘whoah whoah whoah whoah’..............but before that, he brought out Archie to close the show with him. At that moment, all Cookies and Archies stood up and sang along. It was EPIC......and as the sound of the instruments went silent, the crowd continued to sing to the ‘whoah whoah whoah whoah’ part. David bent down on his knees, covered his face with his palm and then pointed to the sky! I think the crowd overwhelmed him and of course, his late brother is still very much on his mind. [I might be a little inaccurate in describing his reaction because of the distance]. It all ended with him shouting. “Manilaaa”. He gave Archie a hug and all of them slowly proceeded down to the backstage and disappeared.

I think everyone left the show with full-pumping adrenaline still running through his or her bodies (maybe except for some Archie fans). Yet, I left the concert ground with a very heavy heart. David tore down the entire concert ground. He was just AMAZING live! This is the part where Kara Digourdi should say ‘A-MA-ZINGGG’ to David instead of to a certain person named Danny Gokey! [Sorry for my randomness, just felt the need to thrash Kara]

For me, there will only be ONE American Idol and that is David Cook. I am grateful that American Idol discovered him but for me, I believe that association can be safely cut by now (nothing against American Idol) but more on the believe that David has already come full circle. He has paid his due and has proved to the world what he can give to the music industry. He is born to perform and he really knows how to work the stage and the crowd. He can bloody sing, he is appreciative, talkative, funny, cheeky, mesmerising, crazy sexy and drop dead gorgeous all rolled into one!

I still can’t believe I saw David Cook live. Walking down memory lane, the image of David Cook singing Livin’ On A Prayer is still very vivid. I will never forget that image and I will certainly not forget my first ever David Cook concert! It was a real high and to a certain extent, it is a real down now for me I am experiencing this void feeling which I can’t explain. I want to do it all over again.