14 JULY 2004

Been There Done That But Give Us Some More!
The APO Strikes Again Spring Concert Tour!
(This article appeared on July 11 in the Philippine Daily Inquirer Entertainment section.)

By Jim Paredes

It may seem like we’re bragging but we’re not. After 35 years, recordings, concerts, music festivals, TV work, movies (the little we’ve done), etc. can become been-there-done-that affairs! You can even throw in two revolutions! Sometimes, it seems that the nature of showbiz is repetition. While that may be so, one thing that’s still a turn-on is touring abroad! We may have done quite a bit of it but going on a concert tour is almost always a high. Our very first one was in the US and Canada in ’75. In the 80’s and 90’s, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Australia were destinations visited again and again.

When the APO STRIKES AGAIN Spring2004 Concert Tour was first broached to us, we knew it would be different. For one thing, it was not the usual three-weekend, 3 to 4 gig thing but a whopping 13 city tour spanned out to almost three months! It meant crisscrossing the US and Canada a few times to perform on weekends for our kababayans. That would surely be physically challenging! And looking at the itinerary, it also meant that we would be hitting places like Cincinnati, MacAllen, and a lot of cities in Florida—places that Pinoy performers rarely, if at all visit! And lastly, we knew it would be quite hectic.

The APO, being the group that it is, threw all caution to the winds and jumped at the chance to travel (as we almost always do!). And knowing we would be singing before Pinoys who yearned for true OPM entertainment plus the prospect of meeting new people and discovering new places, how could we say no? But little did we suspect that describing the tour as being “quite hectic” would be a gross understatement.

In planning the repertoire, we took into consideration that we would be hitting places we haven’t been to or at least had not visited in years. Then there were the other cities that we’ve just performed for during the past year or so. We therefore had a SET A rep for the “apo virgins” who were going to see us ‘live’ for the first time, and SET B for the regular fans that had followed our careers. Put together, the two sets consisted of some 35 songs, medleys and production numbers that we should be able to pick out of a hat and execute well. Before leaving Manila, we studiously rehearsed with our musicians to make sure we were tight and in the best fighting form!

The core entourage consisted of 11 members—the 3 APOs, the 5 musicians ( Boyet Pigao, Ernie Baladjay, Noel Santiago, JD Villanueva and Colby Dela Calzada), and 3 from our management (Butch and Betta Dans and Sammy Samaniego). On top of that, Boboy’s wife Bong, Danny’s two kids Jobim and Jama, and our managers’ two teens Monica and Kiko would be tagging along part of the trip. It didn’t take long to sink in that due to the nature of the long tour, we would have to behave like a team, a band of brothers not only because we would be sharing rooms, vehicles, meals and breathing spaces but also because we had to take care of our collective luggage, watch out for each other’s health and well-being, and do our work as artists of good reputation, competence and integrity!

The APO STRIKES AGAIN 2004 Spring Tour of North America kicked off in high gear in Toronto. Last April 17, we worked up a sold-out crowd at the 2,900 seater International Center at Misassauga, an outskirt of Toronto. To set the tone, Danny, Boboy and I at the onset promised "to bring the audience home without having to pack a Balikbayan box, buy a plane ticket and go through immigration and customs". And this we did by delivering lots of our OPM hits culled from 26 albums which we interspersed with spiels, jokes and gimmicks spiked with heavy doses of Pinoy flavor. As expected, it was a winning formula that elicited a standing ovation, much to our delight! We were off not only to a good start, but a great strategy for the rest of our tour! And it proved to be quite a successful one since we elicited multiple standing ovations in each of the 13 cities we performed at.

Since shows are always on weekends, weekdays are spent visiting Filipino stores, mini marts, restaurants, dental offices, parties—anywhere Filipinos congregate to drum up interest in the shows. Take note that in each place we visit, as a rule hosts offer food for us to eat. Sometimes we visit 5 to 7 places! You can imagine how many kababayans we meet (and how much we eat!). Sometimes, we pose for 150 pictures (easily) and sign about the same number of autographs each in a day! The number can double on the day of the concert since we always allot time for signing after the gig. I personally enjoy listening to stories people share with us. It is as if we are their link back home. Our being so-called celebrities imbues in us the power to touch people that sometimes, even the little gesture of sitting with them leaves an indelible mark. It can get very exhilarating, but it can leave you bone-tired by the end of the day!

Traveling to each city now requires that we be at the airport two hours before flights. And I suspect that owing to the fact that we carried Philippine passports, we were almost always subjected to complete body searches. Blame the Abu Sayyaf for that! Of the twenty times that we went through security, we were “randomly chosen” 16 times for a complete look-over. The tragedy of 9-11, to my mind has changed America forever. No longer are people as friendly or even as welcoming to visitors. Warnings at airports about making jokes on terrorism, or even actions that can be construed as “airport rage”, as posters warn, are now serious offenses!

In the 74 days of the tour, we took a total of 26 plane rides and stayed in 22 different hotels. We went from east to west and back 2 and ½ times. We even did two consecutive shows in two different cities twice. We accumulated at least 22 pieces of luggage, not counting our hand carries and boxes sent home. One good lesson we learned was to delay shopping as much as possible so that we would not drag stuff all along the trip.

Even if after the routine of travel had set in, there were always surprises in every concert. Cincinnati was special because in the audience was our grade school teacher Ms. Carmen Mesina. Orlando was our first time ever in Florida and so it got our juices going. Chicago saw us do a great concert despite Boboy hardly having a voice due to a bad cold. LA was a blast since the audience was wild and so wanting to enjoy itself! San Diego had a large chunk of old-timers in the audience who had never heard of the APO and so they were fun to wow!

But Reno was a major high! We had the good fortune of being promoted by three casinos and so our pictures were plastered everywhere --- the airport, casino video kiosks, giant streamers, local papers, etc.. We were promoted almost as heavily as Jewel and Sinbad who were to perform two weeks later. It was therefore not surprising to hear from the ushers that we outsold Julio Iglesias and the Chicago Transit Authority who visited there before us!

Miami was truly memorable. Noontime of June 7, I received the heartwarming news I had been waiting for. My daughter Erica had given birth to my first grandchild!! Our rendition of the song Batang-bata Ka Pa that evening took on a somewhat deeper dimension. I had written the song for Erica 25 years ago, and now I was singing it for her daughter, my apo! I was singing it for the 1st time as a lolo!

Tampa was a red-letter show for our band because they had to play for our guest Joey Albert sans her musical charts! But being the pros that they are, Joey and band passed with flying colors!

New York was, as usual, wonderful. Aside from being received ecstatically, we met a fan who showed us pictures of APO in the 70s she had kept and treasured! It may seem like a little gesture but to us, it is testimony that what we do has some meaning to the lives of people who follow us. Jacksonville was hectic since we had just done NYC the night before. With very little sleep, we pulled through quite well!

The last show in MacAllen, Texas was something we would not forget. We expected a little barrio bordering Mexico with a smattering of Filipinos. Instead, we saw a small but vibrant city with the friendliest, most sabik kababayans raring to have a good time! We did a rousing concert that elicited our last two standing ovations before we headed for home!

Every APO show is preceded by a prayer of gratitude. In the prayer, we thank God for giving us the chance to do what we do best, and that is to perform. We also ask God for everything we need to make the coming concert the BEST the audience has ever seen only to be topped by our return in the future! All throughout the tour, we felt that God was watching us and giving us the goods to deliver our promise to our audience. Perhaps He granted all we asked for because God, I suspect always delights seeing the gifts He has given come to life.

And throughout the 13 shows, we delighted in embodying on stage the joy, originality and creativity in our being Filipinos! And together with our audience, we were screaming for more!