Regine sizzles @ 20

Den Torrecampo
RVML

To prove one's staying power in twenty years, moreover by celebritystandards, is no small feat in today's rapidly changing world, notto mention musical tastes. Yet Regine @ Twenty continues tomesmerize and enthrall us with iconic performances only the likes ofgenuine performers and true artists can muster.

Twenty, the concert, is also a major treat especially for those whomay have missed Regine performing live in one of her previousengagements, or simply yearning to look back at those powerfulsnippets of the Songbird's winning concert moments.

As her story unfolds in a series of songs that in one way or anotherbecame the soundtrack of our lives, suddenly the memories come aliveand the music that came with them given new grit and meaning as onlyone with Regine's musical caliber can convey.

Refreshingly, she did not resort to a lot of theatrical gimmickryand instead opened to a self-reassuring "Narito Ako" as her aptopening. With the changing of the musical directors and therearrangements of songs she has brought to a higher musical andemotional level, surprising twists became the order of the day andthe audiences gasped anew with abated breath and increasingexpectation.

With every note and every sigh, the Songbird delivers with so muchaplomb that the depth of her emotions and the might of her vocalpower unleashed anew the ephemeral mystery in her music that night.In short, the stamps classic and eternal became of her renditionsold and new.

In the end, Twenty left no doubt about the songs and the songbird'sstatus as the force to reckon with in the years to come. This early,we can't help but anticipate the next twenty years ahead which willperhaps prove more challenging as the previous twenty was no easyact to follow--with its unmistakable surge of ground-breaking, chart-busting and best of all original performances.

Still, there remain so many stones left unturned for her, not to saypersonal wishes that hopefully Regine would lend an ear to: a back-to-back with another major musical icon, Gary V (for sure, we'veseen enough of her collaborations with Ogie and Martin), a tributeto some of her idols such as Kuh Ledesma and Sharon Cuneta, amusical theater-inspired homage (she did stage acting before andalmost became one of our beloved Kims in Miss Saigon)…and who knowswhat other original ideas Regine is sure to be cooking up.

That night was an emotional (uplifting in its sincerity), mostconfident (even sexy in those well-crafted threads she wore withmore matured elan) yet reassuringly down-to-earth Regine who knowswhere she is and is more than thankful for the gift of music.

To fly again, to soar once more, to reign anew in the next twentyyears--the excitement only keeps building up over Regine's nextmoves. She's simply got what it takes to win our hearts with hersongs, and we're definitely watching next time around!