GIGI DE LANA and the GIGI VIBES dominated the stage at Los Angeles first-leg ‘Domination’ U.S. Tour!

By Oliver Carnay

There’s a new pop rock diva dominating the concert scenes and she just rocked the Alex Theatre, filling up to the last seat in the balcony section.  The phenomenal viral diva and former  youtube pandemic sensation, together with her group THE GIGI VIBES, is getting a lot of attention.  She has become the biggest singing sensation in all platforms and this is the right moment to grasp that fame she deserves.
 
GIGI DE LANA opened the night with her own version of Phil Collin’s IN THE AIR TONIGHT and a couple more rock songs including Meatloaf’s I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR YOU, complete with stunning LED visuals (Thank you Frank Lloyd Mamaril for giving us one of the best directed concerts in Los Angeles!).  After addressing her excitement and greeting the audience, she followed her repertoire with a Michael Jackson medley of songs.  She also sang a couple of OPM rock songs — Laklak and Banal na Aso, Santong Kabayo, and then disappeared onstage for awhile after singing Francis Magalona’s ‘Kaleidoscope World.’  Gigi Vibes at this point took over the stage showing off their musicality.  Gigi came back with a shining silver maroon suit, and continued with more OPM songs — Bugoy Drilon’s popularized HINDI NA BALE, Ice Seguerra’s ‘SUKOB NA.’ and Gloc 9’s SIMPLENG TAO,
 
She also sang Gary Valenciano’s ‘DATI RATI’ reminding everyone that we should always trust the LORD whatever challenges we have in our lives.  She cried a bit after mentioning her group — “These boys are my family .. I love them so much! ..” She then sang ‘THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR’ and introduced each one of her team after the song — the Gigi Vibes are Romeo Marquez (drums), L.A. Arquero (lead guitarist), Jon Cruz (Jon Cruz), Harvy Jake Manalo Bass), and Erwin Lacsa (2nd keyboard). 
 
The boys had the chance to do their own version of “Backstreet Boys” medley.  The audience got the chance to requests from Gigi, too, — she sang THROUGH THE YEARS, I WON’T LAST A DAY WITHOUT YOU, FLY ME TO THE MOON, and ALL BY MYSELF.
 
Gigi sang a duet with her special guest artist Carlo Aquino, with ‘BAKIT BA GANYAN’ and then Carlo sang Orange and Lemon’s ‘HANGGANG KAILAN’ and followed by Rivermaya’s ‘HINAHANAP-HANAP KITA,’ where Carlo went around the excited crowd as he teases them.
 
Gigi went back the stage with a full white outfit singing her original ‘Sakalam’ hit song (from her self-titled album) and followed it up with Whitney Houston’s I’LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, I HAVE NOTHING, and I RUN TO YOU.  And of course, the night won’t be finished without the song that went viral and made her popular — ‘BAKIT NGA BA MAHAL KITA,’ originally popularized by Roselle Nava.
 
At the Meet & Greet after the concert, I personally witnessed why Gigi de Lana has been so loved by many, especially her loyal fans.  She asked the guy coordinating the Meet & Greet if she could hold the line as she wanted to reach out to an old lady who wasn’t in the line but just happy to look at her while she takes pictures with the SVIP ticket holders.  She came up to the woman, took her time to talk to her, hugged her so tightly and thanked her for watching her concert.  Watch the video below and you’ll see.
 
Congratulations to Anajoy Kathlynne Felicen and Mae Miller on their first venture as concert producers!  I would like to thank Richard and Imee Maghanoy of iSkin MedSpa (https://www.facebook.com/iskinmedspa)  for giving me a good seat to watch this awesome concert!