“I’ve always felt very welcome here in the Philippines. I don’t know why it is that you love me here, but I want you to know that I’m extraordinarily thankful for it and I don’t take it for granted,” Bruno Major told the crowd at the PICC Plenary Hall. 

The Philippines was the only country he went back and forth in the span of a few days. On September 7, he held his first show in Manila in the same venue wherein a full house welcomed him warmly. To follow his tour schedule, he flew to Hong Kong the very next day only to return to Manila to return for his second show here and to conclude his world tour.

The 36-year old British singer-songwriter has gone around the world since last year with breaks few and far between. After the release of his widely acclaimed 3rd album Columbo in July 2023, he immediately began his quest to play as many cities as possible in his Tour of Planet Earth, spanning more than 40 shows, many of which were sold out. 

Still, Manila was special to him. Bruno Major later revealed that his biggest crowd for his tour was also here. “I sold more than 7,000 tickets here. This is the most tickets I’ve sold in my life,” he said, thanking the crowd for their overwhelming appreciation.

On his 2nd night in Manila, he made his entrance in a black tank top and red-black flare pants, a bit of a polar shift to his usual immaculate suit jacket and trousers combo. A short introduction was played and then ironically the first lines he sang were “The credits roll, you got the girl. The bad guy was defeated” from “The Show Must Goes On”.

From then on, it was a slow and beautiful descent into the Major’s brand of sacred melancholy, the kind that goes between being despondently blue (“Fair-Weather Friend”, “Columbo”, “Places We Won’t Walk”) to being hopelessly in love (“Regent’s Park”, “Home”, “Just the Same”). The 2nd night crowd got a special insert song with the piano acoustic rendition of “Tapestry” from the 2020 album To Let A Good Thing Die.

The audience unanimously took in each song in silent awe. It was almost theatrical how the crowd waited on his every word, respectfully taking in the music and singing along just a little to the lines that hit closest to home. 

Bruno Major shared a few insightful anecdotes about his songs. He recounted that during soundcheck, a fan asked him what his favorite song that he wrote himself, and he thought “Strange Kind of Beautiful” was possibly the best answer. After singing “Tell Her”, he said that he wrote it when he wrote it while he and his girlfriend were having a tough time, but there’s a plot twist: they’re still together.  “Columbo” was a song he wrote about his beloved Ivory White 1981 Mercedes which he unfortunately crashed.

“Thank you so much for opening your heart to me and my music. I will do my best to return the favor. I love you very much,” he thanked the crowd before heading into the encore with “Easily”. 

On his Instagram post a few days after the concert, he said, “My mind is still strong but my body and soul need to rest ~ I’m going to go away for a while, to make another album. Promise me you’ll be there when I come back!!” 

Special thanks to KARPOS!

by Sandra Mae Laureano

Bruno Major – PICC Plenary Hall, September 11 (Night 2) Setlist

Intro

The Show Must Go On

Like Someone in Love

Fair-Weather Friend

Wouldn’t Mean a Thing

Regent’s Park

The Most Beautiful Thing

Tell Her

Home 

You Take the High Road

Strange Kind of Beautiful

Just the Same

Tapestry

Places We Won’t Walk

Nothing

Shakey Ground (cover)

Columbo

We Were Never Really Friends

Easily

The End