Last August 30, musicians Alex Goot and Against The Current performed live in their first ever show in Manila. The CCP Theater was jam-packed and most were wearing merchandise or customized shirts to show their full support for these 2 YouTube stars.

A little fact about their front act Ms. Monique Lualhati. She auditioned individually in the The X-Factor Philippines (2012) and later became part of the girl group A.K.A. Jam. Monique never had a hard time holding our attention because of her beautiful voice resonating like the queen of R&B, Soul Princess and country’s most awarded singer Kyla. She graced us with her rendition of songs from Beyonce, Fantasia Barino, Jessie J, Bruno Mars and my personal favorite was her version of “Clarity” by Zedd.

Against The Current – If you love watching indie YouTube artists, you’re definitely not a stranger to their music where their videos of covers of hit songs and originals have reached millions of views and became viral in social media. The moment when ATC took the stage, the crowd cheered for them! Most of the fans, especially guys were screaming, “I love you Chrissy!”. She was the center of attention and certainly carried out her main vocalist duties. The sweet-looking singer reached out to their fans as she went left and right the stage to get closer to the crowd. The band performed their hits “Closer, Faster”, “Something You Need” and covers of hits like Paramore’s “Ain’t It Fun”.

Overwhelmed with the crowd, Chrissy and Drummer Will Ferri noted that this was “the best show we’ve ever played” and asked the fans to give their all in their next couple of songs. Later after the show, Chrissy posted a couple of tweets of how she felt about the fans connection between them and their music. We all know that their 70% of their fans are from the Philippines and that was ATC-some!

Alex Goot had a soulful piano-infused set. He said “Manila, I can feel it right now, I can feel the love in the room” after doing his cover of Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles”. “I hear so many ‘I love yous’ out there, I love you too” he answered the crowd, before doing “Bright Lights”.

My personal favorite on Alex set was when he did his best-known covers, The Fray’s “How to Save a Life”, Bon Jovi’s “Living On A Prayer” and Oasis’ “Wonderwall”. His best original song performance was “Pretty Eyes”.

Alex was overwhelmed saying “For my first time here, I can’t believe it, I really can’t believe it,” while shaking his head. “Oh my God, I love you too!”

The night won’t be over without them doing their mash ups, Chrissy appeared again to sing a medley of their well-known covers, including Kelly Clarkson’s “Catch My Breath”, Owl City’s “Good Time”, and Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat”. Alex had us sing along to his originals as well, including “Wake Up Call” and “Lightning” plus covers that showed off his interest in different types of music ending with The Script’s “Breakeven”.

ATC and Alex Goot ended the night by doing an obligatory selfie with the crowd. It was a night of good music from New Yorkers who won the hearts of their Filipino fans. Their success brings a massive amount of inspiration and motivation to their fans. They encouraged us to show our musical talent and to reach our dreams. We look forward to seeing them back together in Manila.

Special thanks to Phoenix Production, Ellipsis, Solaire Resort & Casino and DMC Philippines for making Alex Goot and Against The Current live in Manila a huge success.

Written by Jo Tagudin
Photos by Glenn Michael Tan