By Sandra Mae Laureano

The Rose held their first ever concert in the Philippines at the Samsung Hall on December 15. Presented by MyMusicTaste, We Rose You: Live in Manila was a resounding success as Black Roses (The Rose fans) screamed and sang their hearts out for almost two hours. Their current world tour, which started in August, has reeled in crowds across Europe, America and Southeast Asia. They are also set to hold encore concerts in Seoul and Busan at the end of the month.

The Korean pop-rock band, composed of Woosung (lead vocals, guitar), Dojoon (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Jaehyeong (bass) and Hajoon (drums), is steadily gaining popularity globally due to their concoction of soft-rock that will catch your ears and slightly tug at your heartstrings.

Although the show did come with some delay due to the band fine-tuning the audio set-up, Black Roses were treated to a live audio feed of the band’s soundcheck session, hyping up the show even further. Fans patiently queued up early afternoon until 7:30 p.m. just to snag the best viewing spots in the concert. The standing area was visibly packed with people up to the back.

When the lights went out, the red glow of the band’s official lightsticks floated across the venue, the crowd’s cheers getting louder and louder by the second. They started off with ballads “I.L.Y.” and “Insomnia”. Immediately, fans were enthralled, singing along so intensely, the concert seemed like a huge sing-along with the band. This fervor lasted all throughout the evening.

“Sorry for the delay. We’re gonna give you guys the best show today,” leader Woosung told the crowd in the beginning.

Their setlist included most of their released songs with a few welcome surprises in between. It included “Candy (So Good)” and “BABY” from Void, as well as “I Don’t Know You” and “Take Me Down” from Dawn. The crowd got to hear the band’s unreleased tracks such as “Photographer”, “OMG” and “놓지 못하게 (Can’t Let Go)” which were songs from their time as an indie band circa 2015 to early 2017.

The Rose also performed striking covers of LANY’s “ILYSB”, The Script’s “Breakeven”, Bruno Mars’ “Runaway Baby” and The Beatles’ “Hey Jude”. Each member also had their time to shine with their solo/collab stages: Dojoon with James Bay’s “Hold Back the River”, Hajoon and Jaehyeong with Before You Exit’s “Soldier”. Woosung showed off a groovier side of himself with “MOON” and “FACE” from his solo album Wolf.

It seems the band was overwhelmed by the passion of their Filipino Black Roses who cheered and sang along from start to end.

“You know we’ve tried this in many, many cities. We’ve tried London, Moscow, every city. I think Manila is the best crowd,” Dojoon said, looking around the members who, in turn, nodded in approval.

“Manila has been the best crowd, the best country, the best city we’ve ever been to, so thank you! Thank you for your support! We rose you! We love you,” Woosung expressed his gratitude.

They capped off the evening with “RED” which is their latest single.

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THE ROSE WE ROSE YOU: LIVE IN MANILA is presented by MyMusicTaste. Special thanks to MyMusicTaste for the invitation to the event.