April 14, 2018 – The Script visited Manila for the fourth time, and the Filipino crowd was beyond thrilled to have them back. The MOA Arena was full to the brim as thousands and thousands of fans filled the seats, ready and to belt out each and every word to the band’s extensive discography (and in perfect tune and beat on that, too).

Their current world tour Freedom Child is a bit different from their previous ones. Now on their fifth studio album, Danny O’Donoghue, Mark Sheehan and Glen Power, have traded in their usual heartrending saccharine bops about romance (and the loss thereafter) for a more universal theme. They have now taken it as their cause to empower the crowd during their concerts, and for all its worth, it had made their latest Manila show even more memorable.

Their setlist was packed with 16 songs, featuring tracks from Freedom Child in between the good, old Script classics. From their older roster, they played “Superheroes”, “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”, “Nothing”, “If You Could See Me Now” and “Paint the Town Green” amongst others. From their latest album, they dished out “Wonders”, “Arms Open”, “No Man Is An Island” and “Rain”.

One of the most astounding things about the concert was the crowd’s palpably high energy all throughout the evening. They didn’t discriminate between the old and the new tracks. Whatever the song was, majority of people knew the lyrics to all of them very well. It was almost unreal how the Arena became a powerhouse of an organized and heartfelt sing-along from start to finish. See, that’s probably a given in most concerts in the Philippines, but what made The Script’s show different was the fact that the audience sang along in harmony. Their voices blended well as the band ripped through each song live.

Danny O’ Donoghue is also the beacon of charisma as he made the ruled the crowd with every little thing he did. He’s such a warm and enlivening presence on stage in the way he reached out to the crowd. In fact, The Script might just be the most approachable band during concerts. The trio actually went out of the main stage to go all the way the bleachers in the patron area wherein they performed (in acoustic) “If You Never Come Back” and “Never Seen Anything ‘Quite Like You’ ” right smack in the middle of overjoyed fans. As if that wasn’t enough, Danny took his time to go around the lower box area as “The Energy Never Dies” played.

Danny’s voice is also very powerful, not only when he sang, but when he spoke. His words unwittingly made an impact to the thousands who were there. “Freedom is all you have in this world – freedom to be what you want to be; freedom to say what you want to say; freedom to live the way you want to live; freedom to dress how you want to dress; freedom to hang around who you want to hang around with; freedom to listen to what you want to listen to. But more importantly, freedom to love who you want to love,” Danny proclaimed. With the spotlights of the Arena turned off, he had requested the audience to turn on the flashlights on their mobile phone. The band was on their encore set. They just played “Breakeven” and “No Good in Goodbye” and were about to cap off the night with “Hall of Fame”.

He continued, “Now, more than ever, we need to be together. Without each other, we don’t have anything. I want to feel the surge of electricity tonight! The passion I feel for the Filipino audience. I would take this to heaven with me. I would take this to my grave. A night like tonight, don’t forget, stays in the heart, stays in the mind. Every time you hear this song, you think about this incredible night we have tonight.”

More Photos at The Script Live in Manila 2018 Photo Gallery

Special Thanks to Midas Promotions

Written by Sandra Mae Laureano
Photos by Glenn Michael Tan