Libera Blog Philippines Tour Part 2

The only tourism ad Cebu needs!

Yay! Here is the "continuation of the blog according to Libera." :) It's great to see some of the pictures that the people in the videos were taking. :) I'm so glad we got to see the video of "Cebu!" and the performance at the hotel.

Shangri-La in Cebu - so beautiful!

Speaking of the hotel, the Shangri-La sounds AMAZING! I want to go and get "that happy, Shangri-La state you feel when you stay there." The picture of the infinity pool is breathtaking! Lucky boys! After some sleeping and eating "(I think you get the picture that every meal here is simply in excess)" lolol! they went to the indoor arcade and play area (again, lucky boys!). A snooker table is sort of like a pool table. Had to look that one up. :) Then they were off to another Meet & Greet. 

After that they had dinner and were serenaded by the Mandaue Children's Choir. I love that the kids taught the Libera boys "some of the moves they did in their performance." Go kids that can sing!!



The Mandaue Children's Choir has boys and girls in it and has won international competitions. I found this recent video of them where they have on the same costumes that they wore to perform for Libera. Maybe some of the songs are the same, too. :)

It sounds like the Cebu concert was amazing! I love how much enthusiasm there is in the Philippines for Libera. And I love how much Libera loves it, too! Go Filipino Libera fans! You guys are awesome!

Then it was back to Cebu and another hotel there and then off to Manila and then London. :( So sad you had to leave boys. Sounds like you had a great time! Hope you enjoyed every minute of it!

Cebu Concert Reviews

Libera posted on their Facebook yesterday,

Thank you Cebu. From the welcome at the airport to your support at our concert we have enjoyed fantastic hospitality here.

Well, Libera gave Cebu an excellent concert in return! The concert was sold out plus the balcony was opened for more seating! Many who went to both concerts are saying that Cebu was even better than Manila! Here are a few first-hand reviews:

John and Cheryl from Canada went to Libera's Cebu concert. John wrote,

"For now I'll just say that the concert was a tremendous success - a sell out - and the boys were on top form. I spoke to some of the parents who had also been to Manila and they agreed that Cebu was even better. Ralph and Stefan were amazing. Difficult to pick a favorite from the new songs - they were all so good. The venue was excellent and the fan-girls were most enthusiastic - so much so that many of the speeches had to be interrupted many times and some of the speakers lost their place. Cassius's hood routine had a new twist - which I won't give away. Hope he repeats it at St George's.Whoever is going to St. George's is in for a treat. Don't even think about missing it. I hope to see many of you there."

Thank you, John! :)

There's another VERY detailed and excellent review by phlibera on the Dreams forum here.  It sounds like everyone liked the use of the large video screens on the sides. There's a link at the bottom to some very good photos of the post-concert Meet & Greet, too. Thank you, phlibera! :) 

Cebu Welcomes Libera Video

Oh my goodness, I don't think we've ever seen anything like this! It's a video of Libera arriving in Cebu. They have dancers in beautiful dresses and musicians playing Filipino music as the boys get off the bus. And sure enough, out come the boys' cameras to record it all. We even get to watch them pose for their group picture.

Then we see them inside the airport (thanks anon!), and there are more musicians. And what?! Jonathan is leading a conga line (circle dance) with Ben, Daniel, Cassius, Kavana (previous Bamboo Dance champ), MJ, Ralph, Matt, Isaac (aw, he's having such a good time), Eoghan (other Bamboo Dance champ), Henry (cracking up!), Dylan, Barney, Jakub (the new guy fits right in), Jude and Nano Ben following behind! Yeah, they have rhythm! Next party at the Barrington house! The camera pans back to show us the rest of the boys with their cameras out recording everything. Sing along...Cebu! :D Don't you wish you were there? I do!!! Cebu! Cassius keeps dancing; Barney keeps recording. I think they have "Cebu" long necklaces on, too! What a great welcome! Thank you to Libera 360 for posting this! More please! :D

Cebu Concert

Tonight is Libera's Cebu concert! Yuki and Enyu are there and sent a few pictures. Thank you! John and his wife from Canada and Jimmy and Yumiko from Japan are there as well.

Picture of stage by Yuki

Picture of Pacific Grand Ballroom by Yuki

Large crowd!

There should be 1600 people attending. Can't wait to hear how the concert goes! :)

Libera Blog Philippines Tour Part 1

Awww...Libera boy(s) are having too much fun with the secrecy of who writes the blogs. If you ask them during an M&G, they will just give you this mischievious grin and say that they can't tell you that or it would spoil the fun. :) Well, whoever it was that wrote this, he (they) did an excellent job! You can read the whole "Philiblog" here.

I love the word "instantaneous" when talking about changing planes in Dubai. I would imagine it would seem instantaneous since they are used to hours of sitting around in the airport waiting for their connecting flight! Thank you Mystery Writer (MW) for giving into our American (and apparently Filipino) spelling of "center." lol :)  I myself always feel like it's wrong to type centRE...so there we go. We're even now.

The MW is quite descriptive when he talks about the amount of food that they all eat! Examples: "rather large breakfast" "piles of food" "We ate practically everything" "enormous roast pig" "sudden overload of food" "mammoth dinner" "colossal piles of food" :D Although Lala DID take us out for Filipino food in Toronto, so I can definitely understand how they would want to stuff themselves completely full! Shout-out to the Filipino fans: YOUR FOOD IS AMAZING! lol

Rehearsal

Amazing performance on ASAP Rocks!

It's pretty impressive that their appearance on ASAP Rocks to perform "Carol of the Bells" (brilliant, by the way) took less than an hour to do. But what does MW mean by "we couldn’t do our trademark moves?" What exactly are they doing while singing this during the concert?

Manila Meet & Greet at the Block. Do you see yourself?! :)

I'm really glad that THEY enjoy the Meet and Greets (because we know WE enjoy them). I also love the picture looking down on the tables and the crowd! So cool!

They got their own personal Crocs! That's awesome! Wonder if they're like specialized or different than usual ones or something. That would be so awesome!

Unveiling the plaque for the Libera Playground.

"After the unveiling of the plaque that will go up outside the playground, five of us were interviewed on the subject, and then on the concerts and the new Christmas album (WHICH YOU SHOULD BUY, by the way – thought I ought to plug it in somewhere)." Bahahahaha!!! This really made me laugh out loud...especially since it was right in the middle of something completely different!

Polo club?! Cool! And bowling and...LIAM! 5 STRIKES?! IN A ROW?! I'M GONNA BREAK MY CAPS LOCK ON THAT ONE! THAT'S INCREDIBLE!!! Get that boy on a bowling team! (But make sure he still has time for choir practice.)  :)

What a quirky store. Handicrafts, a piano & a giant Santa! :D

Oh to hear Josh and Liam play an improv piano duet! Video, Libera? Anyone pull out a camera? *hint, hint* ;) Can I play a piano duet with each of you someday, too? :)

And happy birthday to Josh! Man I would totally spend my B-Day in the Philippines if I could! Can't wait to hear more! Keep the pictures and videos coming everyone! And keep the blogs coming Libera MW!

Manila concert - beautiful stars, or snow.

Cebu Meet & Greet

Well, the Cebu Meet & Greet is today. Here are Yuki's first pictures of it. The boys should be rested after some fun in the sun! :)

Stage with large screen set up.

Yuki's tickets to go through the line.

Daniel, Jonathan & Ben.

Nice screaming fan girl video after the Meet & Greet of Libera leaving the mall. The security guards even made a human chain pathway for them to walk through! o_O Wow!



And another nice fan girl video with a really good view of Libera leaving. These girls sound like Ben Philipp fans. :D



And another nice video as they go up the mall stairs. Ralph really seems to be enjoying all of this! :D

Manila Concert Reviews

Manila concert pic by Philippine Daily Enquirer.

Manila concert standing ovation. Pic by Liberians Philippines.

Yuki wrote a great review of the Manila concert on her blog. You can read it here. Thank you, Yuki! :) And she found out that Matthew Madine is 9 years old and will be 10 next month! So another birthday to add to the list! :)

Our friend, Hannah, also wrote a great concert review that you can read here.

Then there is another excellent concert review with tons of pictures on the Liberians Philippines blog here. Thank you all for such detailed reviews and great pictures! :)

There is a review by the Philippine Daily Enquirer that you can read here. The writer sounds like a real fan. She writes, "We never want to hear 'White Christmas' sung any other way. And 'Himig ng Pasko,' Libera-style, will henceforth be our measure of cool for the affectingly familiar line, 'Malamig ang simoy ng hangin.' She noticed that the soloists from 2 years ago are now singing in the lower registers. She also liked the video screens at each side of the stage.

"While 'Joy to the World' and 'Carol of the Bells' were the most heartily applauded, our big favorite was 'The Fountain.'...The most exquisite, though, given the orientation of the group, were the adoration songs 'Glory to Thee' and 'How Shall I Sing That Melody.'" I'm sure she means "Majesty." :) She finishes by saying, "We love these boys, we do."  :D

And there is yet another concert review by ABS CBN News here. The writer got goosebumps hearing Libera sing "Himig ng Pasko."

Manila Concert M&G Video

Thanks to Eric Paulin for another great video, this time of the Meet & Greet after the Manila concert. Congratulations to the 151 people who got to go through the line! :D

Good news, Philippines! Eric says to Isaac, "Hopefully (we'll) see you next year." And Isaac says, "Oh, yeah, we'll definitely be coming back next year." :D

Manila Post-Concert M&G Pics from Hannah

Only 150 people got to go through the Meet & Greet line after the Manila concert, but Hannah was #151 thanks to Yuki & Andy Winter! Wow, lucky Hannah! :D

Hannah did a great job for us fans who couldn't be there. Her pictures really let you feel like you're there. And, of course, great pictures of the boys. Hmm. We seem to be missing a picture of Tom.

Alex - sorry your eyes are closed. But you're still handsome. :)