Ruby Loves Adventure

So, last June 3 was one of the best concert experiences in my life. One of my favourite boybands, BSB, has partnered up with another super boyband, NKOTB to make up NKOTBSB.

For those of you who don't know the acronyms: BSB- Backstreet Boys
NKOTB- New Kids On The Block
There. Acquainted now?

And so I got a txt and facebook message from friends while I was at Incheon International Airport in Korea and forwarded a poster to me: NKOTBSB on June 5. Oooh, count me in, I said to my friends. Only to find out the ticket prices a few weeks later and dismayed the hell out of me!

The SVIP area (first three rows) cost nearly 14000 pesos ($330+ £200+) (note: all prices are rounded up as I cannot remember the exact prices), the VIP area costs 9000 pesos ($230 £150), Lower Box around 8000 pesos ($200 £120), Upper Box at 3800 pesos ($100 £60) and General Admission at 1100 pesos ($30 £16).

It was much too expensive for my liking! And also, way off my original budget of 5000 pesos ($130 £75). My friends at the time were trying to buy VIP tickets but I politely declined, saying I will get the Upper Box as that was the closest to the stage given my very limited budget. It doesn't help that they will hold the venue at the Mall Of Asia Arena, a brand new concert venue in the metro, one we are not familiar with.

Anyways, I completely put the concert out of my mind - I don't want to regret buying the ticket (I could buy a plane ticket to Korea, Japan or any other international destination given that price) and I was also resolved in not watching anymore.

However, at the back of my mind, I was hoping for cheaper tickets and lo and behold, Groupon sold an offer to the ticket three days before the concert (on May 31st) at 50% off the original price. Perhaps because the original price of the tickets are so steep there's few people who bought them, and hence the offer. I immediately snapped a VIP seat at half off even though I have no idea where I was going to be seated.

On June 1st, I was lucky enough to get half day off from work and headed off to the Groupon office to claim my ticket. Knowing that there were hundreds who already bought the deal, I knew I was in for a chaotic afternoon and I was definitely not disappointed. The office was a bit hard to find- only directions I could give is that it's in Chino Roces Ave, and is near the Magallanes MRT station, walking distance!

When I arrived, the tickets weren't there yet! Apparently, they were still in transit (although I had a feeling thy were still being printed) and we had an option to wait for it or just have it shipped to our home addresses by the next day.

Since I was a paranoid android, I decided to wait. I didn't have anything else planned for the evening anyway. I'm all fairness and respect to the Groupon staff, they did everything that they can to keep us comfortable during the wait: offering us snacks, drinks, and chairs. They also offered updates now and again. Who could say no to that?

I finally got my tickets at around 7pm and woohoo!! I'll see NKOTBSB! It's finally real!

Watch out for part two of my post-
It will cover what happened at the concert itself :)

So, last Sunday, October 18th, I went to SM North Edsa's The Block atrium to catch a show by a new British band called Raygun.

Well, I don't really know them much, except that a good friend of mine is totally addicted to them [esp the bassist] and begged me to come. Well, since I had nothing to do that Sunday afternoon and I'm curious to see if this band is cute good, I am happy to oblige with her request.

I arrived at SM North around 4:15pm -- the show was at 5pm and I'm not really expecting it to start on time given that no one really follows the exact time here in the Philippines.

Calallilly [sp?] started the set by singing a few songs [not a big fan of them, sorry, don't know any of their song titles] followed by Raygun.

Raygun setlist [many thanks Dez!]

1. Can't say no
2. Rocketblast
3. Waiting in Line
4. Just Because
5. Lord forgive me
6. See you later

Just bloody 6 songs? Come on! The event was only around 30-40 minutes long!
Meanwhile, enjoy some photos I shot at the event. There's probably gonna be more uploads once I have the time to upload them.

Figured I'd take a break from publishing a backlog of book reviews & travel updates to come up with a little meme!


First off, I love, love, love, love to travel. Yes, I love to travel even more than I love books! My dream destinations are the UK [again] and Italy. One of my dreams is to go on a Eurotrip for at least 2 months, trying to explore every city I go along =) That will make me so happy! I LOVE Europe!

Another love -- stuffed animals and makeup. They make me so happy!

I also love concerts, music, theatre & events. Nothing like being invited in an event. Text or ring me up a day or two before an event and I'd definitely confirm!


Next. I love tv shows & movies. Equally as much as I love books! My favourites at the moment are True Blood, The Vampire Diaries and the Tudors. Maybe a bit of Gossip Girl as well.

And finally, books! My preferences are:

1. Books set in England, most specially in London!! There's nothing like imagining what's happening in the book & mixing it up with my own memories.
2.Historical fiction about royalty - Kings, queens, prince and princesses. oh my! The scandal and society!
3. Other historical fiction - what's it like living back then? But I mostly prefer European historical fiction [again, the bias for European stuff]
4. Paranormal - vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters. :D Immortals intrigue me.
5. Fantasy - a whole new world, anyone?
6. Autobiography/biographies - partial to british royalty, personalities, singers & artists. Mostly of the European kind too [except for Nick Carter]
7. Mystery - who killed whom? what's the backstory? I loved Nancy Drew when I was a kid and it passed on until now!

SM North, The Block. 5pm.

The Saturdays performed 7 songs as part of their Asian tour. This was a free concert and since I looove going to concerts & I also love UK bands, I decided to go for it.

The setlist is:
1. If This Is Love
2. Keep Her
3. I Just Cant Get Enough
4. Chasing Lights
5. Issues
6. Work
7. Up


Photos: [Pls dont mind the line that is separating the photo in two, its just that the batch watermark creator I'm using is not registered yet]









Una & her guitar while preparing for Chasing Lights

And off to a friend's house tonight. Yay DSL! Hello long-delayed posts of videos on YouTube, reviews about events and photos.

Have a happy weekend everyone! :)

Latest hauls:
-- Taking 5 DVD [OMG been waiting SOOOOO long for this! Hello the Click Five!]
-- The Duchess and Carnivale [season 1 and 2 DVDs] --> is it just me or am I being biased to buying only period films?
-- Ronan Keating Live DVD [hurrah hurrah]
-- another copy of Boyzone: Back Again No Matter What Live 2008[because I'm scared the other one would be scratched the way I keep on playing it]

**Just wanted to post this --- OMG I shaked the hand of Joey Westwood. He's such a babe:**

Movies:
Ang Tanging Ina Nyong Lahat [Local Movie Review]
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Seven Pounds
(500) Days of Summer


DVDs:
Boyzone: Back Again...No Matter What Live 2008 [Concert Review]
Criminal Minds -- Season 3
Medical Investigation -- Episode 1
Lipstick Jungle

Wheee!!!

I finally got my hands on the live DVD of one of my favourite bands in the world, Boyzone! :)

I watched it for two straight days and it made me reminisce so much about the Boyzone 2008 tour which I was soo blessed and happy to have watched live in London on June 1, 2008.

The DVD was awesome -- the package contains two DVDs -- the first being the concert, the second being a documentary and interview with the lads themselves.

Although not available locally in Manila [I asked a friend to buy me a copy of the DVD when she was in Hong Kong], I highly suggest that fans of this band do get a copy of the DVD. After all, it is Boyzone! And they're finally back after an eight year break. You can order it from amazon.co.uk via the link above.

I am off to watch it one more time over the weekend. I just can't get enough of it! :)

Other DVD lemmings I have:
Live In Chicago

Westlife Live at Croke Park [2008]

'Take That - For The Record - Official Documentary [Amaray] [2006]

Since my friends have all been posting their 2008 round-ups, might as well post one too.

Let's see... I shall do it by month.

January 2008 -- I really had this strong feeling that 08 is going to be lucky. I can feel it in my bones. And yes, it was lucky indeed :)

February 2008 -- Seeing Ne-Yo in Shangri-La. Super funny. I was craving for a Wendy's frosty and there he was, in line, in front of us! Syempre we asked for autographs, but what are the chances? Lol.

March 2008 -- Maroon 5 in Manila -- And oh yes. I got a chance to meet them too. I'm sooooo infatuated with Jesse Carmichael, oh yes, oh yes. I had my photo taken with him but its a bit blurry. But who the hell cares? I still had my photo taken with him!

Colbie Caillat in Manila I got a chance to meet her too, thanks to Tet's Ayala Card. teehee! :) She's awesome.

Mandy Moore in Manila I got a chance to meet her and see her in concert IN THE FRONT ROW! Oh my gosh. She's been my fave female singer ever since I was younger and I was soooo gutted when I didn't get to see her concert at Araneta in 2004. But oh well. That all changed now :)

Special mention: Incubus in Manila. I never really liked the band that much but I went to the concert to see how they were good live. I liked some of their songs anyway.

It was also on this month that I found out I'm flying to London in a couple of weeks for training. Waaaah Yay! :)

April 2008 Was supposed to go to Pagudpod, but had to cancel my trip because the London trip was scheduled for April 12th. But the London trip got delayed till May. Oh well.

May 2008 The Click Five in Manila!
Just when I thought that I wouldn't be able to watch this concert, I got to! My flight for London was scheduled for May 31st, the concert was on May 30th. Teehee. Lucky no? Well..... part of it was because I had rescheduled my flight hahaha. Instead of leaving on the 30th I had it moved to the 31st instead.
I didn't get to meet Click this time around, but hey, the payoff was good anyway... I got to book tickets to MY ULTIMATE FAVE BAND two days before the Click concert... You'll find more of that in the next month ;)


CDs I loved for 2008:



Books Read for 2008:

Oh my gosh. I'm freaking out.

Fall out Boy will be having a gig on Friday, Feb 13th, 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Tickets are now being sold through ticketnet:



They're quite expensive but I'll find a way to watch this concert!

**Cross-posted with another blog post from another blog site.**

I literally freaked out when I saw on the ticketnet website that one of my favourite bands is going to perform in MNL.

Problem was, I didn't have any tickets nor any cash saved up for good tickets.

So a friend of mine recommended that I joined a Getzmo promo for tickets, and lady luck was smiling upon me as I was one of two winners of the promo.

I dragged my friend since grade school to come along with me, in fact, she also joined the promo, and we got ace seats to the concert.

We had a blast!

The opening act was a band called Crowned King -- they sang a few songs, but the first song was my favourite, "Don't Let Go", which was quite catchy.

Then came Panic At The Disco.

Brendon was so gorge up close. Now I was totally regretting not going to their autograph signing the day before [even though friends told me it was absolute chaos]. The guys sang a lot of songs and the concert ended at around 11.

But wait, there's more.

After the concert, the guys from Crowned King came out for an autograph signing, but I was too dazed with PATD that I was late for the signing and all the CDs had been sold out. DOH.

However, I managed to get a photo with the piano player. Surreal. He just walked up to me, and asked me if I wanted a photo.

Of course I said yes. :)

There were a lot of guards surrounding us at that time, which felt a wee bit awkward, but then again, the photo turned out so nicely I was over the moon.

Anyhow, I didn't get to take any good photos from the event, only videos.

Below is "That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed for Me)" by PATD.

Apologies if it's shaky or if you hear my constant screaming.




So it's four months late, but its better late than never.

Just saw ticketworld's site and they have a preview of upcoming concerts. and tadah. I see this:


They're coming!

No details on ticket prices/venue yet. My guess is that ticket prices would be around 3k+ for the front block seats and venue might be an open field [the fort, maybe?]

I've no plans of shelling out a lot of cash this December but if any generous ones out there could give me some tickets [i only need 1 :P ] then I'd be one happy camper!

On other stuff, how was your weekend? Mine was very boring. I stayed at home, catched up with Heroes Season 1 [LOSER] and read a pages in some books I've been meaning to read for quite some time.

Get ready for another concert here in MNL coming in July!

If your planner is still not full, you can add Lifehouse at the Araneta Coliseum on July 26th, Saturday.

Although it's still not up at Ticketnet's site, it is already posted in Lifehouse's official website

Here's a screenshot for your reference:

Will update more if I get tickets already or if there is new information out.

Another event to watch out for this July is Daughtry!

Ooooh.. The bank account will certainly complain now!

OMG so many foreign acts are coming to MNL!

Vanessa Carlton at the Ayala Malls on May 9-11. Er... dunno if I'll watch since I might have weekend plans to go out of Manila. If that weekend plan won't push through then I'm definitely going to Vanessa Carlton. It's FREE of charge [if you have the Ayala card, of course]. How cool is that?
James Blunt on May 19 -- dunno if I'll watch. It depends on my budget.
The Click Five on May 30th -- SOOOOO STOKED for this. I postponed my London trip for a week just to watch this concert :P Secured my tickets last March [excited??]
Daughtry -- sometime in July. Gosh. I hope I get tickets.
Paramore -- rumoured rumoured.
Alicia Keys on Aug 5 -- dunno if I'll watch :)
Panic at the Disco on Aug 14 -- i will deffo watch, just need to secure tickets by Tuesday, May 6th, perhaps.

Oh My. I can't wait for them. They'll be new concert adventures [if i find the money to pay for them].

On another note, I am going off to another adventure. I am going to England on June and won't be returning till July. How cool is that? I hope to post some experiences/photos when I've got them around :P

My life has been quite boring lately. I haven't found myself some new adventures.

Oh wait. Last weekend [April 26th], I went to Fort Santiago, Intramuros, and just walked around the ancient wall. Downside? I left my camera! Shit.
I also went to SM Mall of Asia [MOA for those of you who don't know it] and watched U2 3D. Awesome, awesome show. For those of you who still hasn't watched this, go and do so to experience [an almost] U2 concert experience. Quite a hefty price to pay P500 for MOA, but well worth it.
Did you know that there were also fireworks at 7pm around the Bay area behind MOA at the time? I watched it too, 'twas awesome.
And did I mention that I forgot my camera when all this was happening? Another shit moment.

April 27th -- Gossip Girl marathon. Did I mention that this tv show is also awesome??? Definitely something worth watching.

Recent addictions for the month: cosmetics. Just bought myself some goodies from MAC's Fafi collection since I love all things cute. Can you blame me if I bought them for the packaging? Oh, may I add that I love the quality of their products as well. If i'm not too lazy to post then I might as well post FOTDs and product reviews and make this blog alive. =)

I am also trying to sell some mineral makeup. So buy if you can! haha.

Gotta run, will post more updates soon =)

Am listening to Vertical Horizon right now and it totally slipped my mind that I wasn't able to blog about my adventure!

Here goes...

Was surfing the ticketnet website (my day isn't complete without checking if there are new tickets available for upcoming concerts here in MNL) and I came upon the Vertical Horizon concert.

Immediately IMed my concert buddy, and he was game to watch =)
Called the ticket hotline and reserved 2 tickets for upper A (this isn't the front block), but we were front row -- albeit not in the center area.

A colleague of mine happened to drop by my computer and saw that I was arranging for the tickets. She called up another colleague and convinced 2 of their friends to go with them in the concert. Funnily enough, my teammate also learned that I was going to the concert and also wanted to watch.

So, the next day, we got tickets -- row A seats 1-6 of upper Box A area 302.

Only prob was my teammate had a different seat reservation -- i believe area 301, seat 7-8 row D.

The day after that, he was able to exchange his tickets for the ones beside us. So now we occupied Upper Box A area 302 row A seats 1-8. Fun, huh?

So, day of the concert. December 7th, 2007.

Plans of leaving work at exactly 6pm was thwarted since there was this user from London who needed attended to.

Ended up leaving the building at 6.15pm and traffic was hellish! It took us an hour and a half to get to the venue.. Yes... that long. We arrived at the Araneta Coliseum at around 7.45pm.

Sheryl was feeling like we were in the amazing race.. Wanting to beat the time because she wanted to watch the front act, a local band called Rivermaya.

We were able to see a few of Rivermaya's set while eating overpriced Wendy's takeout that we had for dinner.

Jamie Kennedy was also there. He was funny.

Then a LOT of waiting before Vertical Horizon came in.

They started playing at around 9.30pm and the show started around 10.45

Nice yeah?

I don't really remember the setlist but i'll probably edit this post once I do remember -- IF i do remember :P

Off to bed now...