Ramiele Malubay’s two-night concert with Ogie Alcasid, Pinoy Idol winner Gretchen Espina at the Aliw Theater in Pasay City was a huge success. The evening began with a local indie band called Menaya, whose frontman Brian Sombero is a good friend of Ogie Alcasid’s. When Menaya was done with their set, Ogie’s band and back-up singers set up to a montage of “Idol auditions”, the highlight of it being a video of Ogie dressed up as the Filipino American Idol reject Renaldo Lapuz singing his song, “We’re Brothers Forever”. Ogie then appeared onstage with a marching band to continue the song from the video.
After Ogie performed a medley of songs by Lionel Richie, DeBarge, Kool and the Gang, as well as some originals, Pinoy Idol girls Jenni Rawole, Jayann Bautista, Sue Ellen Cubing, Penelope, and Gretchen came in for several medleys and numbers. Finally, Ramiele stepped onstage to sing “Bakit Ngayon ka Lang” together with Ogie. She also sang several songs from her favorite Filipino singers Regine Velasquez (”Dadalhin” and “You Are My Song”) and Lani Misalucha (”Bukas Na Lang Kita Mamahalin”). She also performed her American Idol trademark number, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”, and her performance ended with Bing Crosby’s “I’ll be Home for Christmas”.
Ramiele said she was very happy with her performance in both concerts despite having a cough several days ago. In fact, two days before the first concert, she almost lost her voice. She was also very impressed with the level of professionalism everyone had and will be spending the next three months looking into a possible career in the Philippines.
