Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of the internationally acclaimed rock band Journey, brought down Palace Theater in Los Angeles as he sang to a sold-out crowd of over 1,000 attendees on Sunday, December 3.
The concert came two days ahead of Pineda marking his 10-year anniversary as the vocalist of the iconic rock group, with whom he has performed all over the world.
On Sunday, Pineda delivered a nearly three-hour set covering classic rock songs from “Come Together” by the Beatles to a medley of Bon Jovi’s hits. For rock fans present, the setlist was a burst of nostalgia, that not dancing and singing along was impossible.
“I’d like to entertain [the crowd] with a lot of these great classic songs that I’ve sang all these years, even before Journey found me,” Pineda previously told the Asian Journal.
Filipino actor Cesar Montano — who now serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Philippines’ Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) — joined Pineda on stage to perform “Hotel California” by The Eagles, much to the surprise and roaring applause of the crowd.
The Journey frontman’s stop in Los Angeles — as part of the “Arnel Pineda: The Album Promo Tour 2017” — was made possible by Normandy Entertainment, in cooperation with the Asian Journal Publications, Balikbayan Magazine, Love of Country, and Pageantry Global Inc.
Now 10 years later and with another successful 2017 Journey tour under his belt, Pineda’s own solo tour has been part of his outreach to Filipino communities across the U.S. and Canada.
His latest solo album titled “AP” reintroduces his fans to the Arnel Pineda before Journey — a passionate Filipino singer with a love for his culture.
In the album are original songs by Pineda, many of which take him back to his pre-Journey days as a number of tracks are re-recordings of Pineda’s original compositions from as early as the 2000s with his bands Ammo and Zoo.
“This album was made to reach out to my kababayan — to my fellow Filipinos,” said Pineda.
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Cesar Montano tells Fil-Ams: Tara Na, Byahe Na!
Toward the end of Arnel Pineda’s concert on Sunday, December 3, Cesar Montano, Chief Operating Officer of the Philippines’ Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), launched the “Tara Na, Byahe Na” campaign to encourage Filipino Americans in the audience to visit the 7,107 islands of the Philippines.
“Be the ambassador of the Philippines. Kayo po ang magpromote po, hindi lang po kami doon sa opisina ng Tourism. Kayo po kasi napakaganda po talaga ng Pilipinas compared sa Thailand, Malaysia po, iisa lang ang island nila. Tayo po we have more than 7,000 so think about it. Pasyalan niyo muna po ang ating bansa at makita niyo kung gaano kaganda ang ating bansa. (Please promote [the Philippines], also, not just us from the office of Tourism. The reason why the Philippines is so beautiful compared to Thailand, Malaysia, is because they only have one island. The Philippines have more than 7,000, so think about it. Visit our country and see for yourself how beautiful our nation is),” Montano said.
He played a video of the new “Limandaang Tulog Nalang” song in time for the holidays.
“Our country wants to invite you guys to go back, my fellow balikbayans, all the OFWs. And how much we love you, we’ve made a song, a Christmas song…” he said. “Through this video that we’re going to show now, mapapaalam namin sa inyo (we are going to let you know), we’re going to give you, ‘yun pong nilalaman — what’s inside the song,” he said.
In addition to promoting traditional tourism, Montano told the crowd about his goals to put the Philippines on the global entertainment map by telling Filipino stories, including that of the coffee industry in the country.
“Did you know that the best coffee in the world is from the Philippines? It’s in Sagada,” he said. “I’m going to tell that story on screen.” (AJPress)
