CEBUANOS had a lively weekend with performances from Pops Fernandez and Bamboo.
At 51, Fernandez continues to wow an audience with her endurance and lively performance onstage. She hadn’t performed in a major concert in four years.
“She sang very well. Very enduring. Dugay kaayo siya nahuman (It took her a while to finish),” said Engr. Patrocinio Bacay, a senior citizen who watched Fernandez’s concert at the Ayala Center Cebu last Saturday. “I have been a fan since she was still single until now. My family also.”
Despite a lengthy performance, the fans wanted more. Performing Jennifer Lopez’s “Dance Again” as her last song for the night, the audience yelled for more.
“Kulang. We thought there would be more pa,” said Nemia Corilla, an avid fan of Fernandez since “Penthouse Live” on GMA 7 and even before the singer got married to Martin Nievera in 1986.
Despite decades of being onstage, the Concert Queen still feels nervous being in front of a big crowd.
“Actually nenenerbyos nga ako (I get really nervous). Ganun pala ‘yun (That’s what happens) when you are not performing in a long time. I’m not saying na dati (that before) when I used to perform, ‘di ako kinakabahan (that I don’t get nervous). I think every artist kinakailangan pa rin namin ng konting nerves, konting kaba (still needs to feel the nerves) because you never really get used to just performing. It’s always a different crowd,” Fernandez told reporters.
The singer admitted that doing small shows as well as performing in some occasions—mostly at her friends’ birthdays—are her way of gaining her confidence back.
After years of being absent in showbiz, the singer is living the life of an entrepreneur.
“I’m really more into business now. I also continued my mom’s production company, DSL Productions. It was the production company that produced all of my concerts before. Since syempre retired na ‘yung mom ko, I decided sayang naman, so I just continued it (Since my mom already retired; I decided that it was worth a shot. So I just continued it).”
“It’s a different way of still being part of showbiz and I feel na I also get to help out the people I used to work with in the production side—the staff, the people who used to work for me. Now I still get to work with them, pero behind the scenes na ako... I love producing shows for my friends, the ones that I feel that are also very talented. I feel it’s also my share of giving and helping also,” said Fernandez.
On her life as a fashion icon, Fernandez said it was just a result of her crazy moods where she felt like doing something new for herself. Netizens have caught on with her current style of short hair with bangs.
“I guess I go with my moods all the time. Ever since naman, di ba? I just have crazy moods. Wala naman akong pinagdadaanan (I’m not going through something). It’s just that, for the longest time, my hair’s been black, which I didn’t mind. For the longest time pare-pareho lang ‘yung (it has always been the same) hair ko plus it was really hot... I want naman something na ‘di naman ‘yung straight lang (I want something that’s not just straight),” said Fernandez, who said she did her own makeup during Saturday’s concert.
But she was more conservative with her black one-shoulder jumpsuit compared to her sexy outfits from years ago.
“Maybe my style has also changed. Parang nag 360-degree change,” she said. “I think I need something more really on the classic lines. A little bit more on the elegant style. So mas masasabi mong mas naging conservative na rin ako (So I can say I became more conservative). Syempre, it comes again with the age, di ba? I get conscious na baka feeling ko I won’t be able to pull it off.”
And how does she keep looking young and beautiful? By being a positive person.
As a performer and an actress, she reminds everyone in the industry, especially the millennials, to be extra tough and passionate on their careers.
“You really have to have the passion of wanting to be where you are, and knowing what you want to be,” Fernandez said.
And since she had lain low for quite some time, fans are eyeing her comeback.
“I never thought of a comeback. I never thought about it. Maybe I’ll surprise myself also,” Fernandez laughed.
Meanwhile, Bamboo headlined the Independence Day concert last Saturday at the SRP Sugbo grounds. He was the choice of the Cebuanos.
According to event organizer Mousai Productions and Events, it conducted a poll among Cebuanos to choose who they wanted to see in a concert in Cebu. Bamboo won the poll.
“It is an honor. I am really happy to be here. I can’t wait to perform tonight,” Bamboo said in a press conference before the concert. “That’s what I want to do and people should just enjoy the show and celebrate Independence Day.”
Other performers in the Independence Day concert were Cebuanos Sarah Lopez, Marvin Yap, Amazing Peanut, Tombi, Indephums, Emping and The Agadiers.
Amid the lack of time, the organizers and the sponsors managed to give some Cebuanos a chance to meet and greet Bamboo in person at the Skywater Park in Mandaue City, an hour before the concert started.
Bamboo was welcomed with cheers, smiles and some tears from the crowd waiting for him to arrive. (With Jencelee Angela Quirante / CNU Intern)