Sa Abril 26 at 27 sa SM Mall of Asia Arena na nga ba ang huling pagkakataon na mapapanood ng mga fans ang tinaguriang Mr. Pure Energy na si Gary Valenciano na magtatanghal sa isang konsyerto?
Ganito ang naging palaisipan ng halos lahat nang makit nila na ang title ng kanyang April concert ay pinamagatang 'One Last Time.'
Pero isang bagay ito na binigyang-linaw ni Gary nang makausap ng PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) at ilang piling entertainment press nang makapanayam siya sa Pandan Asian Cafe kamakailan lang.
Read: Gary Valenciano on ABS-CBN and GMA-7's collabs: "Alam mo na bilog talaga ang mundo."
Sinigurado ni Gary na hindi pa siya magreretiro, pero magkakaroon na siya ng limitasyon. Kung malalaking lugar na pinadarausan ng konsyerto ang pag-uusapan, huling beses na nga raw niya ngayong Abril.
“You know, I’ve met with my team like this and all of them were saying — well, many of them, not all — they we’re saying, you cannot call it 'one last time.' And I looked at them and I told them, I’m also human. And I’m 59.
“The next time I do a concert, kunwari, hindi ganyan ang title ha, the next time I’ll do a concert either in Araneta Coliseum or Philippine Arena or MOA, it would probably be in two years pa. And I’ll be 62 by then. And I don’t want people to put their hands together, watching me and say, ‘magaling pero medyo humihingal na siya, ‘no?’ Ayokong umabot ng gano’n.
“And my body is feeling that, especially in big stages. Kasi, iba ang dynamic.”
Iba raw ang galawan sa maliit na lugar lamang tulad ng Music Museum o auditorium na may kapasidad na 2,000 at iba sa lugar na may 10,000 na bilang ng mga manonood.
Nilinaw rin ni Gary na wala raw kinalaman sa kalusugan niya kung bakit nagdesisyon siya na huling solo major concert na niya sa malalaking venue.
Ayon dito, “It has nothing to do with my health. My health is really good. I’m really good. It’s just knowing when it’s time to move on. So, I’m not retiring. I’m going to be doing concerts.
“Let’s say, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star and they invited me to perform—tara! All-out, let’s go!
"ABS, GMA they invite me. You know, I mentioned this to people, they took us out of the air, but now, we’re appearing everywhere, di ba?
“You wanna invite me, game, let’s go! But when it’s in a big venue, only people who perform with big venue understands what it takes to do something like that. So, I called it One Last Time because I really want it to be the last big, solo, hataw na, all-out—watch Gary, he’s gonna be Pure Energy again. It has to end here.”
Read: (UPDATED) Gary Valenciano posts cryptic message about his health
Sinabi namin sa kanya na iba siya. Hindi lahat ng artists, performers, lalo na tulad niya na sa loob ng apat na dekada ay tinatangkilik talaga ay kayang sabihin at gawin na titigil na sa kanilang career.
“Yes, because there’s still many things I want to do,” lahad naman niya.
“So, this is just a part of it. And the other things I do, it’s exciting. It’s really, really exciting.”
Sa puntong ito, ibinahagi ni Gary ang isang vision na noon pa raw niya nakita o naranasan.
“There is a vision and now, I don’t want to be spiritual here, but in 2008, all the way back, I’ve experienced, literally a vision. I was wide awake. I was with my wife and all of a sudden, out-of-nowhere, I see these things take place. It wasn’t because my sugar level was low, I was fully conscious. Because it was so vivid that I can tell you in details what that vision was.
“That vision will be shared in this concert. And that vision won’t just be shared, the people will see that vision. And that hopefully, will make people—‘okay, we understand why it’s the last time, this scale.’
“But yeah, really, it’s not to sound spiritual or anything but it happened, e.”
Dugtong pa niya, “Of course, noong 2008, hindi ko pa maintindihan. Bakit? What’s that all about? But then recently, wait a minute, yung mga nangyayari sa akin ngayon, yun iyon, e.
“Even Angeli [Pangilinan] came to me, ‘Gary, we wouldn’t call it One Last Time. Ano naman ang role ng vision mo and now, you’re still performing.’ Sabi ko sa kanya, when you say a vision, it’s something that will take place in the future. As to when it’s going to happen, Siya lang ang nakakaalam no’n.
“It was given to me on 2008 and now is the future of that time and it’s happening now.”
Read: Angeli Pangilinan-Valenciano, nagbigay-linaw sa cryptic post ni Gary V
Ngayon pa lang, nakikita na raw niyang magiging emosyonal ang magiging pagtatanghal niya.
“And that’s why I can smile,” sey niya.
“It’s gonna be emotional. I mean, I remember when I went to watch Regine Rocks, pagpasok na pagpasok ko sa MOA, narinig ko yung tao. Yung parang feeling na, talaga ba, you’re gonna give it all up? Hindi mo ba mami-miss ‘to? I’ll really will miss it. But the body is saying, ‘yeah, but there’s other things that you can do too.’
“I remember sitting down, habang nagbibihis si Regine, tumugtog ang banda, may dalawang nasa tabi ko, mga nasa mid-thirties and the girl said, ‘Sir Gary, can I have a selfie with you?’ Sure, why not? At habang nagpi-picture kami, sabi niya, ‘Sir sorry, hindi kami nakapanood ng concert mo sa Music Museum kasi, wala ng tickets. But, we’re going to watch you here. But Sir, we’ve found out that’s your last concert dito, why?’
“So I looked at her and I said, yeah I know, medyo hard ‘no, to say goodbye to all of these. But you know, at the age of 59—then she stopped me, she said, ‘Sir, you’re 59?’ And I said, yeah and she went like this—literally, ‘Okay Sir, I understand’
“Well, I don’t even know this person, but she understands to come out there and being Mr. Pure Energy. Being Mr. Pure Energy is not just all this [his dance movement] but it’s also this [his heart and his word] and also the music that you hear on your own that doesn’t have me there but my music is there, present. That’s part of the whole Mr. Pure Energy image.”
Mukhang nag-panic ang karamihan, lalo na ang mga tagahanga ni Gary na ‘one last time’ na nga. Kaya ang bilis na nag-sold out ang unang gabi at nadagdagan na ng ikalawang gabi at halos sold-out na rin.
Hindi na kami magtataka kung magkakaroon pa ng ikatlong gabi ang One Last Time.
“Of course, when I thought of one last night, yung mga staff ko, si Angeli, ‘so how would you have a repeat? Kung may repeat ka, e di hindi na one last time?’
“But I said, it’s a season. It’s a moment in my time where this is it. Sabi ko, I think, Rod Stewart was supposed to come and it was called One Last Time too. He has One Last Time in Manila and he has One Last Time in Singapore. o maraming one last time. It’s a time—If we have one show in MOA and they extend one more, great. If they want a repeat, if ever in Araneta Coliseum, that would be excellent because that’s where I started.
“But if the next year, 2025, ‘uy, namiss namin ang One Last Time, dapat mag-repeat kayo. Oh, you missed your time, you know,” natawang sabi niya.
Sabi rin niya, “At minsan, sinasabi ko, jino-joke ko rin ang ibang tao na 40 years na ‘ko sa industriya, hindi niyo pa rin ako napapanood?”
Yun nga, apat na dekada na siya sa industriya—sa music at concert scene, ano nga ba ang pakiramdam na tila walang pagkasawa sa kanya ang mga manonood?
“I’ll put it in one word and then you guys, tell our research as to what that word really, really means—it’s called, blessed. In that, you can put everything.
“All the feedback that I have gotten online. You know when people wrote you on Instagram and say, ‘Sir, I remember watching you at the Music Museum when my boyfriend was still alive.’ That was 2009, 2011, he’s no longer here. And when I watched you at the Music Museum, you sang the song that has given him strength to deal with the cancer. Thank you—that’s all I wanted to hear.
“That’s the biggest reward than getting the physical—Best Artist of the Year—that’s great. But, when you’re able to touch a life, that’s make you feel. And I’m gonna be on this stage, in front of thousands who has touched my life. This is just my way of giving it back.
“It’s my way of saying, ‘Look, if you want to go on a journey, it continues after this, but it’s up to you.’ You can come with me. I’d love to have you with me. And I’ll present the vision and you’ll see how it is—‘oo nga, ‘no, dapat doon na talaga papunta.’”