We were fortunate enough to have been chosen by Greenwich to host their first Grand Gig, which is a band competition of 8 bands from 6 schools in the Manila area. The eventual winner was Under The Stairs from the Philippine Christian University. The gig happened in SM City Manila last Friday, when the storm was in full effect and traffic was horrible. It took us more than 2 hours to get to the venue. Not to mention I was feeling ill since that morning. But we eventually made it, and the show must go on. Each band gave it their all, but in the end, only one took home the prize. Everyone had a treat as well when Calla Lily showed everyone how it’s done.
Of course, aside from the competition, the event boiled down to one of the biggest male stars today, Greenwich’s star endorser, John Lloyd Cruz. From backstage, we knew he had arrived when the walls practically shuddered with the shrieks of his fans, reaching a crescendo, from a mild buzz to a fever pitch that heralded the arrival of the star. Everyone was like, “Nandiyan na…” Hahaha, I swear, how people reacted to his arrival! So when we finally called him onstage, it was pandemonium.
Of course Delle and I were starstruck as well, this being the first time we ever met the young actor. Plus we had that brush of a meeting with him when we spoke to him on the phone for an earlier Greenwich event, where he professed to have always listened to us before. So it was really nice to finally meet him.
And when Delle pinched him to see if he was real, he said maybe he should pinch us to see if we were real. And Delle suddenly fell into a flop sweat the moment John Lloyd got on stage, so much that John Lloyd offered to wipe some of it off (yihee!).
He was really cool. And nothing seemed to faze him. Earlier, when we were talking to Lloyd Zaragoza, “Bruno” in the Greenwich Gang commercials, we asked him about his “tender” scene with John Lloyd, when they were rolling around in the grass in a tight embrace. We asked him how it felt hugging John Lloyd, and he replied, “Malambot.” So when we asked John Lloyd what he had to say about that, without skipping a beat, he said, “Mabuti nang malambot kesa matigas,” drawing hearty laughs from the crowd.
Talking to the guy and seeing the crowd’s reaction to him, it’s easy to see why he’s probably the Aga Muhlach of his generation, someone who was able to go beyond the teeny bopper mold and evolve into riskier heavier roles like his latest film, which he also plugged, “In My Life” with Vilma Santos.
There was also a cute part where we dared one of the raffle winners to stare at John Lloyd for 3 seconds without flinching, and of course he made it so hard for her by cupping her face with his hands as he stared intently into her eyes. She practically exploded.
Definitely an actor to watch for in the future. It was quite a treat to have worked with him. Even as he left after the gig, surrounded by guards, he was practically mobbed trying to get out of the mall. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Good thing he had bouncers the size of refs to keep the admiring fans from clawing at him. Wild.
Again, thank you to Greenwich for the chance to work with them again: to Luis (Happy Birthday!!!), to Francis, to Michelle, and everyone who was part of the event. Hope to work with you guys again soon. And super thanks to Alpha for taking my camera and shooting our pics with John Lloyd!
