Justin Bieber to hold concert at PHL Arena in Sept.
CANADIAN HITMAKER Justin Bieber, returns to the Philippine capital for a concert on Sept. 30 at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan as part of his ongoing Purpose World Tour promoting his newest album of the same name.
Local concert promoter, MMI Live, broke the news on June 28 and announced tickets will go on sale starting July 9.
The Philippine Arena, with its 55,000 audience capacity, was previously the venue for American pop star Katy Perry’s Prismatic World Tour in May 2015. She played to an audience of 30,000 and while many people came out of the concert on a postconcert high, much of the endorphins were swept away by the horrendous traffic which saw people stuck in the arena’s parking lot for two hours.
Mr. Bieber’s Manila concert in September will be his second after he made the city a stop on the 2011 My World tour. He performed to a soldout crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena (MOA) in Pasay City. MOA Arena has a capacity of 20,000.
Mr. Bieber also come the Philippines in December 2013 to visit the victims of typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda in Tacloban, Leyte.
Six years after his first Manila gig, Mr. Bieber has outgrown his teen pop beginnings and has started conquering the electronic dance music genre and R&B with hits such as “What Do You Mean?” (2015). The single, the first from Purpose, went on to debut at the top of Billboard Hot 100 and Mr. Bieber was the youngest male artist to do so, earning him a Guinness World Record.
“The rest of his fourth album similarly serves as a regretful look back and a fresh start; to the latter end, the musical direction owes much to coproducer Skrillex, whose unexpectedly subtle electronic palette complements Bieber’s affectedly breathy voice,” said The Guardian’s Carol Sullivan in an album review posted on Nov. 12, 2016.
His singles “Sorry” and “Love Yourself” likewise climbed the top of the Hot 100 charts, making him the first male artist in a decade — since Justin Timberlake in 2006 for Future Sex/ Love Sounds — to accumulate three number ones on the said chart.
Purpose, which was released in November 2015, is his sixth album ( counting his two compilation albums) to debut at the top of the Billboard Top 200 chart and was the fourth best-selling album of the year with 3.1 million copies sold worldwide.
He also sang on the remix of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” in which he sang in Spanish for the first time. His presence in the song took it to the Hot 100’s top 10, making it the first mostly Spanish language song to enter the top 10 of the Billboard charts since “Macarena” in 1996.
Looking over the set lists compiled by setlist. fm (the site compiled more than 100 set lists from various sources and tour stops), local fans — often called “Beliebers” — will see Mr. Bieber sing recent hits such as “Let Me Love You,” a 2016 hit where he collaborated with French DJ DJ Snake, and his earlier hits such as “Baby” which was released in 2010 and is wildly considered as one of the songs that catapulted him to stardom.
Bieber’s Purpose World Tour concert will be held on Sept. 30 at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan. Tickets will be on sale starting July 9 on www. smtickets.com.
Ticket prices range from P1,575 (Upper Box B Sides) to P17,850 ( VIP Standing).