Christina Aguilera In Manila: Back to basics and beyond

By David Milan
MANILA, Philippines—“This tour is my most inspired tour ever! I’m so excited about it.” Yes guys, Christina Aguilera is coming to town in less than a week. Last Tuesday, Super! was there together with MTV when the 4-time Grammy award winner rocked Mainland China as she performed in front of thousands of both Chinese and foreign visitors at the big-ass Shanghai Grand Stage.

From dirrrty to dainty and clean

Mainland China is known for rejecting foreign artists who get vulgar when it comes to their words and videos. Last year saw Jay-Z being denied by the Chinese government to perform inside the great walls. True to the album and tour’s title (Back to Basics), Christina got the go signal of the people and she was full-heartedly welcomed by thousands of fans despite the explicit raunchiness of her last album “Stripped.”

The former teen queen, who is rumored to be pregnant, has now shed her old rugged look and has thrown away her shorter than short hot pants. She’s now all grown, married and has traded in her long sticky dreads for clean curly blonde locks. Channeling old Hollywood glamour in her new album, Christina took inspiration from the ’60’s legends and incorporated their tunes to create a more classic and upbeat sound.

Back to basics … NOT

After her top-selling European tour and a 41-city sold out US tour, Christina is on top of her game. Famous for having one of the best concert productions, she didn’t fail us when she gathered one of the best tour production teams there is. Choreographer and director Jamie King (famous for his work with Madonna and Janet Jackson) and Italian designer Roberto Cavalli, who exclusively provided the 10 outfit changes for Christina and the costumes for the dancers, worked together on this tour to combine modern pop and old-Hollywood glam. The people were wowed by the stage that has 600 moving lights, state-of-the-art hydraulic system and a huge screen that played videos, made by Christina exclusively for the tour, in between song numbers.

She makes our cherry pop

Christina has received so many awards worldwide—and there’s no doubt that she definitely deserves all of them. Giving an all out performance during her concert, running backstage to change costumes after each song, her powerful voice never failed and she dazzled the crowd with her fantastic stage presence.

Her backup dancers didn’t want to be upstaged either—they stretched every single muscle they have with their routine and stunts.

The 8,400-seater Shanghai Grand stage was packed with people of all kinds and of all ages—families, friends and couples. Crossing linguistic borders, the people of Shanghai sang along with Christina as she performed many of her hit songs. She thanked the many people who came to the concert and as a return, she was given a standing ovation by the crowd. Going back to basic is definitely good for Christina. And we definitely want to see more of that when she hits town this coming Friday.

Christina Aguilera: Back to basics tour live in Taguig is presented by Globe in association with MTV Philippines. July 6, 2007, Friday, Bonifacio Global City Open Field, 7:30 p.m. For tickets, contact Ticketworld at 8919999 or www. ticketworld.com. For more info, tune in to MTV Philippines on Sky Cable Channel 57, log on to www.mtvphil.com or text AGUILERA to 2222.
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