I KISSED HALF OF IL DIVO TONIGHT

Urs Buhler (tenor, Switzerland), Carlos Marin (baritone, Spain), Sebastien Izambarb (tenor, France), and David Miller (tenor, USA) are Il Divo, the pop-opera crossover band founded by Simon Cowell. The quartet performed at the Philippine International Convention Center on Saturday, January 20, 2007.

Thanks to a good family friend, I got a 5,000 peso ticket to see Il Divo perform live at the PICC. There is no way on earth I'd have spent that much of my own money to see a group I wasn't a fan of to begin with, but after tonight, I'm considering quitting my job to follow them around the world. But since that is neither practical nor realistic, I'll settle for saving up for their next Manila concert. :)

So what made me fall in love with Il Divo in less than two hours? Hmmm let me see. It could've been their brilliant, powerful voices. Or the fact that Sebastien Izambarb, the French tenor, couldn't help but groove to their Latin songs and shake his adorable booty. Or it could've been their beautifully sculpted faces, made even more handsome by their perfectly tailored black Armani suits. The icing on the cake though, was the fact that I got to kiss two of them -- American tenor David Miller and Spanish baritone Carlos Marin.

Yes, tonight I had my closest international celebrity encounter EVER, to the strains of Somewhere from West Side Story and with thousands of freakin' rose petals falling from the sky. Part of me still can't believe I had the nerve to actually go up to them during that last song. Even funnier, I think I got a bit too aggressive with Carlos, judging from his shellshocked look. Mwahaha. It's not like I kissed him on the lips but I did kinda hold his face... and now as I replay it in my head, I find myself blushing and more than a little embarrassed. The memory of his very solid, very manly face in my hand is still vivid in my mind. I sure hope I didn't traumatize the poor man. When I seize, mancandy beware. ;)

I have to admit I got pretty manic towards the concert's end, having fed off their energy and all that, so if Sebastien with the piercing blue eyes hadn't stood up by the time I got to him, I might've just kissed the unsuspecting lad on the lips. Who cares if the other Gloria Arroyo was in the audience, too?

Though I entered the concert hall as someone merely taking advantage of a freebie, I floated out of PICC drunk on Il Divo's lyricism and well, heat. I am turning down an offer to rip their three albums because I want to own them myself, starting with the third (Siempre) since it'll best help me relive tonight's experience. I've already started bookmarking every Il Divo performance I can find on YouTube. And I will definitely watch their next concert here, assuming they come back after being manhandled by their lusty Filipina audience, yours truly included ;)