After a long wait, HONNE came back to the Philippines to perform for 3 days in different locations, namely Manila, Cebu, and Davao, as a part of their 2023 Asia Tour. Not only did HONNE serenade the crowd, but Nottingham-based singer BEKA, joined the duo; opening the show with her tracks, ‘Don’t Call Me A Friend’, ‘My One’, ‘More Than Friends’, ‘Still Cool’, ‘Tears’, ‘I’ll Be There’, and ended with an unreleased track as a special treat to the fans. We also had the pleasure of getting to know BEKA several hours before the show as she guested live on The Daily Survey! You can watch her full interview here and read up on our highlights here
Shortly after BEKA’s set, HONNE kicked it off with ‘IDGAF About Pain’, ‘Me and You’, and ‘free love’. The crowd was absolutely buzzing as they sang along. During ‘free love’, colorful balloons came down from above, which truly amped up the energy and radiated so much happiness throughout the coliseum! The hit ‘Location Unknown', the first song of the night BEKA joined in, got everyone excited! ‘COMING HOME’, ‘306’, and ‘Good Together’ followed. BEKA made another appearance in ‘Crying Over You’, and continued on with awesome guitar shreds from James in ‘Shrink’. HONNE then slowed it down with ‘Heartsong’. The crowd changed their pace from upbeat to mellow, as everyone had their phone lights up for this beautiful moment.
The fans and the artists truly enjoyed the show even before it finished! Andy even mentioned that it was the favorite gig they’d ever played. “Tonight, we feel like a proper band.” the singer said in front of the Manila crowd. Grateful and playful emotions were also displayed from HONNE; James shared a short anecdote of how his missing finger came to be, telling the story of his finger got stuck in a metal letterbox where he and his friends decided to do the classic ding-dong ditch prank back when he was still in university. Laughter and concern were heard from the fans, but James just laughed along. Another highlight of the night was when HONNE got the entire coliseum to sing a birthday song for a lucky fan's 25th birthday. Oh, how she received the best birthday gift ever!
The show went on with another BEKA feature in ‘Someone That Loves You’, then changed pace again with ‘by my side’, where Andy and James stepped away from their electronic instruments, sat down in front of the stage, and gave a heartfelt, relaxed serenade of the song dedicated to Andy’s wife. The tension rose up again as the riffs and notes of last year’s Monster chart-topper ‘WHAT WOULD YOU DO?’ took over. ‘la la la that’s how it goes’, ‘BACK ON TOP’, and ‘Warm On A Cold Night’ closed off the stage.
Of course, the show would not just end there with no encore. HONNE came back out after a while. started slowly with ‘no song without you’ and ended on a high note with what the crowd has been waiting for, ‘Day 1’. An outro of ‘smile more smile more smile more’ paired with the HONNE signature style doodles was shown on screen wrapping up HONNE’s Manila show for their 2023 Asia Tour.
Huge thanks to Ovation Prod for a wonderful show!
SPOTTED:
Ria Ramz
Student Jocks (L-R) Gabe, Jelena, Carla, Yam, Niq, Reece