LIST: Concerts in the Philippines this 2023

Kristofer Purnell - Philstar.com

Clockwise from top left: Blackpink, Carly Rae Jepsen, The 1975 and Harry Styles

MANILA, Philippines — A new year brings a new set of 12 months full of opportunities, and with many artists flocking back to the Philippines to engage with Filipino fans, the concert scene is getting back to its brightest.

Last year saw the gradual return of several artists, bands and groups — some returning, others for the first time and a number of them visiting the country twice in a year — and the stage is set for more arrivals in 2023.

Check out the upcoming international music acts performing in the Philippines in 2023:

Wavy Baby Music Festival (Marreco Lot, Mandaue City, Cebu) - Jan. 13 to 14

The Wave Baby Music Festival in Cebu is headed by James Reid's Careless label where several of its artists will be performing.

Invited to headline the festival are R&B singers Pink Sweats and Destiny Rogers, Korean artists Sunmi and The Rose, Thai rapper Bambam, pop singer JVKE and electronic acts Bag Raiders and Yultron.

Additionally, The Rose will also have a comeback concert on Jan. 14 at the SM North Edsa Skydome.

ITZY (Mall of Asia Arena) - Jan. 14

The rising K-pop girl group will perform back-to-back nights in Manila as part of their "Checkmate World Tour."

AOMG (New Frontier Theater) - Jan. 15

The "Follow The Movement: AOMG World Tour" brings to the Philippines K-pop hip-hop artists Simon Dominic, Loco, Gray, Leehi, Yugyeom and Woo for a special night at the New Frontier Theater.

Ne-Yo (Araneta Coliseum) - Jan. 23

Award-winning R&B singer Ne-Yo returns to Manila with back-to-back sets at the Araneta Coliseum to perform some of his greatest hits.

Enhyphen (Mall of Asia Arena) - Feb. 3 to 5

The young K-pop boy group are coming back to the Philippines for a proper concert that isn't just one night but three at the Mall of Asia Arena as part of their "Manifesto" world tour.

Boyce Avenue (Araneta Coliseum, Waterfront Hotel & Casino, SMX Convention Center Davao) - Feb. 11, 12, 14

A Valentines concert awaits for Filipinos in Manila, Cebu and Davao as cover band Boyce Avenue returns to Manila to deliver all the necessary feels, with the help of local artists The Juans (only for the Manila concert), Adie and Nobita.

Mamamoo (Araneta Coliseum) - Feb. 12

Also hyping up emotions on a different spectrum is K-pop group Mamamoo as it makes its debut visit to the Philippines for the Asian leg of their ongoing world tour.

Wallows (New Frontier Theater) - Feb. 15

Alternative-rock band Wallows will begin their "Tell Me That It’s Over Asia Tour 2023" in Manila, performing songs from their three extended plays and two albums, the latest one lending its name to the tour.

The Vamps (Mall of Asia Arena) - Feb. 17

The British pop-rock band will be performing in the Philippines for the fifth time this February as part of their "Greatest Hits Tour." Their last visit was in 2017. 

Conan Gray (Mall of Asia Arena) - Feb. 18

Young singer Conan Gray has included the Philippines, his first visit to the country, in the Asian leg of his "Superache" tour.

PLUS63 Festival (SM Seaside Complex Cebu) - Feb. 18

This music and arts festival is making a grand comeback after two years with headliners such as Joji and Kehlani, the former recently visited the country last month for Head in the Clouds Manila.

Backstreet Boys (Mall of Asia Arena) - Feb. 20

Get ready to throw back the years as the Backstreet Boys returns to the country. The boys included the Philippines in the 2023 Asian leg of their "DNA World Tour," the 2019 edition of which was their last time in Manila.

Westlife (Araneta Coliseum) - Feb. 20 to 21

In true boy group rivalry fashion, Westlife will also be performing in Manila on the same day (plus one extra concert the next day) for their "Wild Dreams" tour to perform "all the hits."

OneRepublic (Araneta Coliseum) - Feb. 23

Manila will be the first Asian stop of OneRepublic's "Live in Concert" tour, almost seven years since the group last performed in the Philippines.

Wanderland (Filinvest City Events Grounds) - March 4 to 5

Perhaps the biggest music festival in the Philippines, Wanderland is making a grand comeback with headliners Carly Rae Jepsen and Phoenix, and supporting acts Sunset Rollercoaster, Men I Trust, No Rome, Stephen Day, Balming Tiger, George and Leo Wang.

Arctic Monkeys (Filinvest City Events Grounds) - March 6

A somewhat extension of the Wanderland Music & Arts Festival is a concert by British rock band Arctic Monkeys the very next day in what will be their first-ever Philippine show.

Simple Plan (New Frontier Theater, SMX Convention Center Davao) - March 10, 12

Bringing the rock vibes to Manila and Davao this March are Simple Plan for their "The Harder Than It Looks" tour.

Stray Kids (Mall of Asia Arena) - March 11 to 12

K-pop group Stray Kids have included Manila in their second world tour. The group initially had to cancel their supposed second visit back in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harry Styles (Philippine Arena) - March 14

"Come on Harry, we wanna say good night to you!" Harry Styles will be returning to the Philippines for a third time, his second as a soloist, this March for his "Love on Tour."

Bryan Adams (Araneta Coliseum) - March 15

Also making a Philippine comeback is award-winning singer-songwriter Bryan Adams as part of the Asian leg of his “So Happy It Hurts" tour.

Sting (The Theatre at Solaire) - March 17 to 18

Just as big a return awaits Sting, the former lead singer of English rock band The Police, after more than a decade who will bring his "My Songs" tour to Manila with his eldest son Joe Sumner as a special guest.

Blackpink (Philippine Arena) - March 25 to 26

In what is primed to be the biggest concert of 2023 in the Philippines so far, K-pop girl group Blackpink is returning this time for their "Born Pink" world tour.

The 1975 (Mall of Asia Arena) - May 3 to 4

English pop-rock band The 1975 are certain to remind Filipinos once again of heartbreak, longing and love when they come back this May for their "At Their Very Best" Asia tour.

Oil prices down this week

Richmond Mercurio - The Philippine Star 

Rino Abad, Department of Energy’s oil industry management bureau director, said chances are high for a rollback in the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene this week based on the first four trading days of the week.

MANILA, Philippines — Pump prices are seen going down this week, with a hefty rollback possibly in store for diesel and kerosene.

He estimates a price reduction of not more than P0.50 per liter for gasoline and a decrease of around P1.50 per liter for both diesel and kerosene.

“There is a trend that demand is going down in the first quarter,” Abad said in an interview with dzBB yesterday.

“If China does not control its COVID cases for the next two months, then chances that prices will further go down become higher. So it depends on how fast China can recover,” he added.

Cleanfuel, for its part, said the running trend as of Jan. 5 showed a possible reduction of P0.50 per liter in gasoline prices and a decrease of P2.20 per liter for diesel.

The final price adjustments will be announced by oil companies on Monday and will take effect the day after.

Should the forecast rollbacks push through, it will end the three straight weeks of increases for gasoline and kerosene, while also preventing two consecutive weeks of price hike for diesel.

Noli de Castro returns to ‘TV Patrol’ starting on Jan. 9

by Manila Bulletin Entertainment

Noli de Castro

Veteran broadcast journalist Noli de Castro will mark his comeback as news anchor of TV Patrol starting on Jan. 9.

Noli will be anchoring live from the Quirino Grandstand for the latest news and updates on the celebration of the ‘Nazareno 2023’.

“Magkita-kita tayo sa Lunes. Live ho ako sa Quirino Grandstand para sa TV Patrol,” Noli said in his TeleRadyo program “Kabayan” today (Jan. 6). 

Noli will join TV Patrol anchors Henry Omaga-Diaz, Karen Davila and Bernadette Sembrano in delivering the news to Filipinos anywhere in the world. He will also continue hosting his public service show “Kabayan” and the morning newscast “TeleRadyo Balita” with Joyce Balancio on TeleRadyo.

“TV Patrol” airs on weekdays at 6:30 pm while “TV Patrol Weekend” airs on weekends at 6 pm with Alvin Elchico and Zen Hernandez. It is available on A2Z, Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, iWantTFC, youtube.com/ABSCBNNews, news.abs-cbn.com/live, and other ABS-CBN News digital platforms.

 

Reasons to be optimistic about our economic outlook this year

Published January 9, 2023, 12:05 AM

by Manila Bulletin

The year 2023 has been acknowledged by the International Monetary Fund as a year of global economic recession that would hit one-third of the world’s economy.

The economic difficulties have been brought about by Russia’s war in Ukraine, causing oil prices to rise to historic levels, disrupting global supply chains, causing currency fluctuations and the ensuing wild inflation in all economies. The world is in disarray.

Latest data, however, seemed to smoothen the soothsayers’ dim predictions. If we are to believe our own economic data indicators, we are in for a relatively smooth ride this year. 

Consider some of the recently released data. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the inflation rate in December rose by 8.1 percent on annual basis from 8.0 percent the previous month.

Although it is the highest in 14 years, it is lower than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) target band that inflation in December could peak at 7.8 to 8.6 percent. The 8.1 percent inflation in December also brought the actual full-year average at 5.8 percent, which is also on point with BSP’s previously announced 2022 average forecast of 5.8 percent.

The BSP, whose policy is anchored on inflation targeting, said that the latest 8.1 percent inflation is consistent with its assessment of elevated inflation that will hit its high in December before slowing down in 2023. This means the pace of growth in prices of goods is decelerating. For 2023, the BSP forecasts inflation at 4.5 percent, still above the 2-4 percent target. By 2024, the forecast is 2.8 percent.

Another positive economic indicator is what the PSA reported on Friday, Jan. 6, that the level of unemployment in the country dropped to 4.2 percent last November from 6.5 percent in the same month a year ago. It is also down from 4.5 percent in October. 

The latest jobless rate was also the lowest since April 2005. Accordingly, the employment rate increased to 95.8 percent, or an additional 4.2 million persons getting jobs. This brings the total employment to 49.7 million.

On the foreign exchange side, the central bank is doing a good job in stabilizing the wild swings that we’ve seen in the peso sometime in September last year. So far, the peso is holding up. The local currency remains in the P55-level against the greenback, a wide distance from the P68-level projection of a not-so responsible economist.

Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno has declared the “worst is over” and there are many reasons to be optimistic this year. The pandemic, though still a threat, is actually now behind us with readily available vaccines.

Despite the country’s mounting debt burden, the world’s major credit rating agencies such as Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch have maintained the Philippines’ investment grade credit ratings.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) forecasts that the domestic economy will grow by 6-7 percent this year. This is still one of the highest, if not the highest, growth rates among peers in the region.

The budget for 2023 was approved in time, meaning there will be no disruptions in the release of funds for major infrastructure projects and government services. 

All these are silver linings in our recovery efforts.