Total performer Gary Valenciano is all set for what will be his biggest performance to date: his 25th anniversary concert Live at 25 at the Araneta Coliseum on November 14 and 15. Aside from his biggest line-up of guests yet, Gary also promises a lot of surprises for his fans. But one of the surprises that won’t be included is Gary’s retirement announcement. During his press conference last October 16, Gary denies he’s leaving the limelight, and is instead widening his role to that of mentor/teacher.

“I am 44-years old today. Although these legs can [still] move a bit, I know my heart is beating faster, I'm breathing a little deeper now. Yes I can [still] dance but the thing is people don't want me to just dance kasi eh. They want me to sing and dance. And that’s not easy to do. The concert is not going to be a swan song. It's going to be more like a closing of a chapter and opening of a new book altogether. I don’t want to call it [my] last, because I said that before that we had to leave for the States and then nothing happened. I was hoping that I would just mention this onstage so that people don’t get the notion that it’s going to be the last, because it’s not. There will be other concerts. But yung mga ganitong klaseng concerts where people are expecting me to dance and to move and do all that, I am seriously thinking of perhaps giving the ideas to a fresh new batch of artists and letting them execute in a way that only they can,” he explains.

The singer, who has successfully battled diabetes since he was diagnosed as a teen, admits that he wants to expand his range of projects. “I’ve done so many things na. [It’s been] 25 years, what else pa? That’s a question na many people have asked me. If I do other shows, it doesn’t necessarily have to be on a stage like this. It may be in other forms. I told my team already, as soon as we're done with the concert, I want to meet with the team because I want to lay before them the plans that I have for the next ten years at least. Five to ten years, that’s how far down I am looking. There will be other concerts pa rin,” he stresses.

The doting father and husband says that he still has a lot to work on when it comes to himself. “I think we all have weaknesses, one way or another. I can be very impatient and I can be very demonstrative with that weakness of mine, especially in meetings. I always have to hear Angeli say, ‘Honey, can you stop being so tense ‘pag may meeting? Kasi masyado kang tense eh.’ Ako naman, my reasoning is, if I’m not tense, that’s where the problem lies. It can mean I’m not excited about the concert. But when I’m tense, I’m more excited than anything. But that perhaps is my biggest weakness. I can get very impatient and I can say things that I know I shouldn’t say. Even I am not pleased with the way I react sometimes, not all the time. And that for me would be my biggest weakness,” Gary says.

Of his 25th anniversary concert, Mr. Pure Energy says that it will definitely be something everyone can look forward to enjoying. “This is going to be everything that Gary V. is, from a Christian to an artist to a friend, brother, husband, and to all of those things all rolled into hopefully, two and a half hours,” he says.

Live at 25 concert tickets are available at all Ticketnet outlets, Araneta Coliseum, and Manila Genesis. For more updates on Gary V. and your favorite Kapamilya celebrities and events, keep logging on daily to www.abs-cbn.com.

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