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Concert recap: Unique, Jordan Rakei heat up stormy night with cool grooves

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Joko Magalong-De Veyra

<p>MANILA -- It was a rainy Sunday night, but that didn’t stop fans from trooping to the ABS-CBN Vertis Tent for Karpos Mix Live 6. With headline acts Unique and Jordan Rakei, the night was filled with jazzy tunes, a lot of slow grooving, and even some lovely dancing. </p><p>Kicking off the night was front act, the quintet Banna Harbera, which filled the tent with soulful tunes, thanks in part to Yzabel Torres’ powerful (and seemingly effortless) singing. Some of the standout songs performed included &quot;Always Clueless,&quot; and the painful but fun &quot;Sorrys &amp; Goodbyes,&quot; among others. </p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/09/05/concert1.jpg"/><figcaption>Unique</figcaption></figure></div><p>Unique Salonga obviously moves to his own beat and it paid off beautifully in his performance in Karpos Mix Live 6. </p><p>Starting his set with his two most popular tracks — &quot;Mundo&quot; and &quot;Midnight Sky&quot; — was a surprise, as he sang alone, backlit, with a guitar on hand. This initial performance set the tone for his set as he played both songs with confidence with the notes crisp and clear. </p><p>Looking very retro, clad in all white with funky glasses, Unique was joined by his backing band which were also clad in head-to-toe white, which tells you this artist cares about the visual aesthetics of a performance, and as I watched, it did add an extra special sheen to the proceedings. </p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B153AJxnQRU/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;align-items:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:40px;margin-right:14px;width:40px"> 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</div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B153AJxnQRU/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by joko magalong-de veyra (@jokoness)</a> on <time dateTime="2019-09-02T09:38:55+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Sep 2, 2019 at 2:38am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><script async="" src="http://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script><p>With his band, he made the crowd groove and dance, and had some wild moves he showcased as well. Notable favorites of this stretch include &quot;Lamang Lupa,&quot; which occupies a musical space similar to a highly danceable Sandwich song (coincidentally Raymond Marasigan was in the audience, too), and &quot;Bukod Tangi,&quot; which had this beautiful whistling sample that made every line, especially when he sang, ‘ramdam ko ang pag-iisa’ feel like a punch in the gut. It’s the same feeling when listening to one of his new, soon-to-be-released songs played during the night that featured tinkling piano keys and talked about goodbyes. </p><p>Unique ended his set as he started, with his guitar, singing one of his most popular tracks, &quot;Sino,&quot; to a very appreciative audience. </p><div><strong>JORDAN RAKEI </strong></div><p>“How’s the weather? ...Are you awake? Are you living?” crooned Jordan Rakei in his intro. </p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/09/05/concert2.jpg"/><figcaption>Jordan Rakei.<em> Jeeves de Veyra</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Smooth and silky are two words that can describe Rakei’s voice, songs, and performance in Mix Live 6. The multi-instrumentalist started his set by looping &quot;Mad World&quot; to the delight of the crowd. </p><p>“It’s good to be back in the Philippines!” Rakei exclaimed. </p><p>There were a lot of bopping heads in the crowd as Rakei went through his playlist with songs sliding and flowing into each other naturally -- from &quot;Nerve&quot; to &quot;Sorceress,&quot; all the way to &quot;Midnight Mischief.&quot; The forlorn &quot;Say Something&quot; even beautifully morphed to an ear-gasmic performance of &quot;Street Light,&quot; where the bass guitar and the percussion especially shone. </p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B1-l_m_n3gn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;align-items:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:40px;margin-right:14px;width:40px"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:100px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:60px"> </div></div></div><div style="padding:19% 0"> </div><div style="display:block;height:50px;margin:0 auto 12px;width:50px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B1-l_m_n3gn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" stroke="none" 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style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B1-l_m_n3gn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by joko magalong-de veyra (@jokoness)</a> on <time dateTime="2019-09-04T05:46:24+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Sep 3, 2019 at 10:46pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><script async="" src="http://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script><p>Rakei added some personal context to his songs with some spoken preface to songs like &quot;Wildfire,&quot; which he said he wrote about a good friend that he fell out with, to pointing out a band member that created the groove that gave him a track. </p><p>Popular tracks with the crowd included &quot;The Light&quot; and &quot;Add the Bassline&quot; as both had the crowd singing and dancing along, randomly clapping to the beat. </p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/09/05/concert3.jpg"/><figcaption>Jordan Rakei.<em> Jeeves de Veyra</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>After getting some crowd participation to set-ender in &quot;Talk to Me,&quot; Rakei obliged the entranced Sunday crowd with encore performances of &quot;Eye to Eye&quot; and &quot;Mind’s Eye.&quot;</p>

<p>Unique Salonga obviously moves to his own beat and it paid off beautifully in his performance in Karpos Mix Live 6. </p>

Unique Salonga obviously moves to his own beat and it paid off beautifully in his performance in Karpos Mix Live 6.