Down To Mars : Returns Concert Recap

Down To Mars can definitely put a great concert. Their live singing is just fantastic.

Down To Mars : Returns Concert was held at FSUU Gym in Butuan City last August 2. The concert was for the benefit of Philippine Red Cross. It was the second time after three years that Daisuke, Jang, Jeongwon, Kenji and Yheen returned to this city.

The show was freaking exciting and long (3 hours!). I just love it and would have wanted them to be there on stage forever to entertain. Coming from Manila, the trip to Butuan was totally worth it.

The night included a lot a excitement, screaming, singing, dancing, giddiness, sexiness and cuteness.

The concert kicked-off with a video of Down To Mars campus tour in Butuan. After the video, Power Seven made their way on the floor after which Down To Mars came out singing to “I Gotta Feeling”. With Down To Mars out, the whole gym with 4,000 fans went up on their feet screaming and going crazy as Daisuke, Jang, and Jeongwon came from the audience while Kenji and Yheen appeared on the center stage wearing bright color garbs in different styles and prints.

As Down To Mars already got the fans blood pumping with "I Gotta Feeling", the next song was "Party Rock Medley". Screams erupted once again as they dance sexily and cutely.

As I watch and listen to them, I realized that the group has grown to become much better since the time I learned about them. I cannot contain my happiness seeing them on stage with a stadium of 4,000 screaming and swooning audience.

After the first two songs, it's time to ease down a little the thundering hearts of the fans with a video of Down To Mars in Japan playing in the snow followed by another dance segment from Power Seven.

As the beat of "Live While We're Young" surrounded the gymnasium, the crowd started to scream again. Down To Mars performed in this segment One Direction Medley. Down To Mars owned this performance. All pumped up, they approached the crowd on either side of the stage.

 

The lights went dark for Down To Mars to exit and gave way to Power Seven and a set of videos to prepare them for their next act.

Down To Mars came out of the stage again this time wearing black and white. In this segment they performed a song popularized by F4 from the series “Meteor Garden” entitled ‘Can’t Lose You’.

After the song Jang segue that he received a tweet and members started talking to fans as they prepared for the next segment.

Though there was a little technical glitch, Down To Mars was able to cover this by doing “usies” (where “selfie” is for solo and “usies” is for group) on stage. First with Down To Mars members only, then Jang looked for a monopod and a lucky fan provided and earned her self an “usies” on stage with them.

The glitch was fixed, the next segment is one of my favorites. It’s the OPM session wherein each of the members will be rendering original Pilipino music while Kenji strums his guitar.

Jang was the first to treat the fans. He sang different versions of “Nasayo Na Ang Lahat” interpreting Janno Gibbs, Christian Bautista and Ogie Alcasid.

Jeongwon was next. Kenji kinda gave him a low key in which he asked him to give a a higher one. As he is the belter of the group, Jang challenged him to belt it out. He took the challenge when Kenji gave him high notes. He’s impressive.

And who is going to be the next? Jang went to Yheen. As expected Yheen gave a rap version of “Nasayo Na Ang Lahat”. Everyone went crazy. After Yheen came Daisuke and he sang “Pangako”.

As everyone had got their time to shine on stage as a soloist, another round of solo limelight followed. Another set of OPM songs began where Jang took the stage first and sang “Buko”, Jeongwon performed “ Pusong Bato”, next soloist was Daisuke who entertained us with “Ngiti” in which he was joined by Jang and Jeongwon towards the end. Kenji and Yheen rapped their way to the stage by doing “Biglang Liko”.

OPM session then ended by Down To Mars singing “Nasayo Na Ang Lahat” joined by fans.

To get ready for the next segment, production prepared another set of video.

The RNB sounding song “Back At One” opened up for this segment. It’s time for RNB Medley of Down To Mars. Garbed in coat they all look dashing on stage.

I am a big fan of RNB and as they hit the notes for this session, my heart started to pound. I just love how their voices blend. Listening to them singing “Back At One” and “Eternal Flame”, you tend to feel the beat, life and passion behind songs. Again, Down to Mars owned the performance. Their style and performance has given rise to totally different Down To Mars from before.

Lights went off again and another a video of Ken Chan was show on the video wall to signal his entry to the center stage. Ken entertained the fans by singing three songs.

The exit of Ken on stage signaled the K-Pop session as the video being played on the wide screen shows Sam Oh and Down To Mars in Korea.

The whole crowd got to their feet once again when Down To Mars came out wearing an ensemble of what I call mixology of style and right away busts out singing and dancing to “Fantastic Baby”.

After this segment, Down To Mars went back to their dressing room to change for the next round of performance.

To calm the crowd a bit again, video of Down To Mars acoustic version of “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” was on the big screen.

The concert is reaching to its climax. Down To Mars came out again this time wearing coat with black undershirt making them look awesomely gorgeous while singing “Story of My Life” in which they were joined by Alden Richards.

After the “Story of My Life” Down To Mars left the stage to give way to Alden. Like Ken Chan, he delighted the fans by singing three songs. Alden made a lot of audience crazy with his performance.

The next part put the crowd to their feet when they heard the beginning of “Talk Dirty”. As Down To Mars swung their hips to the beat of the song the crowd got pumped up and gone wild. It doubled overtime when Ken Chan and Alden Richards joined them on stage. This was a blood pumping segment.

In order to calm the crowd down after “Talk Dirty”, Power Seven emerged on stage and dance to “Let’s Get Ridiculuous”. This was followed by videos showing on the big screen.

Then came the distinct sound of a familiar Down To Mars song, “My Everything”.

Coming from the backstage, everyone was wearing a very nice tee printed especially for them. The white tee with black prints has Down To Mars’ name printed big in front and at the back is a number of their choice and their name.

Following 'My Everything", Down To Mars sang songs from their album, this time they performed "Oh Oh" which was then followed by "Fly".

After singing “Fly”, for the very first time, the MV of “Nandito Lang Ako” was launched. Down To Mars watched the video together with everyone as they sit themselves on stage.

When the MV was finished, Down To Mars then sang “Nandito Lang Ako”.

Then production segue to Philippine Red Cross awarding Down To Mars members received each a plaque of appreciation. PRC also gave plaques to Ken Chan, Alden Richards and Mrs. Chua (DTM’s manager).

Coming to a close, for the finale, Down To Mars performed "Give You Everything Tonight” making the fans eager to reach for them on stage. Fans below stage were already crying and has become a security nightmare.

As if "Give You Everything Tonight" was the last song, there was one more treat in store, Down To Mars capped the 3 hours concert with “Good Feeling”.

The three hours concert ended a little over 11PM.  It seemed as if the concert is forever or maybe because everyone was having a great time. As Daisuke, Jang, Jeongwon, Kenji and Yheen took their farewells and thanked all who watched, fans below the stage were already trying to get on stage.
 
Oh, what a night!

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I have blogged quite a long post for this. I was actually only planning to share photos, song lists and bits and pieces on what happened in the concert, but as I went through my photos and videos I cannot help myself from reminiscing and typing. In the end, I made a recap.

As I have mentioned earlier, I am glad that I have decided to zip off to Butuan and watch. I would have regretted it for life if I did not. The trip was worth it.

I have seen Down To Mars performed but last weekend was the very first time I have seen them perform on a big scale. I hope that soon they will have more concerts like this one (if not bigger).

I started as a silent fan. I have seen them grow. They are very different now from the Down To Mars I have known before. I am so proud of them. Despite the bumps they experienced along the way, Daisuke, Jang, Jeongwon, Kenji and Yheen, remained to have faith, positive, determine, strong, and willing.

Aside from being a blogger, I am a friend to them. And I wish them only the best of everything. I pray that they will be able to reach their stars and that as they reach for their stars their feet remain firmly planted on the ground.

With this, I am thankful for Discovery Media Entertainment for coming up with another concert though in Butuan. As I mentioned, I wish for more and will continue to give my support.

Congratulations, Down To Mars! You are awesome on stage. You have fantastic talents. Keep it up!