Meeting Stephen In The Philippines (2)

Thanks to LORRIE for sharing this story!

I first found out that he was coming here to the Phil's on the 2nd week

of July or something. I really didn't expect that he would come coz I

heard that he was sick and all that. then last week, I heard on a radio

station that he's coming and they're having a contest for free tickets to his

showcase at the hard rock cafe. my friend called and we found out that

u can buy tickets on the day itself for Php300. and he's gonna be at megamall

on sun.

July 29, 2K- hard rock cafe

Well anyways, me and my cousin went to hard rock yesterday at about

5:30pm but the show wasn't until 9pm. we got there and there were only about 8

people in front of us. 2 of my schoolmates were also there and we sat

together. our table was kinda at the back but in the centre of the

stage. well neways, some of my cousins came later and I met some new friends

who I knew from email (hi april and cathy!). the show started at about 9:20pm

and Stephen was sooooooooooooooooo gorgeous. he wore a leather jacket with

a black shirt under and black pants. (didn't notice his shoes) he sang 5

songs, (in order) Wanna Be where you are, New Beginning, Stay, If only you

were here and I Believe. After NB, some1 from hard rock gave him a shirt to

wipe his sweat. then he threw the shirt to the audience and luckily I was

able to get it!!!! another fan tried to take it from me but I kept tugging and

told her that steo threw it to me. and the whole time we were arguing, my

cousins said that steo was looking at us. we also had a small banner saying "we

love you! steo" and i held it up. when he saw it, he looked at me and

smiled!!!

He had absolutely brilliant dance moves (theyre so good you cannot

describe it!) and kept asking us to scream. he really looked like he enjoyed the

show and even thanked us for supporting him. he told us that it felt good to

be back and asked us if we were going to the autograph signing the next

day. of course, we said yes. near the end of his last song, i stood up and

walked to where he was going to exit and waited for him. unfortunately, some

guards came and blocked the way. i was able to touch steo's sleeve.it ended at

about 9:50pm but it actually felt longer.

outside hard rock, me, my cousins and schoolmates were talking about

steve (of course!) and 2 women approached us. they said they were from the

Phil. Daily Inquirer and wanted to ask us some questions about steve. she

asked us why we liked him and if it bothered us that he was gay and stuff like

that. the article's gonna come out on sat.

when i got home, i got the shirt out of my bag and looked at it. the

front was clean and said hard rock cafe manila, Philippines but at the back

you can see foundation from steo's face and it smelled good. i wrote a

letter to steo and slept at 3:30am.

July 30, 2k- megamall

me and my cousin, Angel got to megamall at about 11:50am and met up

with my schoolmate, Gem. some fans were already there and people were setting

up to sell steo's album. i only bought a casette tape coz i already bought

the cd last week and i only brought my cd sleeve. if u bought a cd, it came

with a poster. the stage was already set but the performance and auto signing

wasnt until 4pm. so we got in line and at abt. 1:30pm, they (ppl in charge)

were letting fans in front of the stage w/c had benches and surrounded by

railings. we were outside the railings and asked the woman who were

letting ppl in if we could get in. she said that only those who bought the cd,

not the casette could get in. Gem and i only brought our cds covers bec. of

the fear of the cd getting lost or broken. Angel bought 3 cds, 2 of which

are her sisters' who we will come later. so me and Gem borrowed the 2 cds

for a while and told the woman we had cds. and we got in. we sat on the right

side, 3rd bench and had a great view. by then, our hands were shaking

coz of excitement and couldn't believe that we were there. it was still a long

way till steo arrives so we made banners out of construction paper. mine

said "wanna b where u r!" and my cousin's said "angel loves stephen." so we

waited and waited. two of my cousins, angel's sisters, arrived and also

got in. they were playing steo's album in the speakers.

at about 3:50pm, there were a lot of ppl around the railing and

suddenly, stephen arrived. we started screaming and readied our cameras. he wore

all black from head to toe. black long-sleeved shirt, black pants and black

sandals (the ones where u can see his toes). he sang 4 songs, Wanna Be

where u are, nb, if only u were myn and i believe. while singing WBWYA, i

held up my banner and when he read it he looked at me and smiled!! in the

middle of a song, he picked up a red face towel to wipe his face and then handed

it to a kid in the front row. he also handed a blue towel to another girl. in

the middle of "if only you were here", he went off the stage and took the

hand of the kid to whom he gave the red towel too and led her up the stage.

he was singing to her the whole time and before he let her go back to her

seat, he gave her a kiss on the cheek!!! (lucky girl!) he danced to the his

songs with great enthusiasm while me and my companions copied him. we already

kinda knew the steps coz it was the same as the night before. he also

said that it was great to be back in Manila and he and the rest of boyzone

hope to come back early next year.

after he finished the 4 songs, he went backstage and the dj said that

he's gonna sign some copies of his album in a while. so we got up and got in

line. i already ran out of film so i asked my cousin to take a pic of

him.

while we were waiting for our turn, i was watching the ppl getting

steve's autograph and one girl kinda pulled him to kiss him on the cheek (cheek

to cheek). steve looked like he allowed her but right after that, the big

bodyguard standing by the table pushed the girl and she almost fell.

good thing she didn't. from then on, the dj said not to attempt to kiss

steve.

while in line, we were given small pieces of paper so that we could

write our names on it, so stephen knows what name to put on the cover. when

it got to my turn, i put down the cd sleeve on the table in front of stephen.

i said "hi stephen!" and he said, "hello Lorrie!" (can't believe he said

my name!!!) i placed my letter for him and blue wooden power beads on the

table and said, "these are for you." then he held out his hand so i shook it,

kinda tightened my grip and so did he. he looked into my eyes as i said

thank you and he smiled. i picked up my cd sleeve and went down the

stage. i met my cousins behind the stage and we were so happy! my cd sleeve read

"To lorrie love Stephen".

then me, Angel and Gem tried to get in again since i still had my tape

cover. ppl were pushing to get in and the guards kept telling them not

to. Gem already had to go so Angel and I still tried to get in.

fortunately, after being squished by the crowd, we were still let in. there were 2

women on the stage who checked the fans for album covers before letting them

on stage. (steve only signed album covers and posters w/c came w/ the cds)

the girl in front of me in the line, already got her cd sleeve signed and

the 2 women saw it, so they didn't let her get on stage and kinda pushed her

off the stairs. (how cruel!) unfortunately, i left the small paper w/c had

my name on it on steve's table and wasn't able to get it back so when i

handed him the tape cover, he only signed "love stephen". while he was

signing, i said hi again and he said hello back. i also said "great show last

night!" and he looked at me, kinda surprised and smiled (while shaking my

hand). then he said "thank you very much!" and i also said thanx. and left the

stage.

Angel, and my 2 cousins were one of the last to get their posters

signed. b4 they got on stage, the 2 women were looking for my cousins' cd sleeves

to make sure it wasn't signed. they just said it was with their companion

so they let my cousins through. b4 steve left, he thanked us for the

support we gave him and said "god bless!" i saw him wave to us and walked off

stage. he left in an instant and as soon as he did, the crowd also left the

vicinity. and only the benches and the stage was left.

well i guess that's it for my steo encounter. sorry if i bored u or

anything. i would also like to add that universal lacked promotion and

most ppl only found out about steve's performance days b4 the actual thing.

short articles and radio competitions came out on the week he was coming.

there were a lot of ppl in hard rock and megamall but not as many as the ones

when bz was here.