Movie and TV idols and personalities may be the mainstay media fodder of Pinoy showbiz, but the ones who have been grossing the highest in the box office nowadays are the music-makers: the singers and the bands and their concert producers. Our movie houses rarely fill up these days and their box office intakes are infrequently remarkable for years now since a significant chunk of film viewers has been watching through the streaming platforms. 

Some of the solo singers and bands that draw in the crowds to the coliseums and arenas are rarely seen on television (and hardly in the movies even as cameo guestings, which may be expensive for film producers). It’s hard to recall the last time that TJ Monterde sang in a TV show, but the amiable singer-songwriter from Mindanao is now on record as the first-ever solo vocalist to hold three sold-out nights in a row at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. 

The typically un-flashy Monterde did it on 1 to 3 February at the Big Dome, which is variously reported to seat 15,000 to 16,000 for concerts. If he filled it up for three successive nights, his audiences on those nights sum up some thousands away from Philippine Arena’s reported seating capacity of 55,000, supposedly the biggest indoor venue in the world. But only foreign acts, such as Coldplay, are reported to have sold out the seats there (and the British band did it for two consecutive nights). New Frontier Theater seats only a few thousand, but Monterde filled it up for two nights last year. 

But, oh, yes, there’s finally a Pinoy band that has practically sold out tickets for the Philippine Arena: the opening salvo of “BINIverse World Tour 2025” on Saturday, 15 February. 

The Nation’s Girl Group is known to be the first Pinoy pop band to hold a three-night concert at the Big Dome in November last year. It was originally planned to be just a two-night event, but demand from BINI fans merited a third night. 

On 8 to 9 February, it was Cup of Joe’s turn to fill up the Big Dome with their “Silakbo” concert. The event was initially announced to be just for one night. 

The concert will also be held in Baguio City, where the boys began as two separate senior high school bands that got together to join a contest at St. Louis University around 2017. Only one band member is actually from Baguio; the others are from nearby provinces, including Abra at the foot of the Cordillera. The band is set to do the same well-conceptualized and well-produced concert in March in the cities of Baguio, Cebu and Davao. Paolo Valenciano directs the meaningful “Silakbo.” 

The band has been living in Metro Manila, most likely to make it easy for them to gigs and concerts booked for them by Viva Communications Inc., which signed them up in 2019. Dilaw, the other well-received band from Baguio City, should decide to move to Metro Manila so they can accept bookings for huge venues.