MANILA, Philippines?Crackling noise from the PA system and a defective video screen couldn?t spoil the success of Martin Nievera?s ?XXV? (25th anniversary) concert Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

The 46-year-old singer sustained a high-energy performance that stretched for some three hours ? catching his breath only by taking swigs of yellow-colored liquid between tiring numbers.

Excellent backup

Nievera ? with vocals in fine shape ? had an excellent backup led by music director Louie Ocampo on keyboards and the Global Studio Orchestra, whose conductor Gerard Salonga strode onstage in a black suit and white sneakers.

The presence of Ocampo, the orchestra and Salonga made a tremendous difference. The revised arrangement in the ?Pain/Paradise? medley, for instance, put some swing into the songs; the other numbers, whether truly pop classics or MOR tunes picked for sentimental reasons, enjoyed heightened power and enhanced appeal through the musicians? big band approach.

Some 10,000 people showed up to watch and gamely engaged in reminiscing through familiar hits that propelled Nievera to stardom in the mid-1980s. The crowd had a good laugh as the perky performer introduced ?Be My Lady?: ?To all the people who killed this song in every karaoke...?

Audio distractions

It was at this point when the PA speakers started acting up with popping sounds. But Nievera was thoroughly a professional to be bothered by it. And the sheer number of guests, starting with Gary Valenciano (who opened the show with the Maneuvers), compensated for the intermittent audio distractions.

Jackie Lou Blanco, who was acknowledged, along with Pilita Corrales, as the ones responsible for Nievera?s first TV appearance, sang a short duet with him. A lot of songs in fact were done in snippets to cover as much material as possible.

Mark Bautista and Erik Santos walked in, as Nievera was into the first few verses of ?Ikaw ang Lahat sa Akin.? The two young singers had different yet equally impressive styles; Nievera described them as the new batch of pop stars who help keep his old songs alive with the great way they cover them.

Nievera?s strength as a concert artist was seen through his warm, at times wild, interaction with the audience. After introducing a Kenny Loggins medley as the tunes that allowed him to stretch his vocal range, Nievera went down the stage and sang while greeting and kissing friends, peers and his mother Conchita Razon; at one point, he gave the mic to a surprised Rachel Alejandro; the next moment, he was running and giving an old lady on a wheelchair a fast ride on front row.

There were at least three high points in the night: Jed Madela lending his powerful vocals in Chicago?s ?Hard Habit To Break?; Rachelle Ann Go moving the crowd to erupt in cheers in ?Say That You Love Me? (Christian Bautista?s entry was anti-climactic); and Nievera?s interpretation of George Canseco?s ?Ikaw? as well as his repertoire of movie/TV themes, one of which featured Regine Velasquez who sang barefoot.

And all those times, the crackling audio sound kept turning up, as sound engineer Jaime Godinez lost his wits trying to lick the problem.

There were low points, too: Sitti and Nievera singing a jingle of radio station Crossover 105; and sons Robin and Ram joining their father in ?You Are To Me? as a tribute to Pops Fernandez ? which had Nievera shaking his head and chuckling over his children?s wayward voices. A reported plan to sing a newly written song for Pops, also with Robin and Ram, was scratched at the last minute.

Given its unusual length, the show was still interesting ? no matter if it seemed to have accommodated as many ABS-CBN talents, including Piolo Pascual whose four or so lines in the theme to his new teleserye ?Lobo? had fans swooning out loud.

If new songs were to keep coming, or in case old classics would be recorded, not with machines but with Salonga?s orchestra, it?s safe to assume Nievera is off to a good start for his golden anniversary.