MANILA, Philippines?The show started very late, the media complained of security overkill, and the audience took some time to appreciate what they were hearing.

Yet despite such drawbacks, the statuesque Corinne Drewery?performing with a live band Monday night at the Araneta Coliseum but conspicuously without Andy Connell, her musical partner in Swing Out Sister?pulled through.

Nothing was said about the absence of Connell, SOS keyboardist and main arranger who was still involved in the group?s 2008 album, ?Beautiful Mess.? Drewery sang several songs from this new recording, which the crowd heard for the first time.

Combined with other numbers from the lesser-known releases, the show naturally encountered some adverse reactions. There was an instance when Drewery diverted from the set list just to give in to requests to sing ?Forever Blue??a song she said she hadn?t done in a long while.

Apparently, the band was prepared to perform in a way that the audience did not expect. Creative freedom?rendering the old songs in different arrangements?was the motivation. Jazz was the overarching element, a strong presence throughout the gig.

?60s pop child

For example, the first old hit that the crowd recognized, ?You on My Mind? which came in the fifth number, was peppered with a lot of scatting towards the end, although the Burt Bacharach touch wasn?t entirely snuffed out.

Drewery, after all, is a ?60s pop child at heart. Even her fashion sense still reflected that swinging period.

At the concert, her catwalk poses, some bordering on exaggeration, had the effect of theatrical mime, highlighted by her most useful asset: a pair of large, expressive hands.

We first noted this unique physical feature some 20 years ago, when Drewery exploited it to the hilt during SOS? Philippine debut at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. She did it again at the Big Dome, and the effect was magical.

Sweet vocals

Her sweet vocals were intact, soaring to wondrous improvisational heights in ?Don?t Say a Word.? This was followed by a number in which her vintage ?60s singing style melded with guitarist Timothy Cansfield?s rock-jazz ad libs, ending with lots of scatting.

The scatting continued and figured prominently during an extended jam in ?Twilight World??one of the old hits that the crowd had been waiting to hear.

The familiarity of these songs vanished after the first few verses, since the band would slip into long jams. ?Am I the Same Girl? featured keyboardist Matthew Steele?s jazz improvs and bassist Derick Johnson?s dancehall reggae breaks.

Drewery finally sang ?Breakout? after Johnson and drummer Michael Lawrence finished another extended jam. Even this tune?the first hit that introduced SOS to a massive pop audience?wound up as an improvised number and, interestingly, bore traces of hip hop.

Some of the fans didn?t like such diversions while many others got up and danced. In any case, Drewery obviously wanted to have as much fun as she could and the only way to do it, for her, was to play around with the songs.