MANILA, Philippines - Promoter Vince del Rosario of Viva Concerts said he was a bit sad about the low audience turnout. But the lucky ones who got to watch James Blunt?s live performance Monday night at the Araneta Coliseum walked away in high spirits.

Performing with a four-piece band, the 34-year-old British singer-songwriter rendered songs remarkable for their emotional depth?anchored by a voice that resonated with soul and grit.

The nice thing was, familiarity with Blunt?s repertoire wasn?t a requisite for appreciating his talent. Those who happened to know just two of his originals, ?You?re Beautiful? and ?Goodbye My Lover? from his smashing debut album ?Back to Bedlam,? were glad to have discovered so much more via the concert.

The first few numbers captured audience attention for their minimalist combination of Brit-pop and folk-rock, propelled by lyrics that told stories about the pain of dejection (?Billy?), euphoric mornings (?High?) and intense desire (?I Really Want You?). An ambiguous take on frustration (?I?ll Take Everything?), he jokingly likened to divorce proceedings.

Joys, sorrows

Blunt makes music as someone who has gone through so much in life, which has allowed him to deal with its joys and sorrows the way writers have expressed themselves through great poetry and novels. But what makes him shine is the way he transforms the simplest lines into dramatic scenarios.

Putting down his acoustic guitar to play on the piano, he proceeded to perform ?Goodbye My Lover,? a split-up song said to have affected people so much, that it?s now sung in funerals. At the concert, we tried to decipher what made it so special. There was nothing heavy about the lyrics, but the way they?re put in the context of memory and experience was very moving, indeed. When Blunt sang, ?I?m so hollow,? you felt his emptiness inside out.

But his songs were not just about his aching heart. There was the irony of ?Wisemen,? the illusion of fame in ?Annie,? the stupidity of war in ?No Bravery.? These were songs written from personal knowledge??No Bravery? was Blunt?s memoir of his tour of duty in Kosovo as a British army officer assigned with the Nato peacekeeping forces.

Fun performer

It has to be said that Blunt?even though his songs rang with so much truth and seriousness?also knew how to have fun as a performer. At one point, he leapt from the stage and raced around the Big Dome?s courtside, much to the delight of women. (One of them, TV news reader Phoemela Barranda, practically jumped at Blunt. We imagined her date, boyfriend Ira Cruz, guitarist of Bamboo, chuckling with embarrassment.)

Expectedly, several girls ignored burly security men to get close to the stage when Blunt?s signature ballad, ?You?re Beautiful,? came on. Again (like ?Goodbye My Lover?), there was hardly anything profound about the lyrics, but the sentiments were so real, you felt part of the scene?watching the guy who chanced upon his ex with a new lover. With Blunt?s textured voice, the song might as well be a reworking of Joe Cocker?s ?You Are So Beautiful.?

Because Blunt also loved to rock, he wrote ?So Long, Jimmy,? a song about Hendrix, the world?s greatest electric guitarist. While playing it, the band matched Blunt?s energy as he restlessly moved about, egging on the keyboardist, who was letting loose a stream of church-organ chords.

For the encore, Blunt chose ?1973? from his new album ?All the Lost Souls.? The song was a recollection of wild nights in Ibiza, Spain, where he tried to recharge and get away from the initial flush of success. He reportedly didn?t mind ingesting mind-altering substances when he was partying in the clubs. At the Big Dome, Blunt tried to coax the sparse crowd to get wild, too, as he stood on top of the piano and hollered like he was raising hell.

Whether he was secretly ?wired? that night didn?t seem to matter, because the audience connected with his music right from the start.

If there?s any question as to why Pinoys need to watch foreign acts despite an abundance of local talent, James Blunt was one heck of an explanation.