MANILA, Philippines?The hottest ticket in town this weekend is not the Kelly Clarkson concert Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum, but the Tears for Fears show on Sunday at the same venue.

Concert promoter Renen de Guia of Ovation Productions, which is bringing in TFF, told the Inquirer recently that people had bought tickets by the block?the buyers presumably ?80s-generation music fans who haven?t seen an act as major (and not too old) as this band.

But the way the tickets disappeared quite fast raised speculations that scalpers bought a chunk of the choice seats to be sold later.

And the way some people frantically asked their friends on how to get tickets to the gig made it seem like an Ateneo-La Salle game was coming.

But seriously, why does everybody want to watch Tears for Fears? That?s a no-brainer, said a Makati executive who was in junior college in 1983 when TFF?s debut album ?The Hurting? was released. The songs in that album appealed to young people who were alienated (?Mad World?), misfits (?Change?) or sensitive (?Pale Shelter?).

Two years later a second album, ?Songs From the Big Chair,? appeared?with tracks that urged listeners to let off steam (?Shout?), confronted a prospective lover (?Head Over Heels?), and persuaded everyone to see through confusing times (?Everybody Wants to Rule the World?).

For much of the ?80s, local fans considered Tears for Fears as one of the best New Wave bands.